Good Monday morning Caps fans. I hope you all had a great weekend and that the arrival of the workweek hasn’t been too painful.

The Whitecaps took care of business on Saturday against lowly Sporting Kansas City. Despite my joking that SKC would find a way to get a result because MLS is weird, the gulf between the two clubs was simply too large to overcome.

The home side actually had a decent first half, all things considered, and the Caps were rather sloppy, meaning that a competent team in the final third would have had some chances to work with. That isn’t Kansas City, however, and Vancouver was able capitalize on a defensive mistake by winning and converting a penalty and they never looked back.

The second half was largely one way traffic, with Thomas Müller and Ryan Gauld directing things expertly. Both players were fantastic and this is the third straight match where they have looked completely on the same page with each other. Brain White did very well up top, using his physicality and movement to cause problems for the KC backline and finally getting a goal of his own early in the second half. And Oliver Larraz, despite having a rocky first half, came on strong in the second and was vital in terms of ball progression.

There aren’t many lessons to learn from yesterday because, well, these two teams are about as far apart from a talent perspective as you can get in MLS. I think new signing Andre Luis will be a lift for SKC but they simply lack anyone to get him the ball.

It is now two wins on the bounce for the Caps, who head back to BC Place for a nice run of matches, starting Wednesday in the Canadian Championship. They will not want to overlook CF Montreal in that game either and there will be a few things to clean up after this match. But it finally feels like the momentum and good vibes have returned after the summer malaise.

Shameless Self Promotion

If you want a fuller recap of Saturday’s match between first and worst, I have you covered.

Best of the Rest

The Whitecaps 2 side blasted Sporting KC II on Sunday, including a wonder goal from Johnny Selemani to cap things off. Meanwhile, Daniel Ittycheria and Cyprian Kachwele are officially moving on from the NEXT Pro side.

A late equalizer helped the Vancouver Rise salvage a 2-2 draw with the last-placed Calgary Wild.

For NSL fans, a nice look at the big picture for the league in its second season.

Jonathan David seems set to move on loan to Atletico Madrid.