Coffee with the Caps, Monday January 23

Good Monday morning Caps fans, hope you all had a relaxing weekend and are gearing up for everything this week has in store for you. We’re sending good vibes here from CWTC HQ.

First things first, many of you likely saw the news Friday related to Vox’s layoffs and its impact on the MLS SB Nation sites.

There is much that remains unknown for your friendly Whitecaps blog but we are committed to continuing this venture in some form, even if it is without the support of SB Nation.

In some sense we are all fortunate here at 86 Forever, as we all have day jobs that pay the bills and do this as a labor of love (though getting paid isn’t the worst thing in the world).

My heart, however, goes out to all the talented journalists who were affected by the news. My day job is in journalism so the volatile nature of the industry is no surprise to me but that doesn’t take the sting out of short-sighted ideas like this.

MLS has seen impressive growth in the past decade-and-a-half — but future growth is far from guaranteed. The SB Nation sites were often the most robust outlet covering the developments of their local teams — or, at the very least, represented a key community for fans and writers to congregate.

That is always how I think of 86 Forever. A place for great writing and analysis about the Whitecaps, to be sure. But also as a kind of hangout or bar where fans can come — and we’ll always leave the light on for you.

There are lots of great people doing Whitecaps content these days — but there are far fewer than there were when I first became a fan. That is true for many other teams as well, cuts driven by the nosedive of newspapers, ambivalence of local radio and TV and moves like what happened Friday.

Our job isn’t to ensure that MLS grows. But you wonder how many new fans will want to live and die with the fortunes of their local team if there is no one there to chronicle it.

Speaking of local teams, there is some actual on-the-pitch action to break down (not just navel gazing).

The Caps fell to Wolfsberger AC 2-1 on Saturday in the final pre-season friendly of their trip to the Costa del Sol. There was no stream for this one, so I had to subside off of a highlight package.

The Caps’ lone goal was scored off a lovely individual run from Ali Ahmed, who played it for Cristian Dajome to nab the lead in the first half. Pedro Vite also seemed to put in a good outing, creating problems for Wolfsberger.

Quality seemed to slip as the reserves got some action in the second half, with one of the goals stemming from a whiff from Thomas Hasal (ironically the goalscorer was Tai Baribo, the man the Caps have been linked with at striker).

We won’t see the team in action for over a week, with the Caps having to head back to Vancouver before being routed down to Palm Springs for a tournament against MLS sides, which will probably tell us more about where this team is at.

If you want highlights, the Caps’ social media team has you covered:

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