Vancouver Whitecaps kicked off their 2013 preseason at Burnaby Lake on Monday with a sea of new faces and some well kent ones too.
After last season's brief playoff appearance, the bar has been set and 2013 has to be even better.
For Whitecaps fans that means several things: winning the Canadian championship for the first time and qualifying for the CONCACAF Champions League; and reaching the playoffs once again, but this time hosting and winning at least one game once we get in there.
Looking around at those who were there on day one of training, and pondering on those who were absent, it was clear that the Caps class of 2013 has a long way to go before they are likely to achieve any or all of those goals.
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Some more new additions are a must, preferably with experience and/or a MLS track record. The biggest issue now is the growing gaping hole in the middle of the park.
Barry Robson's <a href="http://www.canadiansoccernews.com/content.php?4118-Barry-Robson-A-Farewell-to-Arms" target="_blank">departure</a> has pleased some, but the manner of his parting also raised many an eyebrow.
With Martin Bonjour also missing the opening day of training camp for "personal reasons", it's clear that the roulette wheel still has a few spins left in it before we start to see the ball settle into the final squad numbers and make up.
Martin Rennie confirmed that there are still changes to come, with so many signed players and trialists playing for their Whitecaps futures right now.
And talking of squad numbers, Kenny Miller has shed the jinxed number 7 shirt for number 9, and Camilo has inherited the jinxed number 7 shirt instead! Not that you could see any of them through the fog.
What you could see were some players keen to impress.
SuperDraft picks Kekuta Manneh and Erik Hurtado didn't look out of place and Hurtado in particular wasn't shy at showing some of his skills, with a blistering run up the wing and a top drawer finish in one of the mini games. These two are going to be electric.
It's a young squad out there and new U18 head coach Gordon Forrest has been brought in to work with the younger players and, for some, continue the transition of moving from Residency and college football, to the first team.
Brad Knighton produced a number of excellent stops, whilst Joe Cannon enjoyed some time away on his honeymoon.
Andy O'Brien limped off injured after around a hour. Hopefully nothing too serious, but Brad Rusin looked more than capable cover.
And there were some nice moves and goals from Ben Fisk and Greg Klazura.
Klazura had a great camp last year and is continuing it in what may be an even tougher test for him this time around, whilst Fisk is just class and we just hope he finally gets his MLS contract.
Others shone, others didn't. It's really far too early to draw any reasonable conclusions as to who may be sticking around long term.
There will also be another new face Tuesday, when 25 year old Canadian international midfielder/defender Jaime Peters comes on trial, having been without a club since being released by Championship side Ipswich Town in August.
So with all these new boys out there, it's good to put a face to a name. It took us long enough on Monday to try and do that and so you don't have to struggle, here's Christopher Vose's pictorial guide to the new faces you may be seeing in a Caps jersey this coming season:
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[brad Rusin]
[Corey Hertzog]
[Crispin 'Alfie' Olando]
[Erik Hurtado]
[Kekuta Manneh]
[Paulo Jr]
[Tom Heinemann]
[You can find all of Christopher's photos from day one of training <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/vosie/sets/72157632571701669/with/8403891524/" target="_blank">HERE</a>]</center>
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