Good Monday morning Caps fans. Hope you all had a good weekend and that the week (and month) ahead treats you well.

Canada is getting ready for the World Cup and Jesse Marsch announced his final roster that, barring injury, will be taking the field when the side opens against Bosnia and Herzegovina to begin their World Cup campaign later this month.

I was sad that the final squad didn’t include Ralph Priso. Despite Thomas Müller’s lobbying after the Caps’ final MLS match, it seems that the rest of the center back pool has healed up enough to where Marsch feels comfortable leaving Priso off at this point.

That’s fair, particularly given that Priso didn’t wind up in the player pool until relatively late in the cycle. The fact that he was still included in the last camp was a testament to how well Priso has been playing in the last year. Sure, Canada’s backline has been banged up. But take nothing away from Priso’s quality and mental fortitude to recover from injury and wind up on the brink of going to a World Cup anyway.

Let us not forget that a year ago Priso was a solid depth piece for Vancouver and a great example of Axel Schuster’s keen eye for reclamation project. But he was not someone anyone probably thought would be a legitimate national team prospect. Certainly not at centerback, a position he wouldn’t even play until the end of the season.

After a long few seasons in Toronto and Colorado, Priso arrived in Vancouver with something to prove. And even though he likely won’t be going to a World Cup (barring injury), it is fair to say he has succeeded in proving his quality. It would’ve been beyond cool to see that rewarded with a place on the Canadian roster but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him continue to work his way into Jesse Marsch’s plans over the next few years.

Shameless Self Promotion

Andres Cubas will officially be headed to the World Cup with Paraguay and, I imagine, will be starting when they take the field against the U.S. on June 12.

Mauricio Pochettino was a big Sebastian Berhalter fan after Seb’s performance in the U.S.A’s 3-2 friendly win over Senegal on Sunday.

Vancouver Rise beat Montreal 3-2 on Saturday behind a late Jessica De Filippo winner. Elsewhere, Pacific FC conceded late to fumble a win, while Vancouver FC fell 1-0 to HFX Wanderers.

Jesse Marsch will have another injury to deal with, as Marcelo Flores exited the CONCACAF Champions Cup final with an apparent knee injury.