Coffee with the Caps, Friday November 25

Good Friday morning Caps fans, hope you all are gearing up for the weekend. If you are in the U.S., I wish you a belated happy Thanksgiving. Because of the holiday weekend this will be a more abbreviated column than usual.

If you’re reading this, odds are your weekend will likely include the Canadian National Team’s bout with Croatia on Sunday. And, if you’re reading this, you likely are still bumming from how Wednesday’s match played out.

I won’t dwell on Canada’s 1-0 loss to Belgium due to the pain that will likely cause most of our readers, but I will say that at least Canada was good value for getting a result against easily the best team in that group (which is more than I likely will be able to say about the U.S. after their game Friday against England).

Obviously, much is being debated about the refereeing and, while I didn’t watch the match live, my review of the relevant highlights would make me tend to agree with those gripes. The missed Eden Hazard back pass, in particular, was scandalous.

Canada’s fans waited a long time to be able to watch that game. And while they will be disappointed to not have scored a goal (I am not 100% sure why Alphonso Davies was allowed to take the penalty but oh well), their goalless drought will not last much longer if they continue to play as they did.

I would argue that, despite the loss, they easily looked the most dangerous CONCACAF team (an admittedly low bar, but still). While the confederation has yet to mark a landmark victory, such as Saudi Arabia or Japan beating Argentina and Germany, Canada seems the most likely to have such a result in their locker. Here’s to that result coming Sunday.

Shameless Self Promotion

Who should the Caps be targeting at center back? Well, Caleb has some ideas in the latest of his sensible transfers series

Best of the Rest

A look at how Brampton has produced just so many Canadian national teamers

Maxime Crepeau talks about the pain of missing the World Cup adventure

Celtic are reportedly in advanced talks to sign Alistair Johnston from CF Montreal, a major step up for the young centerback

Saint Louis FC, meanwhile, are set to nab Jake Nerwinski on a free. A win for all parties, as Jake gets a new start and the Caps can move on

Atlanta United name Seattle executive Garth Langerway as their new president