IF I WERE AXEL with 1 departing goalie, plus another wanting out, it leaves the field wide-open for thomas hasal to be the #1-- its sweet good fortune for the 22 year old, a bit young to be the starter, but he has to be licking at the chops to be #1 being Axel, i would bring in an MLS experienced back-up goalie at a low cost, promote a young goalie within the Club to be #3 , then wait and see what hasal can do- i wouldnt rush out to spend a lot of money until thomas shows us whether or not he can do the job game in-game out- we will know by May the Caps need another goal scorer, unless cava shows well in pre-season- having some quality depth bodes well for 2022- but as Axel has said... it must be the right player who can happily play within sartini's style and fit in with the players
apparently, the Caps have shown enough interest in colo colo (Chile) striker, Ivan Morales- the Caps have reportedly made an offer of $400K- his scoring record is about 1 goal every 4 games, not a sizzling pace, but he is 22 from GlassCity: I’ve been reading more on Morales and he seems like a real piece of work. Not the kind of player you’d expect Axel to sign … more of a Robbo kind of guy. ... (apparently there is a DUI) looking at the Caps last 4 signings, 2 of which would have seemed dubious- white, jungwirth), and pedro vite (visa problems), and the dynamic ryan gauld, the scouting department and Axel have been very shrewd; and Axel also gave the coaching reins to sartini- and everything came out GOLDEN my guess is that both blackmon and morales will also turn out to be good signings- this is a different leadership group, unlike the previous 10 years of dismal signings its going to be interesting to see what happens with the goalie position, but i believe axel, the scouts and the coaching staff will get it right
WHATS COMING BEFORE THE SEASON STARTS my guess is DEFINITELY an experienced goalie to back-up Hasal whether or not Axel signs the Chile striker is not important i think he will wait and see what Cavalinnii, ricketts, vite can do on the attacking side any serious spending will be done in june-july
still on the Caps roster, but his contract ended january 1-- i guess he is training with the Caps without a contract - not sure the Club will sign him, but i think he has something to offer younger players - maybe the MLS Pro team or BC League 1 or in the CPL quality guy and probably will head into the management side of soccer- he is finishing a sports degree
https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/vancouver-whitecaps-fc-re-sign-goalkeeper-isaac-boehmer "Isaac is a good young goalkeeper who works hard, continues to grow, and will also see minutes with our MLS NEXT Pro team,” sporting director Axel Schuster said in a release. “We have a great group of young Canadian keepers, and we will add some additional experience to the group in the coming weeks.”
Why wasn't he simply kept on board instead of being released then re-signed? Boehmer seems like just-another-guy type of player whose ceiling in the Caps is NEXT Pro. Perhaps they just needed a BC guy from outside the Lower Mainland on the roster to provide a bump for their Academy brand east and north of Hope.
Haven't seen any talk about a new Caps jersey? Don't MLS teams usually change one of them each season?
Good news for Canadian MLS teams: https://www.sportsnet.ca/article/ml...rding-international-slots-for-canadian-teams/
yes, that is a good rule change. But, as usual, Garber's rules are never simple and have 6 layers to get through to the point. The player and salary rules are so ridiculously convoluted and deep; its amazing teams can keep up with it all. A few years back someone online made a "flow chart" of MLS player rules and it was both amazing and staggering and sad at the same time.
YUP... BEGINNING TO GET DEPRESSED: its evident that Axel should have done more to address the biggest issue on the Caps--- the MF is seriously weak and its becoming obvious that the group of MF players is more tier 2-3 level of the USL and would be ok at the CPL level- it really is that weak !! thinking that alexandre would be ready to go and would be the addition needed was folly this is beginning to be a repeat of the Spring of 2021... maybe even worse- and only 1 goal in 3 games says it all - brian white's return should help and there should be an uptick in goals and for ryan gauld - but that wont be enough i dont see how axel can wait for the end of euro leagues in May- 2 things fans want- to be competitive and to be entertaining... on both fronts it is a colossal failure- where he goes to find quality MFs in March is a mystery- he chose to wait and see how the team started- we have the answer now what will Axel do ?? he has painted himself into a corner and waiting until June-July is a longgggg wait apparently gyasi zardes- a striker with columbus and with a scoring history in the 12-15 goal range- is available - that would be 1 need filled
What can he do? All he has is the cap and allocation monies. No way Kerfoot springs for another Gauld level salary. I was highly disappointed they essentially did nothing in the off season (the moves were lateral to marginal). He may get frustrated and move on at some point; the problem is still the owner. He will improve marginally by a couple of players. Team needs healthy Gauld and White!
so what would you do with Cavallini ?? do you think that sartini makes it until june? so whats your take on why the 3 suspended FO staff- the lenarduzzi brothers and greg anderson- are in limbo, unlike rachel lewis that resigned to save face ? (i know you were a lewis fan)
Rachel Lewis was an enabler of the abuse and did nothing but take marching orders from the boss. No respect for her. I suspect she took the resignation route as she has another opportunity lined up (nobody cares about this scandal outside of hardcore fans and most people are just finding it nice and convenient to blame Birarda and forget that he was enabled significantly for over 2 years to operate with impunity). The other guys, they are just hanging out taking their paychecks I presume.
GETTING INTO HIS HEAD while it has been another frustrating, disappointing start to the season (sitting in 28th spot in MLS), Club Pres, Axel Schuster, deliberately let the team unfold after the miraculous and hugely entertaining 2021 he decided to wait and see what would be needed to take the Caps to the next level-- well, he got his answer-- got a long way to go- this is a tier 3 level team with so many holes -- it has 5 MLS level quality players- gauld, white, dajome, caicado, gutierrez, veselinovic; some borderline quality players- brown when he is motivated and owusu, some sub players in jungwirth, raposo, hasal, vite i am not even going there with Cavalinni and the too often injured alexandre and godoy BUT with cubas now coming in and the potential for 2 more to be added by june, the team can begin its journey up the ladder to the owners credit (and i have been a HUGE critic), they have ponied up the $$$ now its time for Axel and the scouting staff to do their jobs and i do expect them to get us to a competitive level - will it be too late for 2022 ??
I have a hard time believing that Raposo would be on another MLS roster if he wasn't with the Caps but perhaps his niche is as run-around guy like Erik Hurtado, who is still floating around the league in a journeyman forward role. I often have feeling that Teibert and Nerwinski are here because they are favourites of ownership
Raposo is not good enough unfortunately for him. Teibert is a legacy player; I can assume they will keep him until he retires. And then put his name up in the circle with the others just because he is really the only player in the MLS era that has an identity with the Caps. Everyone else has been in and out. In a salary cap world, clubs will be stuck keeping sub par players like Nerwinski . He gives you a 100 percent so that is why they keep him around. Objectively, he is not MLS caliber and if they ever raise that salary cap to a better number ,players like him will need to be in USL or CPL.
When I think of these players, I am always reminded of the late, great Guy Lafleur's comments about the Habs from six years ago being made up of four fourth lines and Carey Price. Yes, it's the institutionalized mediocrity...er..."parity" of MLS where it seems like a different club gets its 15 minutes of being a one eyed king, but the Caps are steadily progressing towards the all-time levels of ineptitude. Toronto is coming to town on Sunday with its own defensive struggles and depth issues, while Valour comes mid week. These are absolute must win games for the Caps.
Well, they beat Toronto. Nice to see a win once in a while, but TFC was robbed in that goal that was called back and their player kicked an atrocious penalty. We can take the points though!
Major League Soccer (MLS) Julian Gressel to join Vancouver Whitecaps FC following a trade with D.C. United.
I like some of the new roster moves but with covid, injuries, etc I wonder if we will get the best starting 11 anytime this year? Also, will these additions make Teibert a bench guy or will he start forever so he can continue to whack the ball over the net whenever he tries a shot?
Vancouver almost beat the odds (after having about a 1% chance a month or so ago), if only the wouldn't have such a terrible start to the season... (and that should have also been a VAR / PK just before the half yesterday) Ownership I know too little about if they made the not only mandated changes after the legal findings, but also others that the Southsiders and Co demanded. Any more insight would be welcome. Front Office / Staff I'm happy with Axel Schuster overall approach and I think most recent signings had a big positive impact on the team I'm biased and like Vanni Sartini a lot, hope he gets another shot next year. Feel like he made progress and learned a lot compared to 2021. Team For me Gressel, Cubas and Gauld are the most important players to continue build. the defense should be a main focus to improve. I assume Cavallini is off, so definitely another starting striker so White isn't the main guy.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/what-the-2022-mls-season-meant-for-vancouver-whitecaps-fc https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/three-big-questions-following-vancouver-whitecaps-fc-s-2022-season