Good Monday morning Caps fans. I hope you had a lovely weekend and that the start of your week is going well. October is somehow among us.
Well, any neutrals who watched the Caps draw DC United 3-3 on Saturday were rewarded with one of the more entertaining MLS games in recent memory. For us partisans, however, it was another bout of frustration against an inferior opponent.
DC played hard and deserved the point they ultimately got. But this was another case where the Caps beat themselves, conceding two set piece goals and a preventable third goal from open play that saw Kimito Nono streaking through the defense unmarked.
The backline has looked a bit out of sorts for awhile and this was the most extreme example. There were definitely cases where players made things hard on them with a bad giveaway or not tracking back. But DC looked dangerous pretty much every time they burst forward — without their two best players. Given that the Caps’ defense was at least first choice XI adjacent, that is concerning. Ralph Priso and/or Ranko Veselinovic will help but this is starting to be a worry.
The attack, thankfully, looked much better and it was a strong performance from both Emmanuel Sabbi and Bruno Caicedo. Oliver Larraz was generally good in midfield and I thought it was a promising full debut from Aleksa Cvetkovic, who seems to intuitively understand Jesper Sorensen’s system and played some nice passes. And Thomas Müller did basically everything he could to drag the Caps over the line, with a fabulous long-range goal that even my non-MLS watching friends were talking about.
A point over the international break is generally fine but anytime you take the lead (twice!), three points is a must. This is another example of the Caps struggling to get results at home, which is starting to become a real issue. The good news (I guess?) is that Vancouver is about to start a season-defining road trip that will likely dictate whether they win the west. Dropping points in this one will make that job even tougher.
Shameless Self Promotion
Our post match report from a wild and wooly Saturday night at BC Place.
Best of the Rest
The real loss from the tighter than expected match on Saturday was missing out on seeing Valter Sedin’s Caps debut.
LAFC has sacked Marc dos Santos after an uninspiring campaign, a result that every Caps fan could have predicted.
A reflection on Canada’s somewhat wild friendly win over Chile.
Vancouver Rise fell to last place Calgary in a 3-1 defeat on Sunday.
Chiming in a bit late in reacting to Saturday’s match against DC United and the comments but here goes: I think it’s way to soon to be pencilling in Alex to partner Cubas in CMF. To the naked eye, i thought he had a good game. Don’t know what the individual stats say. DC United always looked dangerous off of set piece and open play crosses. I guess blame can be tossed about but when those crosses are so deadly accurate, well it ain’t going to be easy defending in and around your own danger area. On DC’s third goal it was suggested that Tate is to blame for not marking Nono, the eventual goal scorer, with some blame goig to Muller as well. I’ve watched the replay a few times and here’s what happened. 1st, DC has possession in the caps defensive third and is out manning the caps 7 to 6. This is because Muller has given up tracking back covering Nono. This IMO is the crucial mistake. Tate is man marking an attacker inside the penalty area and it’s Laborda who is not far away but is marking space. There’s no way Tate is going to leave his mark wide open if he tries to mark Nono who is arriving late into the cap’s penalty area, BTW. So in a split second Tate is now responsible for marking 2 players, while Laborda covers the penalty spot area and Muller is not even in picture. If blame is going to be tossed around then please back it up with evidence. Onwards. On paper it would seem the caps have enough depth to field a strong team but let’s remember 6 or 7 players are away on international duty and not having Cubas, Ocampo and Priso and perhaps Diaby is a huge loss. Also Gauld was dealing with a minor injury. These players are close to being world class so they are missed for sure. So here we go into October with 6 matches to play. We’re in 1st place by 3 points with a game in hand. I’ll throw this out to everyone out there. Let’s pretend the next game is a playoff game. Who would start? Who might be the 5 subs? Tough choices. I’m going with: Takaoka, Tate, Laborda, Tristan, Ocampo, Cubas, Priso, Gauld, Bruno, Sabbi and White. Muller comes in for sure. Not sure about the rest as the circumstances of the match would dictate who the subs are.
some soccer coaches- like Mark Dos Santos who is a nice person and loves the game- are a better fit as an assistant coach- no shame in that
the DCU plan worked to perfection- pack the 6 yard box on set pieces and crosses and a smallish Takaoka will have trouble getting at the ball – missed Priso and Veselinovic on defence – how did Tate not cover the DC player behind him on the tying goal ??
but- i agree- a highly entertaining game- i think with Diaby showing well, it prompted both Sabbi and Caicedo to up their game- nothing like competition; i really think Alex C can become a starter in MF- you can see the talent
with 5 games on the road, its going to be a challenge to stay #1 in the West and avoid fatigue and injuries heading to the playoffs- all those missed home game points !!