Coffee with the Caps, Monday May 16

Good Monday morning Caps fans, hoping you all had enjoyed the chaos of Saturday’s match and had a relaxing rest of your weekend to boot.

Goals were flowing freely Saturday, as both Vancouver and San Jose showed why they rank towards the bottom of the league defensively (in San Jose’s case, at the very bottom).

Anytime you can come back (twice no less) to get a result, you have to feel good. And anytime you get ripped open at the back to ship three goals, you have to feel not good. Plus, it isn’t as if the Quakes are lighting the world on fire at the moment, making a draw at home to be a result of dubious value.

Still, there were positives to take away, including the resurgence of Lucas Cavallini, who has gone from everyone asking “Who can we pawn him off to?” to outplaying Brian White and making a case for punching his ticket to Qatar 2022.

Cava’s seven shots underscores his effectiveness, though the fact that he only walked away with the one goal will have to be disappointing, as he could have had a half trick quite easily. The fact that Ryan Raposo is the team’s leading scorer underlines that Cavallini has not been as efficient of a finisher as, say, White was at his zenith last season.

But the fact that El Tanque has been as productive as he has with either no Ryan Gauld or very limited involvement from the Scottish Messi shows that the ceiling is much higher than his goal scoring tally to date. The fact that Cavallini looks motivated and he is contributing to the team in a more holistic way underscores that he could be in the mix for the Caps’ leading scorer come season’s end — and he will need to be a big piece of the puzzle if there is a turnaround to be engineered here.

Speaking of Raposo, full credit to him for another excellent performance. It appears he is finally looking like the player the Caps drafted in 2020 and has really seemed to thrive in the 4-2-2-2, as his blend of controlled attacking prowess, finishing ability and passing combine with a desire to track back. In short, he has proven to Vanni Sartini that he fits quite well what his manager is looking for in an attacking player and minutes have flowed accordingly. If you had “Raposo becoming undropable” on your bingo card to the start the year, congratulations, because it has come to fruition.

And while the less said about the defense in that one the better (another rough match for Florian Jungwirth suggests the magic spell may have finally broken), we should finally acknowledge the contribution of Erik Godoy.

Godoy was by far the most assured of the centerbacks and had the fewest mistakes. It is easy to play down his importance to the team given his injury history and the fact that other players were able to slot in and help out quite effectively last season.

But the struggles among CBs this season has put into stark relief the value Godoy still holds. The fact that he netted the equalizer was a just reward for a solid match and really a solid run of form ever since he returned from injury. Here’s hoping he is able to stay out of the physio’s room and remain on the pitch.

Shameless Self Promotion

For all the thrilling details from the 3-3 goalfest, Luis has the match recap. And Caleb runs down an interesting slate of report card grades.

Best of the Rest

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MLS has not ruled out the possibility of adding a team in San Diego, even though one imagines Las Vegas remains the frontrunner for the next expansion side

Portland absolutely battered Sporting KC on Saturday night, winning 7-2 and causing the usually dependable SKC to fall into an existential tailspin

An interesting look at who was the Caps’ manager when its current roster was signed. Seems telling ...