Good Monday morning Caps fans, hope you all are having a good start to the week. It is a holiday down here in the States so I’ll try not to rub in the long weekend vibes.

Well, this team certainly isn’t boring, huh? While the Austin match might have left a lot to be desired, Vancouver reminded everyone of their firepower on Saturday night against RSL. When the home side bagged two goals early off of poor defensive mistakes, I was starting to catastrophize given the recent form.

Well, I needn’t have worried. There were some rocky moments but Vancouver were comfortably the better side the rest of the way and RSL relied on Rafael Cabral to deny Brian White a hat trick and give them a chance at a draw.

Pedro Vite had other plans, forcing me to rewrite his report card entry after a match that likely wasn’t his finest. But having top drawer players means they can pull out moments of magic and that’s exactly what he did here. His winner was of the highest quality and should be a shoo-in for goal of the week contention.

This was definitely not the Caps’ best match. I appear to have jinxed Yohei Takaoka by praising his form, with a poor error gifting RSL their second. Ranko Veselinovic was much missed again and will help batten down the hatches in the backline when he returns. And Jayden Nelson and Emmanuel Sabbi had a second straight match where they struggled.

But after the recent dip in form, the Caps needed something to go right for them and this match will help mightily in restoring confidence. Brian White did everything but get a hat trick and Sebastian Berhalter was excellent, both in passing and making some nice runs into the box that should have been rewarded more. Tate Johnson put in an excellent shift off the bench and should be considered Vancouver’s first choice left back at the moment.

The Caps are currently on 31 points, putting them only 15 (!) off last year’s total and requiring them to pull down only a little over one point per game the rest of the way to get into home playoff game territory. Jesper Sorensen won’t be setting his sights so low (nor should he, the win should remind everyone of the capacity for this team) but it is still wild to consider. The win on Saturday also preserves Vancouver’s status as the last unbeaten road team in the league. Their away matches haven’t exactly been a murderer’s row but it is still impressive. They don’t give trophies for that but, of course, they will be handing out one in less than a week’s time. And this will lift everyone’s hopes for that match.

Shameless Self Promotion

A breakdown of the Caps’ triumph on Saturday night and, despite worries that it was over, how it looks like we are so back.

Best of the Rest

Could the Whitecaps have a healthy presence at All Star weekend for once?

Looks like the LA Galaxy and San Diego fans are trying to do their best impression as Argentine ultras.

Promise David’s brace lifted Union St. Gilloise to their first title in 90 years, an incredible step for the Canadian striker.

It was a tough week at the office for Vancouver FC, who was blanked by Cavalry on Sunday.