Vancouver Whitecaps are on a break. It's like Ross and Rachel in Friends, with the World Cup being the cute, hot girl that works in the copier shop. Full of something different and tantalising, but we'll all be back to what we know and love best before you know it.
The Caps have two and a half weeks off now before Montreal Impact come a calling to BC Place on June 25th. Carl Robinson feels the break "comes at the right time for us", but on the back of a magnificent seven game unbeaten streak, you have to hope that it isn't too much of a momentum killer.
With all this kill time on our hands, we thought we'd bring you some thoughts on the season so far from all of the AFTN writing crew. Aaron, Jay, Steve and myself will each bring you our thoughts on Vancouver Whitecaps' season to date over the next couple of days.
There will be different opinions and different styles. I'm choosing to do mine with a theme of songs by The Clash. Why? Just cos I like doing these (I refer you to our previous Charles Dickens, Meat Loaf and Adam and the Ants themed pieces!). I've already slipped three song titles in by the time you've reached this point, so you may as well just continue.
Now let's be totally honest right off the bat. When he was appointed the leader, we hoped Carl Robinson would get off to a flying start in his managerial career, but it was really something of an unknown as to whether that would happen.
With preseason well underway, it was looking a frighteningly young Whitecaps team and you were wondering just where the goals were going to come from.
Slowly but surely, the team that Robbo built started to take shape and the South American influence has definitely been one of the main reasons for the Caps' great start to the season, but by far not the only one.
But before we look at some of the individuals, let's look at the team in game action.
When defending Supporters' Shield holding New York Red Bulls came to BC Place for First Kick on March 8th, I'm not sure too many people were expecting a 4-1 win for the Caps, never mind the emphatic nature of the match.
But it started what was an unbeaten March, with two away draws thrown in for good measure, which was then quickly followed by a winless April. The ups and downs of football management!
April was a strange month. It started with Laba's bizarre sending off by grabbing the ball against Colorado and the Caps' first home defeat of the season. It ended with two good draws against strong Western Conference opposition.
And those two draws set the Whitecaps on their unbeaten seven match run in MLS.
I said this at the time, and still feel it. The Colorado loss was ultimately a good things for the club. I may not feel that way if it proves to be three crucial points when the playoff race shakes out, but it brought everyone back down to earth. Yes, the 2014 Whitecaps were an entertaining and exciting side. Yes, the postseason was a distinct possibility. But they were not, and still are not, anywhere near the finished article that they'll need to be to make any impact in the playoffs.
Temper those expectations. The Colorado loss did just that and it also meant that there could be no home fortress diatribe that just sets us up to have shots taken at us by opposition teams. Don't give them any more motivation than they already have.
May kicked off with the big Whitecaps 40th anniversary match and celebrations. The Caps wanted the day to go with a bang against San Jose and man, did they do just that with a stunning three goal burst in the opening 20 minutes that would not only rock The Casbah and the 1906 Ultras, but a lot of other fans throughout MLS.
Two wins and a draw against Seattle made for a good month and four points from a win and a draw in June's two games has continued that.
There was the unfortunate and heartbreaking Canadian Championship loss to TFC in May, but at least they young Caps fought well and came so close to a fantastic aggregate win.
And of course, that youth aspect has played heavily for the Caps all season. Robinson said he wanted to make Vancouver younger and he's been true to his word. Too many times in the Rennie regime, it felt that if you were a young player, your career opportunities in Vancouver were slim and you were just turning up to train in vain.
The Caps now have a exciting and talented young group of strikers. Darren Mattocks and Kekuta Manneh lit up the early part of the season with their form and Erik Hurtado has now taken on the goalscoring crown with five goals in his last five competitive matches. Add in Omar Salgado, who is waiting for his turn to shine, and that's a strikeforce that could be around for many years to come and have the ability to cause damage to every team.
But can they keep it up? Robbo had made it clear that he'd like to replace Kenny Miller and ideally bring in a big targetman. With the recent form of Hurtado and the others, he seems to be having second thoughts and said after Saturday's game that they may have the regular goalscorer they need and that bringing in anyone new would possibly stunt this young group's development.
That latter part is certainly true, but it is a lot to expect some young 20-somethings to keep up this pace and scoring for the whole season. They will go through droughts and it's how they bounce back from those is key. Miller shared his wealth of experience with the young group and they learned a lot. Another experienced figure in there would be a real boost to their development.
Part of that second thought process has been brought on as well by the need to strengthen the defence as the most pressing option.
Jay DeMerit's injury might actually be a godsend, as Robinson doesn't have to worry about public reaction to dropping his captain, and he needed to be dropped.
Andy O'Brien struggled against Philly but otherwise he's been a rock this season. Johnny Leveron on the other hand has had a couple of chances to come in and stake a claim to a starting spot and just simply hasn't taken them. He's looked poor and now Carlyle Mitchell may get his chance and if he doesn't take it, a new face will undoubtedly arrive in the transfer window, with Christian Dean maybe being a season away from getting a sniff.
It was looking like the Whitecaps had identified one such face, in Colombian central defender Stefan Medina. The 21-year-old can also play at right back and would have been ideal to bring in before the first transfer window closed in May as cover for when Steven Beitashour received the call up to the Iranian World Cup squad. Unfortunately, an ankle injury and monetary issues seem to have scuppered that deal, at least for now.
But something has to be done at the back. As Robinson said at the weekend, you just can't rely on the Caps to score three goals every week to get at least a point. They have to clampdown on the mistakes and loose play in their own box.
Four points from road games in Portland and Philadelphia may look great on paper, and in reality they still are, but the nature of the defensive collapses is one of the biggest concerns from this first part of the season for the Caps. In both games Vancouver looked to be in complete control, before letting Portland nearly sneak a point with two late goals and Philly nearly getting all three after a triple whammy in the second half before Pedro Morales hit the equaliser.
Beitashour's been good. Not outstanding, and not as much of an attacking threat as I would have hoped, but solid. Same is true of Jordan Harvey (my unsung player of the first part of the season). The problem with both of these positions though is that injuries have meant that neither of them are being tested and challenged for any subpar performances as there's not much alternative.
Of course Nigel Reo-Coker has stepped in to cover Beitashour for now. And he had improve a little game on game. He is still not a right back though and has been caught out of position in the last two games, which hasn't helped keep the goals out.
The rumours have swirled about NRC's imminent departure from Vancouver. He simply isn't going to get the minutes in the midfield, but he does like what the team is doing. Is that enough for him? He will be asking himself "should I stay or should I go?", but at 29-years-old he needs to be playing to keep his career on track, so he will undoubtedly head off in the summer and find a safe European home, freeing up a big wad of cash for Robinson to strengthen the squad and keeping Vancouver's bike racks safe once more.
More Latino flair? The additions of Pedro Morales (my player of the season so far) and Matias Laba have had a massive impact on the team, with Sebastian Fernandez having a large role to play as well. Some excellent Designated Player additions. Well worthy of the money and the tag they come with and a far cry from the merry Mustapha dance we had in 2012.
Morales leads the team in goals and assists. He's scored some crackers, bringing some of those La Liga Spanish bombs with him from Malaga and spraying the ball around the pitch with pinpoint accuracy. More bullets than the guns of Brixton.
Whoever Robinson brings in, they have to fit the right profile of the current team. Finally, the Whitecaps actually have a style of play and not only that, it's working.
They attack and entertain, whether at home or away. That's four games on the bounce now that the Caps have gone on the road, played nice football and taken at least a point. Two wins and two draws and it could have been more. Can we finally talk about Vancouver being a king of the road? It's been great to watch.
I actually look forward to every Whitecaps game now and not think I'm in for some kind of borefest that then can't be changed when they go down by an early goal and their chances of taking anything from the game go straight to hell.
So that's the season so far. The Caps have played three of the eight regular season months and 13 of their 34 games. They sit in fifth place, and could go down to sixth and out of the playoff places by the end of today depending on the Portland result.
They will have a minimum of two, and as much as a staggering four, games in hand on all of the teams above them. I always prefer points in the bag, but still, that's promising.
The big thing now that we need to see that Robinson has changed is that the traditional Whitecaps summer collapse is no more. The Caps had a great May and June last year then fell like a rock. A real pressure drop.
That freefall in Rennie's two season showed that Lightning strikes not once but twice. Let's hope it's third time lucky. You already get the feeling though that Robinson's Whitecaps won't be suffering the same fate.
So what will the remainder of the season hold in store? Death or glory?
Going in to the season, you hoped for a number of things. Lifting the Voyageurs Cup, making the playoffs, actually have a good postseason run, entertaining football, development of our younger players.
What will be deemed to be a successful season now? If the Caps continue to entertain and just fail to make the playoffs, will fans and the owners be happy with what Robinson has done with the team?
After all the excitement and hope given in these first three months, does Robbo have to deliver the playoffs to keep everyone on board?
Our hope is that no matter where the Whitecaps finally finish in the table everyone will see the advancement this club has made under Carl Robinson's reign.
If you think it's been good so far, well we honestly feel that the best is still to come and if that doesn't excite you then you're following the wrong sport.