We begged Vancouver’s front office, for years, to get a third high-level DP. One more piece to give them a puncher’s chance in the biggest games against the best teams.
This summer they finally complied. And in so doing, they bumped a typically pretty decent ‘Caps side up to “best version of the Whitecaps in their MLS history.”
It still wasn’t quite enough. In we go:
There wasn’t much movement from the 2023 version of the ‘Caps to the 2024 version – at least until the summer window. And so the decision-makers came in for a lot of criticism from the likes of me, and Wiebe, and Sacha and Brad, and the rest of the gang on Season Pass whenever a camera was turned on or a mic shoved in our faces.
“They’re a good team,” the refrain went, “but they lack that one extra piece to make them a legitimate threat against the best in the region.”
We saw that play out before the season even started, as they lost a Concacaf Champions Cup home-and-home vs. Tigres. We saw it play out in April with a big loss to the Galaxy, and in May with a blowout loss to LAFC. We saw it in Leagues Cup, when they couldn’t hang against a very good Pumas UNAM side in the Round of 32.
But right around the time of that Pumas loss, they added Scottish central midfielder Stuart Armstrong as that third DP. I was skeptical – Armstrong’s approaching his mid-30s – and he certainly didn’t arrive match-fit. He barely played any role as the ‘Caps stumbled down the stretch and into the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs, where just about everybody expected them to lose in the Wild Card vs. Portland.
It didn’t work out like that. Instead, Armstrong was awesome as a midfield connector in Vanni Sartini’s modified 4-3-2-1, freeing up Ryan Gauld to go all-out in attack. The ‘Caps won 5-0 in just their second postseason victory in club history.
They then went toe-to-toe with LAFC in the next round, arguably outplaying the Black & Gold over the course of three games – the second of which was a 3-0 home win that was probably the best performance, when adjusting for both stakes and degree of difficulty, in club history.
As I said above, it still wasn’t enough: LAFC won Game 3, which is why I’m writing Vancouver’s post-mortem instead. But last year’s meeting between these two teams was a slaughter. This year’s was two evenly matched sides throwing haymakers for 270 minutes.
I am juiced by what I saw from the ‘Caps.
Gauld posted 10g/15a in the regular season, then poured in another 5g/1a in the postseason. He also added a pair of goals in the Canadian Championship, which the ‘Caps won for a third straight time.
Brian White had 16g/2a across all competitions, continuing to be the rugged and reliable reference point for the attack. Fafà Picault chipped in with 10g/8a across all competitions himself.
Nobody’s going to mistake this gang for Inter Miami, and there are probably some postseason questions White needs to answer after his close-but-no-cigar performance vs. LAFC. But this group remains an excellent argument for prioritizing fit when constructing an attacking group. Their skill sets are almost perfectly complementary.
In an ideal world, they wouldn’t have had to sign Armstrong since Pedro Vite would’ve become that guy. But the 22-year-old had a year that oscillated between “ineffective” and “indifferent.” Ralph Priso barely featured, managing fewer than 800 minutes. Édier Ocampo and Giuseppe Bovalina, combined, played less than half that.
Nobody under the age of 24 got significant minutes in attack. Ali Ahmed, in his age 23 season, did not take the huge step forward in midfield many had been hoping for.
There has to be more progress from these guys next year.
- Ryan Gauld (AM/FW): Is at his best as a raumdeuter, floating around the attack off of White’s movement without having to worry about dropping in to orchestrate.
- Brian White (FW): Does the non-negotiables – take space here, be a physical presence there, pounce on a rebound now – as well as any No. 9 in the league.
- Stuart Armstrong (CM): More of a high-level connector than a true playmaker, his presence in the lineup was a force magnifier for everybody around him.
- Andrés Cubas (DM): Still one of the best d-mids in the league, and is in his absolute prime.
- Ranko Veselinović (CB): Hasn’t quite developed into a Best XI-caliber guy, but it felt like he took another step forward this season.
Now that all three DP slots are filled with guys who can’t be bought down – Gauld, Cubas and Armstrong – the only way for Vancouver to get another high-level, match-winning piece who could potentially make the difference in a playoff series against the likes of LAFC is to either:
- Develop one from within, or…
- Buy an elite U22 Initiative kid, who would also require development.
I’m not going to say “and that’s the thing Vancouver have been worst at,” because guys like Veselinović, Ahmed and Sebastian Berhalter are better now than they were two years ago. Hell, so are Gauld, White and Cubas. Vanni can make guys better.
But it hasn’t been his strong suit – at least, not in a “get a 20-year-old project and six months later he’s Andrés Gómez” type of way. I mean, just look at the guy whose departure is almost certain, and would open up a U22 slot in the first place: Déiber Caicedo. He was really promising in 2021. And since then he’s regressed… and regressed… and regressed.
Looking at the ‘Caps right now I see a 55-point team; maybe even 60 with some injury luck and a bit better shot-stopping from Yohei Takaoka.
They can climb higher. One more big signing. One more developmental gambit. The mountaintop is in sight.
