Coffee with the Caps, Friday March 24

Good Friday morning Caps fans, hope you all had a good week and are enjoying the fact that it is now officially springtime.

In Caps-world, it was a painful week, with confirmation that Sergio Cordova will miss the next six-to-eight weeks after coming off injured over the weekend against LA Galaxy. The striker position, already a question mark, has become even more of a problem.

I feel for Cordova, who never looked entirely fit or up to speed in his first few matches, was asked to sacrifice himself in the away leg at Real Espana in CONCACAF Champions League play and has done everything he has been asked so far.

But when the Caps elected to make him the much sought after DP striker, there were certainly lots of worries about the wisdom of the move. While there is nothing stopping Cordova for returning for the second half of the season and kicking on once fully fit, the Caps are certainly paying — for the time being — for their questionable decision.

A familiar face could be waiting in the wings to save the day: Camilo (a sentence 2013 me never thought I would write).

Yes, that guy is being linked with a move back to Vancouver and, despite initial confusion that this meant a transfer to Vancouver FC, it appears to be the Whitecaps who have been registering some interest.

I held off on broaching this rumor, as it was unclear of its legitimacy early on. But now there certainly seems to be enough smoke indicating a mutual interest in bringing the club’s most notorious Brazilian striker back to Vancouver.

We’ll set aside the obvious indictment that this move would be on the Cordova signing and instead will try to evaluate the merits of the idea. And, personally, I don’t hate it.

Even at 34 years of age, Camilo has been scoring at a decent clip for Toluca. In nine matches (only one of which he started), he has registered two goals and two assists. In the Clausura, this was six goals and an assist in 17 appearances/five starts. In the last year, he is slightly outperforming his expected goals rate.

Make no mistake, this is not the goal scoring rate of the guy who left Vancouver a decade ago. This is nothing more than a depth signing meant to compliment — not replace — Brian White. With Cordova’s absence, one imagines the talisman himself, Simon Becher, will be getting more minutes as well.

But Camilo remains a creative presence, as well as a marksman, and would seem to be a nice compliment to White, who has looked much better this season and seems like a decent bet to pop off in the league once he starts finishing off some of the really good chances he’s worked early this season.

If the signing is to happen, there will need to be some sort of public acknowledgement on the part of Camilo about the circumstances surrounding his departure and an apology to fans for the turmoil it caused.

But the club is not in a place where it can be terribly picky. Limited cap flexibility and the folly of past transfers mean that a Camilo-like guy is the best option available. Might as well go with someone one is familiar with MLS and Vancouver and has a proven record of scoring in Liga MX.

Fredy Montero would seem to be a pretty good analog for the expectations we can christen on Camilo and if he comes in and performs like Fredy did, it would seem to be a pretty helpful development. Enough to get Vancouver to the playoffs? Unlikely. But it would help bolster depth.

Best of the Rest

An interesting sit down with Julian Gressel and what he says his future might be in Vancouver

A look at how Vanni Sartini uses zonal marking and the reasons behind one of the most hotly contested parts of Sartini’s tactical arsenal

Javain Brown and Andres Cubas will be called up to their respective national teams — but MLS’ regular season marches on

Canada will resume CONCACAF Nations League play Saturday night against Curacao. A look at who to watch when that happens