Good Friday morning Caps fans. I hope you all are winding down your week and that your weekend is restful and enjoyable.
Well, the Caps’ winning streak will remain stuck at one, with Vancouver falling 1-0 to Houston in a vital game in the midweek, which drops them out of the top spot in the west (albeit with a game in hand still remaining over the Dynamo).
The Caps were unlucky, to be sure. They did enough to get a result and even had a goal chalked off due to a foul in the build up. You sometimes see it called, sometimes not and I think it’s fair to wonder if it met VAR’s clear and obvious standard. Houston’s lone goal came from a Franco Negri worldie that Yohei Takoka could do nothing about and otherwise there wasn’t much of note for the Dynamo in the attack.
But the volume of times we’ve had to say that the Caps have deserved better, yet walked away empty handed, has been a bit of a trend now. Sometimes the ball doesn’t bounce your way, especially in midweek games where weird stuff can happen. But this feels like a game last year’s side gets something out of.
The trend of crossing hopefully into the box has seemingly run its course. Some of the problems in the build up can simply be solved by Ryan Gauld and Thomas Müller figuring out how to play together, something we’re starting to see real signs of. That’s in large part how Vancouver found a way past Seattle: Gauld can help pull apart defenses in a different way. The return of Bruno Caicedo should help in this respect as well.
But it will take time for all of this to fully come to fruition. The Caps will remain relevant and will still remain a top contender in the west. But with the Supporters Shield slipping out of sight, the focus now has to be on playing the best possible ball down the stretch and into the playoffs. If that means trying things now, then so be it.
The Caps will get a visit from another likely playoff team, FC Dallas, over the weekend in what will be an intriguing matchup. Dallas have as much attacking firepower as Houston but less defensive solidify. Their 4-3 win over RSL in the midweek showed this in spades. That means the Caps are in for a different sort of test on Saturday.
Shameless Self Promotion
Sam runs down the frustration with Wednesday’s match and why panic isn’t necessarily warranted.
Best of the Rest
Valter Sedin is officially on the MLS NEXT Pro side, causing Canucks and Whitecaps fans to rejoice in equal measure.
Colombian defender Sebastian Rodriguez is also now a Whitecaps player (when he gets his visa is anyone’s guess).
Ryan Guald has some … thoughts on the new turf at BC Place.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: MLS is toying with a new playoff format.
We have young players who are doing well but aren’t clinical, and some experienced wingers who should do better. Larraz is improving but not a difference maker – we need more quality in centra mid, With White injured I hope Poku is available soon.
We have a number of decent, young players who aren’t difference makers, and some experienced wide players who should be more clinical with chances. Like others, I’ve long been calling for more depth at striker. Is our new man injured?
Some say we shouldn’t panic- if the Club and us supporters want to be in the mix for MLS Cup, then we should be majorally concerned, maybe just not to the panic level…YET
I just dread seeing the same play and outcome every game- and anyone with any soccer sense knows it’s a trend- it won’t change until something changes
We need a catalyst, a player who can help the players cash-in on their control of the game and finish the half and big chances
And if you don’t see that, you want the Team to play sub-.500
We shouldn’t settle for less- we should push for higher- and that’s on Axel’s and ultimately the owners shoulders
Salty
coach lost the dressing….too many players think they are coaches
get best players to start /replace as needed too.if fit enough to sit on the bench they are fit enough to start
Some Thoughts from Wednesday’s loss: Houston is a very good team. Rock solid defensively. And good in possession when they felt like it plus they threatened on the counter with simple balls over the top of the back line. The new turf is a problem for the caps style of play. Balls on the ground are taking a little longer to find the mark, giving defenders extra time to close things down and our wide players don’t seem to be able to dribble the ball with the same pace as before. Our shooting from distance also sucks. Berhalter wasn’t always a great shooter from distance but he worked on it and starting banging in some goals so…
I’m crossing my fingers that when everyone gets healthy and the new players, especially the Serbian CMF and the Canadian striker, can have the needed impact. I do feel that the caps needed a 2nd proven striker heading into this season and that didn’t happen. Instead we end up being overloaded in other positions.
Here’s my take on the VAR decision to review the caps goal. 1st, I guess the new application, as demonstrated in the recent WC, is a turnover, that was caused by a foul, that leads to a goal must be reviewed. I would equate this to the other application that says any goal scored that has the attacker’s arm or hand coming in contact with the ball must be reviewed, and likely it’s going to be no goal. 2nd, to review the foul(s) I couldn’t really see what Cubas did except that he got a toe on the ball. It was Larraz that came charging in committing 2 fouls, a push in the back and a kick to the leg that knocked the Houston player down, that took him out of the play. No one ever blames the player for their actions but for me this was a dumb play by Larraz. This attempted tackle was not needed. But 3rd, the referee, after review, said that Cubas had committed the foul. So I don’t think this was the correct call.
That the referee didn’t call similar challenges during the game, remember that these other challenges/non calls didn’t lead to goals.
Something that was missed in the main article was that Houston had a grade A scoring chance early in the match that was saved by a sliding Laborda just in front of our goal.
I thought Priso should have come on sooner. Nice to see him back as a CMF.