Good Friday afternoon Caps fans. I hope you all are having a good week and that your weekend is beckoning ever closer.

The Caps’ five-game road trip got off to a rocky start in Chicago, as they fell 3-1 to the Fire in a match they sorely needed at least a point out of.

Vancouver was not helped by one of the worst pitches I’ve ever seen in an MLS game (Soldier Field made BC Place’s turf look immaculate in comparison). But let’s not beat around the bush: the Caps were clearly outplayed in this.

Recent losses could be chalked up to poor finishing or poor luck, with the Caps still winning the expected goals battle and often looking like the better team. A few bounces go their way against, say Austin, and maybe things look a bit different.

That was certainly not the case on Tuesday. And while they still were dealing with absences due to international duty, the dip in form is now clear and difficult to look away from.

Probably the most worrying thing about the loss is that the Fire are roughly the type of team the Caps will be facing in the second round of the playoffs. And they haven’t actually beaten a ton of playoff caliber opponents this season (Dallas twice, NYCFC, Colorado, Seattle, and the Galaxy, and that’s about it) where you could write off Tuesday as an aberration.

Now, as I said last time, this road trip is a good time to start changing that. But it is now starting to feel like it will be a tooth and nail fight to win the West, with St. Louis on such a hot run of form. You might even say that the Caps aren’t even the favorites in the conference at this point.

None of that will change Jesper Sorensen’s approach. And this squad deserves a lot of goodwill and, frankly, could easily look like a much different team come playoff time. Being able to roll out their first choice starting XI has made a world of difference this season (though not having Thomas Müller for Saturday against LAFC will sting). But Tuesday’s loss was a warning sign in more ways than one.

Shameless Self Promotion

We run down the midweek match and what to take from it.

Best of the Rest

More on Müller’s ominous injury that will rule him out for Saturday.

The U.S. made a clean sweep of their CONCACAF opposition, beating Canada in the final friendly of the loooong international break. The Canadians will get Guatemala in the Nations League quarterfinals.

Don Garber with an exit interview on the state of the league. 

Pacific wrapped up the wooden spoon in the CPL and are on pace to set a league record for futility.