Vancouver Whitecaps

The Caps are considered outsiders in their own rivalries. The Cascadia Cup has trended south, and the fight for the best Canadian team is gone east. After a 2013 playoff run, the team would miss the playoffs for 3 straight years. A lot of the older players on the playoff roster moved on, and the Whitecaps had an opportunity to raise some strong youngsters from their system. Being BC's team, they had most of Western Canada to draw from. Their main pieces were a goalkeeper and striker, who complimented young American and Canadian national team talent. With the 24 team league starting, the Whitecaps were predicted a 21st place finish in 2017. Their new English manager made a point to improve upon this standing. They got out to a 4-4 start, and was sitting in 8th in the West. The coach called a former midfielder of his, who had been buried on the depth chart at Aston Villa. He persuaded the player to jump to the MLS and get his form back.That was the best signing in Vancouver history. He came in and had an immediate impact on the team as a field general. In his first game, he completed almost every pass, leading the Caps to a 3-0 win over San Antonio. They made a mad charge to the playoffs, with a sturdy midfield and a high functioning attack. For one game against the Sounders, they took off the tarps and sold out BC Place, breaking the attendance record.They would sneak in by 1 point over RSL for the last spot. They were eliminated, but playoff experience was brutal in the development of the team. That next year, they had the same result, a first round exit. They signed a Brazilian RB to help out their needs at wing. Adding accurate crosses to the offense would help out a lot. 20 games in, and the Whitecaps were 8 points up on the playoff cutoff. But their MVP midfielder went up awkwardly for a header in a game against LA and twisted his ankle. They had to throw in a player from their system who wasn't ready, and the midfield became one of the weaker parts of the team. From then, the team slowly disintegrated. Other teams targeted their players and left them high and dry. They had to scramble and play residency players that weren't ready, and fell to the bottom of the MLS. To get the fans back, the Owners pushed a campaign to claim Canada as their own. Using players on their team to draw interest, 6 Canadian National players were brought in after the 2022 season. They had 4 years to get their footing back and compete before most of their team had to leave. They never really panned out, other than winning the Canadian Championship twice. Their manager was fired and they began rebuilding again. I love the crest, so I kept it. The all white look is classy and also stayed. The design I did mimics the crest with the mountains. The clash is different from the all navy look.