Vancouver Whitecaps 2021 Season

[BearcatSA]

1 hour ago, Ruffian said:

People seem to not have a good opinion of Raposo. I thought he looked OK when he came on. He had a great chance on the goal. Isn't he a striker? I would put him in over Bair.

At this point, I see a guy who shows enough stuff to flatter to deceive, enough to get a passport bias of higher ceiling and bigger upside.  Frankly, I hope am wrong and he becomes a significant contributor

I like what I have seen of Caicedo while Dajome has started off with a bang, so a strong start in this first half of the season based in Sandy looks better all the time.

[Watchmen]

It's an interesting read.  From the sounds of it, once Gremio started leaking the negotiations to the press the Whitecaps were out.  And that they know there's plenty of clubs in South America in a major cash crunch.  Think they'll get it done for a #10 at some point this summer.

[Dominic94]

According to Glasscityfc another Colyn style loan is incoming for one of the homegrowns. Pecile and Facchinieri are players with Euro passports as is Campagna but I’d be very surprised if he went because MDS rated him.

Colyn’s loan expires next month, not sure if anyone can confirm it but I’ve heard he’s done well and will be bought.

[BearcatSA]

1 hour ago, Dominic94 said:

According to Glasscityfc another Colyn style loan is incoming for one of the homegrowns. Pecile and Facchinieri are players with Euro passports as is Campagna but I’d be very surprised if he went because MDS rated him.

Colyn’s loan expires next month, not sure if anyone can confirm it but I’ve heard he’s done well and will be bought.

Facchinieri is the clear number five CB on the roster once Godoy is back in the fold, so he seems like the best bet to be going elsewhere.  

[Watchmen]

1 hour ago, Dominic94 said:

According to Glasscityfc another Colyn style loan is incoming for one of the homegrowns. Pecile and Facchinieri are players with Euro passports as is Campagna but I’d be very surprised if he went because MDS rated him.

Colyn’s loan expires next month, not sure if anyone can confirm it but I’ve heard he’s done well and will be bought.

Given that the new youth/reserve system MLS is setting up isn't in place yet (is it?  did I miss it?) and that the CPL has an indeterminate start date again this year, I would hope that they're exploring every possible loan to Europe for this season.

[Dominic94]

1 hour ago, Watchmen said:

Given that the new youth/reserve system MLS is setting up isn't in place yet (is it?  did I miss it?) and that the CPL has an indeterminate start date again this year, I would hope that they're exploring every possible loan to Europe for this season.

It hasn’t but playing in Canada right now is like impossible. 

[GlassCity]

 

[BearcatSA]

1 hour ago, GlassCity said:

 

Gives him a chance for some seasoning elsewhere and I hope he has a very successful loan stint.

Edited April 29, 2021 by BearcatSA

[Dominic94]

2 hours ago, GlassCity said:

 

Any word on Colyn’s future ?

[GlassCity]

1 hour ago, Dominic94 said:

Any word on Colyn’s future ?

Not yet

[Watchmen]

I'm left utterly baffled as to what MDS was thinking with his formation today.  Alexander should have been a straight swap for Baldisimo.  Instead, he shuffled everyone around, started Alexander further forward than he should have, and moved Teibert back in to the middle.  Really didn't seem to work at all.

[Unnamed Trialist]

I'll take a winning record and less than a goal against per game, do that all year, I'm in.

[toontownman]

Seemed like he was leaving Nerwinski on just to troll fans. No idea how he wasn't taken off he was atrocious but at least Gaspar is ready for midweek. 

Still need that 10. Front three look good but there is really very little behind them for impactful depth.

[Watchmen]

18 minutes ago, toontownman said:

Seemed like he was leaving Nerwinski on just to troll fans. No idea how he wasn't taken off he was atrocious but at least Gaspar is ready for midweek. 

Still need that 10. Front three look good but there is really very little behind them for impactful depth.

Yeah, Crepeau really bailed Nerwinski out a few times.  And speaking of Crepeau, I think he's been really good so far.

This team doesn't seem like it's winning the MLS Cup any time soon, but it doesn't seem like they're going to get embarrassed 5-0 either.  That's actually progress, thought it also says how bad things have been the last few years.

Interested to see what the lineup is Wednesday.  Thought Gaspar would start today, but since he didn't he better start Wednesday. 

[Blackjack15]

 

Kinda is, no?

[Yohan]

24 minutes ago, Blackjack15 said:

 

Kinda is, no?

Vancouver is the third wheel on derbies.

Seattle and Portland is a derby. Vancouver is just... kinda there.

Montreal vs Toronto is a derby. Vancouver is just... kinda there.

[SpursFlu]

Thats cuz we have no rival

[Unnamed Trialist]

3 hours ago, Yohan said:

Vancouver is the third wheel on derbies.

Seattle and Portland is a derby. Vancouver is just... kinda there.

Montreal vs Toronto is a derby. Vancouver is just... kinda there.

Whitecaps-Sounders is a "derby" or better a classic rivalry before you were born, probably. A rivalry we used to travel away for, I'm talking about the 1970s. And it has held up for most of the last 50 years in fact.

But thanks for the nursery rhyme.

[BearcatSA]

2 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Whitecaps-Sounders is a "derby" or better a classic rivalry before you were born, probably. A rivalry we used to travel away for, I'm talking about the 1970s. And it has held up for most of the last 50 years in fact.

Exactly.  Thank you.

[Stanley]

4 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Whitecaps-Sounders is a "derby" or better a classic rivalry before you were born, probably. A rivalry we used to travel away for, I'm talking about the 1970s. And it has held up for most of the last 50 years in fact.

Who can forget the A-League days where they would sometimes play each other 8 times in a 28 game season.

[Yohan]

6 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Whitecaps-Sounders is a "derby" or better a classic rivalry before you were born, probably. A rivalry we used to travel away for, I'm talking about the 1970s. And it has held up for most of the last 50 years in fact.

But thanks for the nursery rhyme.

Sure. Old days. 

Speaking with Sounders and Timbers supporters nowadays, yeah, they want to beat Whitecaps, but only solely for Cascadia Cup. Caps fans might feel they have a rivalry with Sounders and Timbers, but I'm not sure if that feeling is strongly reciprocated.

My feeling is that if the Caps are no longer part of the Cascadia Cup, they don't really care. 

Certainly Portland vs Seattle is the fiercest rivalry. Caps. They just kinda hang out.

Edited May 10, 2021 by Yohan

[Watchmen]

I think the Seattle and Portland rivalry with Vancouver is a bit dormant right now.  That will happen when Portland and Seattle are combining for 6 straight trips to the finals and 3 MLS Cups, while Vancouver is getting one total playoff win and zero goals in 4 playoff games against Portland and Seattle in their two playoff meetings.  It remains a source of utter frustration to me that the Whitecaps ownership and management watched first Portland win, then Seattle (and then Toronto), and instead of saying "we have to be better" they spun excuses about "how hard it is" and how "spending money doesn't guarantee you anything" and left the team to rot on the vine.  I don't think the rivalry with Portland and Seattle is there right now because I don't think either team view the Whitecaps as anything more than a bump on the road to bigger success, and it's now up to the Whitecaps to rebuild that rivalry and prove that they do matter.

[Unnamed Trialist]

4 hours ago, Watchmen said:

I think the Seattle and Portland rivalry with Vancouver is a bit dormant right now.  That will happen when Portland and Seattle are combining for 6 straight trips to the finals and 3 MLS Cups, while Vancouver is getting one total playoff win and zero goals in 4 playoff games against Portland and Seattle in their two playoff meetings.  It remains a source of utter frustration to me that the Whitecaps ownership and management watched first Portland win, then Seattle (and then Toronto), and instead of saying "we have to be better" they spun excuses about "how hard it is" and how "spending money doesn't guarantee you anything" and left the team to rot on the vine.  I don't think the rivalry with Portland and Seattle is there right now because I don't think either team view the Whitecaps as anything more than a bump on the road to bigger success, and it's now up to the Whitecaps to rebuild that rivalry and prove that they do matter.

Exactly. This is a case of the owners not being up to the task. Just let the team be embarrassed enough by its biggest rival, until you just convince fans it is not a rival at all. Instead of trying to rival your rival. 

A loser mentality, and then the fans buy into it. There is no team I would rather see lose in MLS than Seattle, but the way to stop that, when you have a rival, is to do everything in your power to beat them.

This happens with Espanyol in Barcelona, it is not an equivalent team but the rivalry is powerful and Espanyol has taken leagues away from Barça in late season matches. They don't just lay back and take it.

Maybe a better example is Everton, whose fans have felt this for years, when in fact it has a glorious history, plenty of trophies from the early 20th C,  and has an equivalent fan base and stadium in fact. Only Liverpool going on a run in the 70s altered things, but still: in the 30 years where Liverpool has only won the EPL once, couldn't Everton have taken a league in the face of their rivals, or played Champions when Liverpool sat out? 

[Ruffian]

I see the odds for Whitecaps over Minnesota are very low. Why is Minnesota favoured so much? I took the bet at 3.79 (Decimal, 2.79 American Odds). Montreal seems to be paying out big for a win too, took that!

[Acid-Tone]

Am I the only one who imagines Mr. Thelonius Bair walking into MDS' office one day and telling him he would like try his hand as a CB?  

For whatever reason, it's just not clicking for him at striker/forward.   But he has all the raw physical tools to be a really good CB.  Having the appropriate defensive mentality & instincts are a pre-requisite for the position, and we don't know if he has those, so maybe this never happens...