Good Monday morning Caps fans. Hope you all had a good weekend and are gearing up for what lies ahead this the week.
It’s been a while since I’ve had to write one of these after an MLS loss, so I can’t really be mad. The 1-0 defeat to Houston on Saturday was frustrating on many levels but it isn’t one with a ton of big picture takeawats. Vancouver looked gassed after a long week, with two very humid matches and injuries (and now suspensions) stacking up.
But man, that was an infuriating game. Vancouver kept gifting Houston the same transition opportunities over and over again, and somehow the Dynamo kept letting them off the hook. All the while, there wasn’t much going on in the Whitecaps’ attack.
When Yohei Takaoka was sent off for denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity, it felt like a near-certain win for Houston. The fact that the Caps hung on until the bitter end was both laudable and frustrating, as Isaac Boehmer fumbled a saveable shot and gave the Dynamo the winner.
On the red card: I don’t really think Takaoka’s foul was worthy of a sending off. There is at least one covering defender and the attacker’s touch was taking him away from goal. I think the referee defaults to a sending off when the keeper is out of his goal but I don’t think it was necessary here. Still, Takaoka only has himself to blame and his immediate reaction told me he realized that fact.
Overall, there weren’t a ton of standout performances in this one, though the backline did well to prevent the Dynamo from converting more of their transition chances. The wide players (Kenji Cabrera, Jeevan Badwal, and AZ Jackson) continue to frustrate, and while adding Thomas Müller back in helped, it wasn’t a panacea.
The Caps get a chance to bounce back against San Diego, though they will be without Takaoka and Andres Cubas, who picked up his fifth yellow card (rather needlessly I might add). Oliver Larraz exited with an injury as well, so his status is up in the air. This is the part of the season where you have to dig deep and grind a result out. That’s what this team did against Dallas and it’s what they almost did against Houston. With one more match before the World Cup break, now is the time to grind something out and take a well-deserved break.
Shameless Self Promotion
Sam breaks down Saturday night’s proceedings in the post match recap.
Best of the Rest
Amid the Caps’ stadium woes, the BC Lions are negotiating a new stadium lease of their own.
Congrats to Rayan Elloumi, who will be headed to the World Cup with Tunisia.
It was a rough Monday in MLS for head coaches, with Columbus and Austin FC changing leaders.
A couple of possible Canadian national team defenders picked up knocks over the weekend.
even with a deflection, a better goalie would have stopped it- nervous about the next game with Takaoka out (who has shown signs of fatique with poor judgments the last 3 games, so a month off will be welcomed)
out of the 4 wide players, only one- Caicedo- is any kind of serious threat and it might explain- partly- why Brian White seems really off – and Jesper cant rely on Elloumi to be a suitable sub
and IMO, Badwal is not a winger type of player- he is a DMF
this is the first time where i have to say- there is no POTM- i think Jesper’s hard press is demanding on the energy of the Team, so again, 1 month off will be welcomed
a couple of thoughts
– will the game vs San Diego be the last game of Berhalter wearing the Whitecap shirt- and if it is, who will Axel sign to replace him? there will be significant money to use
– will Ryan Gauld play again this season and beyond? if he could play like he did in 2024, well, what an upgrade that would be
– will Axel add a significant striker to supplement Brian White if Gauld cant play?
gotta feel bad for Ralph Priso who has worked so hard to become a quality player- IMO, he would have made the Canada squad
Salty
Was White playing?……are you sure?
The goal took a deflection off of White’s back, enough to change the trajectory and fool Boehmer. Otherwise, we can only hope that the wide play improves for San Diego.