Coffee with the Caps, Friday March 4

Good Friday morning Caps fans, hope you all are winding down for the week and have enjoyable plans for the weekend.

Perhaps those plans involve a trip to BC Place, where the Caps will be playing in their home opener against NYCFC on Saturday afternoon.

Not sure about you all, but the practice of actually scheduling games on Saturday and not on far-flung days of the week has messed with my mind. I mean, sure, MLS is actually doing what every other soccer league in the world is doing but since when have I come to expect that?

Hopefully those of you in the Vancouver area don’t have this problem and are already planning your pre-match drinking habits, what shirt and scarf to wear to the match and other important matters.

The foe, NYCFC, will be a difficult one, though they looked fallible in their opening match against LA Galaxy and will be forced to hike all the way across the country for a date with the Caps.

Moreover, the Caps have some good vibes when they play NYCFC in Vancouver. I harken back to the Yordy Reyna winner in the year of our lord 2017, which feels about as long ago as the turn of the millennium. This is the most talented team the Caps have had since that 2017 squad and did we mention NYCFC had to fly across the country? Don’t give up hope yet folks.

Still, as if to twist the knife in after a rough defensive display in the opener, Derek Cornelius appears to be in good form in the Greek Super League, where he is on loan until the end of the MLS season. I understood the loan move at the time but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t rather have the DC cruiser in the lineup over Jake Nerwinski (I would rather Erik Godoy over both of them, however).

Saturday will be a big test for the defense, with Jake Nerwinski’s red card giving them a chance to hit the reset button. Whether that attempt will be successful or if it will be like me trying to fax something earlier this week (it ended with the printer getting a good smack or two in frustration), well, that remains to be seen.

Onto the links ...

Best of the Rest

The long awited MLS NEXT Pro season (OK, long awaited by me) kicks off on March 26

An interesting look at MLS through the eyes of an anonymous team executive survey

Alphonso Davies is “on the road to recovery” but his status for the next international break appears to be in doubt

For the first time in forever, Houston Dynamo have made a statement signing, nabbing Hector Herrera from Atletico Madrid

The grade is in on the Caps’ offseason and they pass ... barely