Good Monday morning Caps fans, hope you all had a relaxed weekend and that you are gearing up for the week ahead.

The Caps did everything but score a second goal for ~75 minutes last night but they were unable to do so and it cost them, spoiling Thomas Mueller’s debut and forcing Vancouver to settle for a 1-1 draw with Houston.

There isn’t much to say about this beyond the fact that this game should have been three points and the late equalizer from the Dynamo may well have buried any chance Vancouver had of inching back into the race for the Western Conference.

There was still no shortage of positives to draw from. Mueller needs some time yet to get on the same page as everyone but his skill is apparent and he has the ability to singlehandedly drag Vancouver to results (his banger debut goal that wasn’t is an example of this). Sebastian Berhalter was dominant in the second half, Jayden Nelson had some electric moments and is absolutely flying at the moment and a makeshift backline of Bjorn Utvik and Belal Halbouni almost held it together (another knock for Tristan Blackmon is a real point of concern).

But ultimately teams that want to be considered MLS Cup contenders need to put these sorts of games away. The Caps have eight matches left to get on the same page before the playoffs and they will have most of those matches at BC Place — you couldn’t ask for a better runway to land the plane and integrate Muller and Kenji Cabrera.

And more reinforcements might be on the way. Reports out of Belgium suggest the Caps are closing in on their center back (and also their left back?), Joedrick Pupe of Belgium Pro League side F.C.V Dender. If that club sounds familiar it is where Fulham sent Luc de Fougerolles on loan and Pupe serves as the team’s captain.

Pupe looks like an intriguing option. His FB Ref shows an impressive progressive passer who is extraordinarily skilled at putting the ball into the final third and a CB who can ping line breaking balls around the pitch. He is an interesting player to add as he doesn’t really directly replace Ranko Veselinovic but seems more like a long term Bjorn Utvik replacement. The fact that he can cover at left back in a pinch without blocking Tate Johnson’s long term development is another roster building coup

His defensive metrics looked decent enough (insofar as anyone can learn much about a defender from these states) and MLS has successfully pulled lots of successful players from Belgium in recent years. Granted, most of those have been attackers, but Pupe seems like a player profile who would be a good fit for both Jesper Sorensen’s system and the league as a whole.

Sacha Tavolieri’s reporting makes it sound like the deal is pretty advanced, hopefully meaning that the Caps’ third signing of the summer window will be along soon enough. And given that the Belgian Pro League is a few weeks into their season, Pupe would be well-positioned to hit the ground running.

Shameless Self Promotion

We have more analysis from Sunday night and the arrival of Mueller time to Vancouver.

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