Good Monday morning, Caps fans. I hope you all had a good weekend and are mentally preparing for the week ahead.

It was a good weekend for the Caps, as they went top of the Supporters Shield standings with a businesslike 2-0 win over NYCFC at home. Vancouver could have been well clear after the first half (sound familiar?), but Matt Freese kept the away side in with a shout, despite being on the back foot for most of the first half.

Thankfully, a clever finish from Mathias Laborda off a great set-piece delivery from Sebastian Berhalter ensured the Caps didn’t exit the first 45 minutes empty-handed. In the second half, NYCFC mustered a 10-minute stretch that tested Vancouver, but the away team didn’t ask many questions of the Caps the rest of the way. Even before Brian White got his goal to make things 2-0, the Caps were back to having the better of the chances.

The fact that this team is in first place and still feels like they have another gear to hit is truly impressive. The Caps have scored the most goals in the league and still don’t feel like they’re getting the most out of their wingers or Thomas Müller — not too shabby.

If things keep up, it will be difficult to keep Bruno Caicedo out of the lineup. The dynamic winger was not quite as electric as he was in his debut against Portland, but he wasn’t far off. And the ball he played to tee up White’s goal was sumptuous. Even though Tayvon Gray is one of the few fullbacks in MLS with the speed and athleticism to contain Caicedo, the Ecuadorian proved to be a handful anyway. It will be interesting to see how Caicedo performs once teams start game planning for him and to see whether he can keep it up for 70 minutes, versus a 30 minute cameo. I think he has earned a start and the chance to answer those questions.

It was great to see White get more involved (Freese denied him one or two other goals in the first half) after a couple of weeks of relative anonymity. Jeevan Badwal was a dawg, Cheikh Sabaly continues to get into promising positions, and the entire backline was excellent. Altogether, a pretty good afternoon at the office.

This was a match I thought was going to be a bit of a test for Vancouver — NYCFC aren’t used to losing the midfield battle and also want to play in possession on the front foot. Ultimately, though, it didn’t matter. Vancouver will be the favorite against Sporting KC on Friday, before the schedule gets tougher and the road games start flying in fast and furious. But, at the moment, who would bet against them?

Shameless Self Promotion

More from our match recap on how the Caps went top of the Supporters Shield standings.

Best of the Rest

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Marcelo Flores is set to miss 3-6 weeks, possibly affecting his status with the national team.

Things didn’t go much better for the BC sides in week two of CPL action.