Good Monday morning Caps fans, hope you all are having a good Labour Day and that you’re enjoying a prolonged break.
We remain on a prolonged pause from Whitecaps soccer, with an eventful weekend in MLS/Leagues Cup — but not for Vancouver.
The bit of news to pop up that involves the Caps is a follow up on the Ali Ahmed rumors from Friday. While a move seemed unlikely, stranger things have happened this window.
Well, speaking to the media late last week, Axel Schuster made clear that Ali isn’t going anywhere this window, saying the idea of further outgoings makes “zero sense.” And, well, he’s right.
Between international duty and injury, this probably wasn’t the end to the season Ali wanted after one of his most consistent and dangerous periods as a Whitecaps player, with five assists to show for his efforts. This cost him his starting spot but there is little doubt he’ll play a key role down the stretch.
Assuming Ali finds his feet in the run in, there is clearly a market for a move in the off-season without jeopardizing the end of this season. Axel explicitly left the door open to a move in the off-season and Ali will have earned it given his growth for club and country. But one last chance to win silverware in Vancouver and increase his value is the best case scenario here.
Shameless Self Promotion
Kian takes stock of where things are at and what the Caps need to do to be considered true contenders.
Best of the Rest
Leagues Cup ended with Seattle continued the trend of Cascadia clubs smacking down Inter Miami before Luis Suarez seemingly spit on a member of the Sounders’ staff.
PRO has weighed in on the end to the Caps/St. Louis City match, confirming there was contact but it wasn’t a penalty. They must read this column.
The Whitecaps 2 team hit 4 past Portland Sunday, with Sebastian Schonlau making his debut.
A look at how Mueller is settling into Vancouver, from a German perspective
Forge’s unbeaten run has *finally* ended, thanks to Cavalry.
Regarding Ryan Gauld injury- we are up to 7 months since he did his knee so it has to be more serious – its not rocket science- here is some info:
sportsmole.co.uk/football/injury-news/feature/how-long-does-a-knee-injury-take-to-heal-recovery-times-explained_578369.html
my question – was the injury misdiagnosed and he should have had knee surgery back in April ? and is it a smart idea to bring him back for the last 2 months of the season and risk making it even worse ?
Brian White- a hamstring injury is one of the worst muscle injuries to recover from- he should be back by sometime in October, depending on the severity- and then he has to get back his game form- if he is lucky, he could be back much later in September which would give him some games to get his game going again before the playoffs
Salty