Whitecaps season wrap: A dime short of a dollar

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It was a good season for the Vancouver Whitecaps. A B-minus, if you looked it up on head coach Vanni Sartini’s grade scale.

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They saw another domestic cup added to the trophy case, and back-to-back playoff appearances for just the second time in a decade, where they doubled the team’s historical total of post-season victories in just a single season.

Good, yes. But good enough?

The team had better performance analytics than the previous season, and pushed regular-season conference champion LAFC to the absolute brink in the payoffs, but ultimately it was another first-round exit after another mediocre regular-season finish.

“We missed 10 cents to make a dollar,” Sartini mused at the year-end availability on Tuesday.

It was the final leg of the regular season, a seven-game winless run, that cost the Caps their spot in the top-four in the West and set up a meeting with LAFC in the first round, instead of deeper in the post-season. Even in the first-round series itself, it was a few percentage points either way that had L.A. moving on, and the Whitecaps planning the festivities around Ryan Gauld’s summer wedding in Scotland instead.

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“To be good when … it’s not able for us to be very good, I think that’s the next step,” said Sartini. “When we were in form or we had the possibility to work one week between games, we had the record that was probably top three in MLS. … And then we had two parts of the season, one right before the summer and one right before the end of the regular season, where we did (nine) points in 11 games.

“When you can’t shoot for the moon … you have to at least to try to do the basics and go for the sky instead of falling down. It’s a good learning lesson for the next year.”

2023 SEASON

Record: 12-10-12 (6th West, 13th overall)
Goals for: 55
Goals against: 48
Top MLS goalscorer: Brian White (15)
Top overall goalscorer: Brian White (16)

Won Canadian Championship, made Champions League quarterfinals, lost first round MLS Cup playoffs

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2024 SEASON

Record: 13-13-8 (8th West, 14th overall)
Goals for: 52
Goals against: 49
Top MLS goalscorer: Brian White (15)
Top overall goalscorer: Ryan Gauld (17)

Won Canadian Championship, lost in first round of Champions League and MLS Cup playoffs.

KEY UPCOMING DATES

Deadline for contract options: Nov. 27
Free agency opening: Dec. 12
2025 MLS SuperDraft: Dec. 20

— San Diego FC can select up to five current MLS players in the 2024 MLS Expansion Draft. Additionally, the incoming expansion side hold the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 MLS SuperDraft.

OUT OF CONTRACT PLAYERS

Ryan Raposo, $155,000 US salary in 2024

CLUB OPTION YEARS

Alessandro Schöpf, $992,500
Joe Bendik, $116,673
Fafà Picault, $670,000
Yohei Takaoka, $789,713
Deiber Caicedo, $381,125
Ralph Priso, $125,000
Isaac Boehmer, $89,716
Levonte Johnson, $89,716
J.C. Ngando,* $107,715

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*On loan to Las Vegas Lights

OUT OF CONTRACT, OUT OF COUNTRY? 

The Whitecaps have nine players with club options, and just one currently without a contract in 2025: Ryan Raposo. His future is bright, but it may not be in Vancouver.

“I’ve thought about it a lot. Obviously, it’s that time of the year where teams are starting to make decisions, but to be honest with you, club hasn’t even spoken to me,” Raposo, the longest-serving Whitecap alongside Ranko Veselinovic, said last week.

“So myself and my agent, we have to prepare for every option, whether that’s staying here or I’m eligible for free agency. That’s a big thing in the league, and that’s a big benefit in the league, is free agency. (I’m) being prepared for options. And I think I’ve done enough in the league that I’ll be able to find a good situation — if I want to stay in the league.

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“I’m open to all options. That’s the great thing about football, it’s a worldwide sport.”

The 25-year-old has been cited by Sartini several times this season, even in the past week, as a player who has taken remarkable steps in his development. The Canadian midfielder was fourth in team scoring, trailing only Brian White, Gauld and Picault. He counts as a domestic for MLS clubs and is eligible for free agency. He also holds a Portuguese passport and is eligible for one from China, a country he was linked to for a transfer move earlier this season.

“I’ve progressed a lot. Nothing that I didn’t think I could do,” said Raposo, who was taken fourth overall by the Whitecaps in the 2020 MLS SuperDraft.

“Personally, I always knew that I could progress and become better. And I think every single year I’ve become better.

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“I’ve always wanted to help the team with stats, goals and assists. That’s something I’ve always said from the start. So this year I was able to contribute the fourth most on the team … a good achievement, but I think it’s just a step in the right direction for my career.”

GOOD TO HAVE OPTIONS

Of the nine players heading into their option years, two answers were given Tuesday: goalkeepers Isaac Boehmer and Yohei Takaoka will be back in 2025.

Takaoka is the incumbent No. 1, but with the steps in his development this year, Boehmer will be elevated to No. 1B status.

“I don’t think we’re going to have No. 1 and 2. I think we have No. 1 and No. 1-1/2 in the sense of … we will put (Boehmer) in a more rotational way, even in some games during the season,” said Sartini.

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Alessandro Schöpf is a question mark for 2025. Highly regarded by his teammates, the love isn’t quite as evident from the fan base.

He had just one goal and one assist over 30 appearances and 23 starts, and checks in as the highest-paid non-Designated Player on the team. But he’s one of most capable players in turns of progressive carries, passes and pass completion on the team, and brings a body of high-level European experience matched only by Gauld and Stuart Armstrong.

“It’s been very great experience all over the two years,” said Schöpf. “It’s been also some tough times. I played a lot of games, but also a lot of rotations here. I wasn’t used to it, a lot of rotations, a lot of like, also system rotations. It was a little bit different. … It’s football. Some of the games you’re performing very, very good and well, and some of the games it’s not your day, maybe. That’s how it goes. That’s how life goes, overall. It’s up and down.

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“For now, I have an option for next season … but it’s up to the club, so I’m a little bit waiting for them.

“I’m looking forward to know what’s coming, and I hope that we can go as far as possible, and going for more.”

Fafà Picault is another whose fate Caps fans are waiting to learn.

The 33-year-old forward had a career year with nine goals and five assists in league play, third on the team. He had a penalty kick in the final game of the regular season that would have triggered a clause in his contract activating his option, but missed it.

He also was unhappy with his playing time early on in the season, with his agent requesting a trade, but Sartini talked him back from the brink, joking it would be a great podcast episode.

“I think that it’s my biggest success this season as a coach, because it’s been decisive for that July and August that we had,” Sartini said following his team’s loss to LAFC last week.

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“That’s the positive spin for the season, how we manage collectively — not just me, but even the group, the players, the staff, everything, and not holding back on our principle — making him realize that he needed to be part of the group, to be loved. And he felt love, and he gave love to us.”

WHAT WILL CHANGE

The team feels that, despite the failure to advance in the playoffs — their No. 1 goal for 2024 — not much needs to change. There will be players rotating in or out, but feel the core is a solid base to take the next step.

Stuart Armstrong will have a full off-season and training camp to fully immerse himself into the system, and the staff will have a much better idea of how they want to utilize the former Premier League talent. His insertion into the lineup changed the team’s shape into the 4-3-2-1 formation seen in the playoffs.

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Gauld continues to be Gauld, and White continues to be White, but there is definitely a need for another forward who can complement White to take the pressure off the target man.

“I don’t think there’s going to be changing of 12 players. The core of the group is going to be here,” said Sartini. “We are the Vancouver Whitecaps. We’re not gonna buy Messi. We are here to try to be the best team possible, and to try to outwork the other team. I gotta be honest … we don’t need anyone. … I think we’re pretty covered all around the roster. “

It will be back to work for Sartini once he spends his playoff bonus on a trip to Fiji with his wife, before heading into the final year of his contract. How the team does will determine if there is more added on after 2025.

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“This season was historical because it was the 50th one. Next season is historical because it’s the first one of the next 50. So that’s like it’s reborn, you know,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s going to be next year. I don’t know it’s going to be in 10 years, but the day will come when we’re going to do another parade in Robson Square, because we won the MLS Cup. It will come for sure. I don’t know if I will be there to be the coach or to be the fans or to be an old man — hopefully not — but I will be there.”

jadams@postmedia.com

@jjadams.bsky.social

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