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Good Friday morning Caps fans, hope you all are having a good week and that the end is nigh for your work responsibilities.
It is the most trying of periods: the international break. Though this will really just be a warmup for the offseason that is all too quickly approaching, given the awkward timing of this pre-World Cup tune-up breaking up the last couple weeks of the MLS regular season.
It is still a busy period for at least Caps player, though ironically it is a guy who hasn’t featured in a hot minute for his club: Lucas Cavallini.
Despite what has been an up-and-down season for Cava (with both highlights and lowlights of his own making), he still seems to have a shot to play his way onto the plane to Qatar in November.
John Herdman does, after all, seem to have an affinity for Cava, despite his struggles to find the back of the net and keep himself from stomping on opponents. And with a set of forwards that is heavy on youth (albeit with a heaping side dose of European experience), it makes sense to have a veteran that can be called upon to come off the bench in big matches.
Still, given Cava’s form, one imagines this will be a big pair of friendlies as he goes up alongside guys like Theo Corbeanu and Iké Ugbo, both of whom have been in good form in Europe.
Canada’s friendlies against Qatar and Uruguay (the former kicking off shortly after you read this) will be a good measuring stick for the MLS guys who made the roster, notably Langley native Joel Waterman. It is a testament to the improvement of Canada’s player pool that there are really about a half dozen outfield players from the three domestic MLS teams.
For the Caps, Cava has become their only real hope of seeing a player in Qatar in 2022 (the days where the team seemed to rep half the Costa Rican national team have long since ended). And despite the mixed feelings many fans have about the striker, I’m pretty sure there will be pretty much a unanimous hope that he can make the cut — even if he doesn’t remain a Caps player much longer.
Oh, and some good international break news — Andres Cubas will not travel with the Paraguay National Team for their friendlies and will instead remain in Vancouver to work out his abductor injury. While Vanni Sartini was a bit coy, there seems to be a better than even chance Cubas is on the field when the Caps return against Austin FC.
#VWFC Vanni asked by @SaritaReports on Cubas.
— Har Journalist (@HarJournalist) September 22, 2022
“We’ll try to make him ready to join and train with the team at the beginning of next week. If he’s going to be able to do this he will be available for selection in the game against Austin. All indicators are that he’s doing well."
More on what is at stake in the friendlies for Canada
There is an absolute batsh*t UEFA Super Cup redux making the rounds, where UEFA would have the three European champions play an MLS team. Make it make sense
No Caps cracked MLS’ annual 22 under 22 list but Canadians had a hefty presence
The offseason must be close because we’re getting aging European stars to MLS rumors (this time its Sergio Busquets to Inter Miami)
