Good Monday morning Caps fans, hope you all are diving in for a work day ahead of Canada Day — or maybe you’re off and enjoying this. Lucky.
Vancouver was back to winning ways on Sunday night, besting LAFC 1-0 in a match that won’t win any awards for beauty. That’s OK with the Caps, however, as they strangled the game and LAFC’s rather limp attack after Emmanuel Sabbi grabbed a well taken goal in the first half. Given how battered and bruised Vancouver is presently (Andres Cubas limped off in the first with a knock in a brutal development for the Caps. Hopefully it isn’t too serious) this was a quality result and one that helps them get back on track.
Credit to Sabbi for an improved performance, but also Mathias Laborda for a defensive masterclass against Denis Bouanga. And as much Jesper Sorensen may have whiffed on his tactics in the midweek, this one was a masterclass, as the Caps limited LAFC to only a couple moments of true danger.
It was a busy weekend even before the match for the Caps. The blockbuster news is reporting from Transfermarkt that the club have tied up Pedro Vite on a max TAM deal until 2029. That is a huge development, as it will keep Vite in Vancouver through the World Cup and ensure the Caps aren’t strongarmed into a cut rate deal before his contract would have expired.
In practice, Vite is still likely going to Europe — the extension to 2029 is just a favor to Vancouver to strengthen their negotiating position. But it ensures stability for Vite ahead of next summer and it ensures the club ties down one of its key performers, on a relatively club-friendly number. And they should get a fee a notch or two higher than the $6 million that has kicked around.
Overall, this is a masterclass from Axel Schuster, both to identify and sign Vite using the U-22 initiative and to figure out a smart way to keep him in Vancouver for the medium-term future. Losing him this summer would have been a potentially fatal blow to keeping this team in the mix for more silverware.
Vancouver also executed a second shrewd deal, albeit on a much lower order of magnitude. Nelson Pierre has set MLS Next Pro ablaze this season, leading the league in goals with 11 so far this season. He was, as you all will remember, on loan from Philadelphia Union and the question was whether the Caps had an option to buy.
The answer, apparently, is yes and the club decided there was no point dragging things out until the end of the season. They executed the option for $50,000 and promoted Pierre to the first team, where he was immediately put to use on the bench for the LAFC match.
Pierre has shown he is an expert finisher who has outgrown the reserves and I could very much see a Simon Becher-esque arc for him, growing into a guy who can come off the bench if a goal is needed. Damir Kreilach and Daniel Rios will likely be gone after this season, giving Pierre plenty of opportunities to impress.
The Union are probably happy to get any sort of fee for a guy they were probably going to move on from anyway but $50k is a good bit of business for Vancouver given the quality Pierre has shown.
Shameless Self Promotion
Yours truly delivers the post match analysis for Sunday’s much needed victory.
Best of the Rest
A nice look at how the Caps’ success to date this season reflects well on Axel Schuster.
The Whitecaps 2 side (sans Nelson Pierre) fumbled a 2-1 lead and wound up losing to Real Monarchs Sunday.
Jesse Marsch said “missing half our group” played a part in Canada’s crashing out of the Gold Cup on Sunday in a penalty shootout loss to Guatemala.
PSG smacked around Inter Miami 4-0, eliminating the last MLS team from the Club World Cup.
Pacific will be hosting a match at Royal Athletic Park in a “downtown derby” to build interest in the league.