Good Friday morning Caps fans, hope you all are having a lovely week and that you have a well deserved break coming up imminently.

Well, the new guys in town have game. The Whitecaps discovered that the hard way on Wednesday night, getting blasted in a 5-3 goal fest at the hands of Milan Iloski and San Diego FC.

Iloski’s four goals will be the highlight here but the real concern was how easy it was for San Diego to beat the Caps’ press and find ample space in transition. Ranko Veselinovic, who always has struggled at times defending in space, and Tristan Blackmon couldn’t keep up and the midfield were largely passengers.

The second half provided some promise, largely because Jesper Sorensen abandoned his plans and moved Pedro Vite back to the midfield, pushed Edier Ocampo into a winger role and dropped Andres Cubas back as a six. This, combined with some lack of focus for San Diego, actually helped Vancouver create enough to be back in the match and then some. Vite was particularly on fire but the finishing couldn’t match.

The second half changes added some structure and helped the Caps look a bit more like themselves. But this was perhaps one of the bigger tactical misses from Sorensen to date and the players also did him no favors. The lack of several key pieces undoubtedly hurt but San Diego was also significantly undermanned and clearly adjusted just fine.

The tendency is to hit the panic button and I’m starting to become concerned, given the toll the early season CONCAChampions run took. San Diego provided a blueprint for playing through Vancouver and while few teams can execute it like they can, the Caps have not had lately the same sort of structure and stability that we expected after the first half of the season. Ranko and Blackmon remain talented and unlikely to drop stinkers every match but they can only do so much when the midfield is totally bypassed, leaving them on islands.

The Caps have now lost two in a row as they muddle through the toughest part of their schedule. Things won’t get any easier with a trip to LAFC, followed by three straight on the road. They will remain without key performers for much of that run due to the Gold Cup.

This is likely the extra miles and matches catching up with them, combined with a lack of depth that is starting to be a bit more glaring. But Sorensen needs to start adapting a bit more, like he did in the second half Wednesday, to try and stop the bleeding.

There is no reason the Caps can’t stabilize things and focus on returning to peak form before the playoffs. There is a reason they have the most All Stars of any team in the league — something that should be a great honor and point of pride. Wednesday was a set back and I think people who are frustrated by some recent results have good reason to be. But I refuse to believe things can’t get back on track.

Shameless Self Promotion

We take stock of where things are at after the San Diego match and what went wrong on Wednesday.

Best of the Rest

More on the Whitecaps’ historic (for them) all star haul.

The MLSPA released their updated salary figures for all teams. The only notable contracts for the Caps seem to be Damir Kreilach (overpaid) and Seb Berhalter (very, very underpaid) but what did I miss?

Things got ugly for the Canadian National Team against El Salvador on Tuesday but they handled the 9 man side to set up a date with Guatemala in the knockouts.

Canada, meanwhile, will face Colombia in a friendly in the U.S. later this year as they continue their World Cup prep.

Nathan Saliba is the latest burgeoning Canadian star heading abroad, penning a deal with Anderlecht.