Vancouver Whitecaps - 2022 Season Thread

[wallflower]

I missed the shots party last night but apparently the starters did not.

Baffled both Jungwirth and Godoy ride bench.

Despite his tremendous start (2019 or 2020?), Baldisimo is  and has not been playing at the right level for his play building. Too many go for the money or the locality versus away (perhaps in strange speaking lands) for the right level to continue to develop.

How injured is Godinho - he had a mess of those recent years past.

Cavallini remains grossly overpaid.

 

[BearcatSA]

4 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Nerwinski out of position, takes a dumb yellow to go with the previous soft yellow, Caps down to 10. 

Nerwinski was clearly exposed in the playoff loss at SKC last year and I didn't see anything different today.

[Watchmen]

Really doesn't get much uglier than that.  I did think TSN's blaming of Hasal was harsh.  Maybe he could have been more vocal, but it's a double deflection on the first goal, Brown failing to track back at all on the 2nd goal, and Columbus dancing through a porous Whitecaps defense on the 4th.

[Watchmen]

18 hours ago, BearcatSA said:

It pains me to say it but Baldisimo was glaringly bad:  soft, no compete level out there.  You can't play him as a lone holding mid in front of the back line on the road against a tough opponent.  He was getting sand kicked in his face.  

He was muscled off the ball quite easily a few times that resulted in huge breaks for Columbus.  I suspect we'll start to see him more with the Next Pro team, mostly because I can't see him getting that many more opportunities with the full team after that performance.

[BearcatSA]

1 hour ago, Watchmen said:

He was muscled off the ball quite easily a few times that resulted in huge breaks for Columbus.  I suspect we'll start to see him more with the Next Pro team, mostly because I can't see him getting that many more opportunities with the full team after that performance.

Though he struggled with consistency and could have a clanger performance now and then, Bikel did give that grit in his midfield role.  Perhaps Berhalter can do that because the other guys, even Owusu, aren't that type of needed player.  

I bet the summer window will feature that kind of acquisition.

[toontownman]

Finally a good 5 minutes from the caps. Great work from Cavallini and Guiterez very unlucky not to score a great goal. 

Hasal has been better tonight so far but I am yet to be convinced in his leadership organizing the back and positioning. Some big stops and a great tackle/clearance to stop a break away goal.

[Shway]

Whitecaps announcers are so boring…

does one of them do the briers?

[narduch]

The colour commentator is Canada's 1986 World Cup keeper 

[prairiecanuck]

34 minutes ago, toontownman said:

Finally a good 5 minutes from the caps. Great work from Cavallini and Guiterez very unlucky not to score a great goal. 

Hasal has been better tonight so far but I am yet to be convinced in his leadership organizing the back and positioning. Some big stops and a great tackle/clearance to stop a break away goal.

quit being hard on the young kid from Saskatoon.  He's from Saskatoon!  He's also 6'4 and only 22 years old!

[Unnamed Trialist]

Is this Caps team well coached?

There are signs of serious problems all over the pitch. No coordinated press. Players trying to sort out assignments between each other and even bitching at each other. No pressure on the ball. Players backing up when they have a rival in front, like 14-year olds do when they are told to play in a line. Late to help with coverage all over the pitch. 

With the ball, bad decisions galore. In a match with way too much space overall for both teams, a very loosely played game. NYCFC was the best team in the league last year, right.

What mostly gets me is the sense that Vanni sees none of this. 

[Club Linesman]

Today was a perfect example of the club results vs development for country.  Without having the specific stats in front of me I bet I watched more Canadian players in the MLS today than at any other time.  Watched the full 6 hours.  
Club results were absolute garbage really, but watching so many Canadians on the pitch made it palatable.  This bodes well for the CMNT and it was also very nice seeing some CPL content take the field.  Many of those Canadians are no where near the CMNT which is also incredible as about 5 years ago anyone playing in this league was on the national squad.  We have come a long way.

[toontownman]

50 minutes ago, prairiecanuck said:

quit being hard on the young kid from Saskatoon.  He's from Saskatoon!  He's also 6'4 and only 22 years old!

That was a warm hug in comparison to how much DeGuzman and Kilbane ripped him apart on TSN last week. He has looked pretty good today. Still stand by my comments though thats where he needs to improve to fight Breza for that 3rd keeper spot. 

Incredible save from him just now btw!

Edit: probably motm for caps. 

Edited March 6, 2022 by toontownman

[Unnamed Trialist]

27 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Is this Caps team well coached?

There are signs of serious problems all over the pitch. No coordinated press. Players trying to sort out assignments between each other and even bitching at each other. No pressure on the ball. Players backing up when they have a rival in front, like 14-year olds do when they are told to play in a line. Late to help with coverage all over the pitch. 

With the ball, bad decisions galore. In a match with way too much space overall for both teams, a very loosely played game. NYCFC was the best team in the league last year, right.

What mostly gets me is the sense that Vanni sees none of this. 

Was a bit better 2nd half, just because they were a bit more aggressive, but still, a thin performance. I'll take the point, and hope they really think they can improve.

[prairiecanuck]

6 minutes ago, toontownman said:

That was a warm hug in comparison to how much DeGuzman and Kilbane ripped him apart on TSN last week. He has looked pretty good today. Still stand by my comments though thats where he needs to improve to fight Breza for that 3rd keeper spot. 

Incredible save from him just now btw!

Season opener, you're now the number 1.  Kid faced a lot of pressure last week.  I'm from Saskatoon, so I can't give an  unbiased opinion.  Kid had a couple great saves today!  22 is awfully young for a keeper.  Lots of room for him to develop.   

Edited March 6, 2022 by prairiecanuck

[toontownman]

For sure, on all points. No lack of love or support from me. TSN guys were overly harsh last week in my opinion. Those are the areas he needs to grow though and that will come the more he gets experience. This is his 18th pro appearance for the caps, he will get there but those are the two things he needs to improve on imo. He is already a tremendous shot stopper and has tremendous upside. 

[BearcatSA]

5 hours ago, Shway said:

Whitecaps announcers are so boring…

does one of them do the briers?

TBH, there wasn't much too get excited about.  Hasal saved the point with his sharp reflex save near the end.  The most energy the fans showed was in booing the play-acting Chanot any time he had the ball.

Edited March 6, 2022 by BearcatSA

[BearcatSA]

1 hour ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

With the ball, bad decisions galore.

You can say that again.

Two of the worst were Dajome and Caicedo.  

 

 

[Watchmen]

16 hours ago, BearcatSA said:

You can say that again.

Two of the worst were Dajome and Caicedo.  

I hate singling out just two.  I thought Teibert and Owusu in the middle were incredibly guilty of poor passes that caused counter attacks.  Nothing frustrates me more than a sloppy pass under no pressure.  I am interested to see how the team looks once Alexander is up to speed.  In theory, he'd be that deep lying player that can move it up to the attackers in a hurry, something Teibert can't do at all and Owusu is inconsistent at.

[Watchmen]

17 hours ago, toontownman said:

That was a warm hug in comparison to how much DeGuzman and Kilbane ripped him apart on TSN last week. He has looked pretty good today. Still stand by my comments though thats where he needs to improve to fight Breza for that 3rd keeper spot. 

Incredible save from him just now btw!

Edit: probably motm for caps. 

Agreed.  TSN's commentators came off pretty lazy last week, just looking at the score and then blaming the goalie for it.  A couple of nice saves this week, though there's room for improvement.  Still, it's nice to see the Whitecaps having actually developed one of their young goalies for once.

[BearcatSA]

8 hours ago, Watchmen said:

I hate singling out just two.  I thought Teibert and Owusu in the middle were incredibly guilty of poor passes that caused counter attacks.  Nothing frustrates me more than a sloppy pass under no pressure.  I am interested to see how the team looks once Alexander is up to speed.  In theory, he'd be that deep lying player that can move it up to the attackers in a hurry, something Teibert can't do at all and Owusu is inconsistent at.

Those two mids had errors of execution (inaccurate pass, poor first touch), whereas with the Colombians I saw poor play choices, usually involving holding the ball too long.  Caicedo killed off a great chance from a counterattack by dithering, while Dajome held on too long and had the ball nicked off him resulting in an NYCFC serious counter in the second half.

They need a midfield general to boss it as well as the back line.  But those kind of guys are high risk DPs because of the wear on their tires (i.e. Schweinsteigger, Gerrard).  Maybe Bradley in his early years at TFC is a successful example but the guy currently wearing the Caps captain's armband is an ownership legacy who at best is a supporting cast role player. 

Bikel's gone, so the search for a Diego Chara continues.  At least find that guy, Axel!

Edited March 7, 2022 by BearcatSA

[Unnamed Trialist]

I was angry, nervous and ripping at them, but am very happy with the point.

If there is a positive curve, if Cava and White can combine, I think folks will come along. 

[Watchmen]

10 hours ago, BearcatSA said:

Those two mids had errors of execution (inaccurate pass, poor first touch), whereas with the Colombians I saw poor play choices, usually involving holding the ball too long.  Caicedo killed off a great chance from a counterattack by dithering, while Dajome held on too long and had the ball nicked off him resulting in an NYCFC serious counter in the second half.

They need a midfield general to boss it as well as the back line.  But those kind of guys are high risk DPs because of the wear on their tires (i.e. Schweinsteigger, Gerrard).  Maybe Bradley in his early years at TFC is a successful example but the guy currently wearing the Caps captain's armband is an ownership legacy who at best is a supporting cast role player. 

Bikel's gone, so the search for a Diego Chara continues.  At least find that guy, Axel!

Dajome going on a nice run...and effectively running out of bounds was just brutal.  Caicedo does not look like a striker and they need to stop playing him up front.

I did think Cavalini looked better than he did last year.  Still took the dumb yellow though.

[BearcatSA]

4 minutes ago, Watchmen said:

Dajome going on a nice run...and effectively running out of bounds was just brutal.  Caicedo does not look like a striker and they need to stop playing him up front.

I did think Cavalini looked better than he did last year.  Still took the dumb yellow though.

Neither Colombian is what I would call a high soccer IQ guy.  This level is probably their ceiling.  Caicedo is better as a change of pace attacking sub.  Dajome should be starting up top.

Cavallini battled hard, looks healthy, and looks committed.  It was good to see.  Unfortunately, I don't see him and White as complementary starters in front of Gauld.  I prefer Dajome as part of that attacking trident, so one of those two may be on the outside looking in.

[Watchmen]

Rachel Lewis, gone. 

 

[BearcatSA]

^I am betting that the Caps will be following the Canucks' management hiring plan and bring on board a female assistant general manager to Schuster to help oversee soccer operations, or something in that vein:  perhaps someone to do Anderson's gig?

Edited March 9, 2022 by BearcatSA