Good Friday morning Caps fans, and happy May — hopefully your month is off to a good start.
The Whitecaps elected to end April with a bang and I fear I am genuinely starting to run out of superlatives to describe the run they are on.
What I am referring to, of course, is the 3-1 victory over Inter Miami in Ft. Lauderdale, with the Caps using a brilliant second half to not only advance to their first CONCACAF Champions Cup final but to do so in style and completely remove all doubt as to which side is superior. And while they won’t host the final against Cruz Azul next month, they gave themselves every chance to do so.
Disaster seemingly struck just minutes in, when the Caps got out of sorts and allowed Jordi Alba to smash home a goal that seemingly put them back in the tie. And, in the moments immediately following, Vancouver seemed to be on their heels.
But credit to this team, particularly the defense, for settling down and not being overawed by the moment. Instead, they created some decent chances, hung on until halftime and that gave Jesper Sorensen the chance to make adjustments that things really started clicking.
It is a crying shame that Sebastian Berhalter will miss the final due to yellow card accumulation (what a dumb rule) but he put in an exceptional performance, with two assists and a goal, with a marvelous run setting up the first. Brian White owned Maxi Falcon and got the Caps’ first off a beautiful little flick in the box. And Pedro Vite, Ali Ahmed and basically everyone else rose to the occasion as well.
It is difficult to single out individual performers, as this has been a top-to-bottom effort and Berhalter beautifully summed it up in his post-match interview, talking about the closeness of the group and how much the collective unit means. The celebrations after the match with the away supporters further underscore that.
The aftershocks of the match will certainly be felt in South Florida but need we forget that the Whitecaps are a historic team, who have won more trophies than Inter Miami in their existence. It has been encouraging that those who know ball have been willing to correct the silly and superficial comments from the soccer media more broadly. And it will hopefully be a statement that building a successful MLS team doesn’t just mean hitting up your old friends to run it back one more time.
As if that wasn’t enough, the Caps have been linked with Serbian midfielder Petar Stanic, who plays for Serbian side Backa Topola. Interest seems preliminary and Manuel Veth is reporting their are other targets but it is encouraging to see concrete targets after not getting anyone in before the primary window slammed shut.
I won’t pretend to know a lick about any Serbian teams not named Red Star or Partizan but his FB Ref page is impressive and he has 11 goal contributions so far this season for a mid table side. He seems like he is a decent distributor who can also carry the ball forward and progress it that way quite efficiently. So perhaps JC Ngando, if Ngando could finish at a much higher level?
Given that the transfer window has slammed shut, this makes me wonder if the Caps are contingency planning for losing Pedro Vite (though this doesn’t seem to be a real like for like replacement). Or, given interest in other central midfielders, it is possibly just a way to add more depth. If so, given Stanic’s profile, it would be an embarrassment of riches for a team that is already purring. All in all, you could not ask for a better week.
Shameless Self Promotion
We run down everything to know from Wednesday’s triumph in our post-match analysis and report card.
Best of the Rest
A great profile of Seb Berhalter and how he got to where he is today: one of the best number 8s in the league.
Oh and by the way: Brian White was named MLS player of the month — a well deserved honor.
Chicago Fire are viewed as frontrunners in the race to sign Kevin de Bruyne.
Over in the Voyageurs Cup, CF Montreal knocked out Toronto FC in an early round match of MLS clubs.
IF Axel does sign Petar Stanic in the summer, it means either Vite leaves in the summer, or at the end of the season when his contract ends – and Axel is giving Petar time to adjust to the City, his new teammates and the rigors of MLS, especially travel and style of play (if he does get an offer for Vite in the millions in the Summer, Axel has to take it as Pedro is a free agent come January 1, 2026)
after putting up with Pedro for his first 2 years of lackdaisical play and now watching his scintillating play this year, it’s a shame he has to go to Europe- but at 23, its probably his dream- he might find out though, that its the proverbial saying- DO YOU WANT TO BE A BIG FISH IN A SMALLER BOWL (MLS), OR a small fish in a bigger bowl (Euro Tier 1 League)?
as a side note, Ali Ahmed will be 25 in October, has little scoring punch and is not physically strong- his play vs InterMiami was sometimes explosive so maybe, just maybe …)– however, i think MLS serves him very well- like Tajon Buchanan, you can get swallowed up in Europe
Salty
we supporters should relish all the positives this year– it would take an hour to list all them as its just not a few individuals– it truly is- and not trying to overstate this- a top to bottom Team Effort where any of the 18 players can slide in and still bring wins- there is very little drop-off and this surely has to make Jesper’s sub and rotation decisions much easier
after so many years of frustration, i am at the point that i dont see a POP and the magical ride is coming to an end- while it took me awhile for me to be this confident after years of mediocrity, i know this is a Team that will bring us a lot of fun and very positive results- there might be a dip, but i dont see a sustained dip- like the Team, we dont need to panic– KEEP THE BELIEF
and i agree that a Cup Final should have all the best players on the field for both teams unless there is a BIG reason- 2 yellow cards doesnt meet that criteria- if Cruz has a similar player being exorcised from the game, then perhaps CONCACAF can be persuaded to let both players play in such a massive game (wishful thinking, but HEH, anything is possible this year- who would have thunk that the Caps would absolutely crush InterMiami?) not playing at a capacity in BC Place Stadium (probably could sell 75 000) is a disappointment, but this Team has shown the ability to win on the road in Mexico– KEEP THE FAITH
Salty
Maybe it’s wishful thinking, but Axel’s recent Soccerwise interview suggested that, with playing time all but guaranteed, multiple competitions and several trophies posssible, and a familiar system in which he is a lynchpin through which he can raise his stats and profile leading up to a World Cup, there are some very good reasons for Pedro to stick around for another year at least. Hopefully the two sides are talking and a post-WC sale can net the club a tidy fee.
What a difference a new coach makes