Good Monday morning Caps fans, hope you all had a restful and enjoyable weekend and are gearing up for the week ahead.
It was a busy international window for the Caps who are off representing their countries. Tristan Blackmon and Sebastian Berhalter started for the USMNT against South Korea over the weekend (the less said about that match the better), while we covered Andres Cubas’ triumph with Paraguay on Friday.
Ali Ahmed, however, has had the best international break of anyone, turning in a man of the match performance on Friday against Romania with a goal and an assist. That’s his first goal in 18 appearances for Canada, a fact I found hard to believe given the quality of many of his performances with the national team.
We talked a few weeks back about Ali’s future and how a good burst down the final stretch run could set himself up for a move to Europe. But the performance for Canada is a good reminder that he is a strong candidate to make the World Cup squad and get meaningful minutes in a tournament where Canada will be backed to make a run.
He will thus be forced with a decision much like the one Pedro Vite had to make: move now and risk a similar transfer not being a reality in a year or wait to ensure stability ahead of the World Cup and set yourself up for a bigger move afterwards.
In any event, it is a boon for the Caps to have players showing out for Canada. Sam Adekugbe’s injury has unfortunately kept him from starring on the international stage but Ahmed and, to a lesser extent, Jayden Nelson, have picked up the baton in a big way. Neither of those players had a straightforward path to the national team and both of those players, particularly Ali, deserve a lot of credit for playing their way into the mix given how competitive the squad is now. The Caps have sort of become a home for fringe national team players or former national team players to play their way back into the picture. You have to imagine other players are taking notice. We’ll hope Ali can keep it up tomorrow during Canada’s friendly with Wales.
Best of the Rest
The things to keep in mind as the Whitecaps’ season winds to a close.
An interesting interview with new arrival Sebastian Schonlau, with insight into his time at Hamburg andh is plans in Vancouver.
Despite a tumultuous last year at Marseille, all is well with Ismael Kone and the Canadian National Team.
………well said Anon!
I have to say thanks for all of you guys who keep the blog going ! I love reading things and seeing fans post. Papa Jo
I really wish we could share images with our comments because I have frame by frame screenshots of what led to the first South Korean goal this past Saturday. Like many, I know the blame for the first goal should have been shifted from the shoulders of Tristan to the entire USMNT team, but that’s not how it played out. I’m sure all Vancouver fans watched the game too. I hope I’m not the only one with the opinion that Tristan was hung out to dry by at least two midfielders plus the other two center backs; Tim Ream, in particular. The fiasco reminded me of the zone defense that was pushed on the Whitecaps players in recent years, and we all know how that worked out.
Did Tristan play his best game? No. But he certainly doesn’t deserve the online hate he’s currently receiving.
The social media comments, about Tristan in particular after the game, have been brutal and hateful. Criticism may be warranted, but the comments are beyond that, and they are continuing. One comment suggested he take his own life, and I would have hoped that the moderators for the USMNT social media feed would have banned the person who posted the comment, but I doubt they did.
Both Tristan and Sebastian need and appreciate the support and encouragement from the VWFC fans. I have no idea if either player pays attention to social media, but leading up to the game tomorrow against Japan, it would be great if everyone could go to the USMNT Instagram page or the USMNT X (Twitter) feed(s) and cheer them on. There was a glaring absence of positive comments from anywhere.
Let’s show our support for all our guys.
I agree