Crunch time for first-place Whitecaps

VANCOUVER — Carl Robinson was involved in a number of tight races at both the top and bottom of the standings during his playing career in England.

The head coach of the Vancouver Whitecaps is now sharing some of the lessons he learned as his team prepares for a mad dash to the finish line in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference.

“Keep your calm, keep your cool,” Robinson said this week as the Whitecaps prepared to host the lowly Colorado Rapids today. “It’s important you don’t get ahead of yourself.”

Vancouver (13-9-6) enters the weekend first in the congested West with 45 points, one up on the Portland Timbers, Sporting Kansas City and the Seattle Sounders.

The Whitecaps, who missed the playoffs last season, and Sporting each have six games left on their schedules, while the Sounders have five matches remaining, and the Timbers just four.

Unbeaten in six (4-0-2), Robinson’s men visit Seattle and Kansas City next week to wrap up a stretch of three games in eight days after playing Colorado, but know their focus must be squarely on the Rapids (7-16-5), who sit last in MLS.

“They have nothing to lose,” said Whitecaps defender Marcel de Jong. “They’ll play more freely and might go all out in an all-or-nothing kind of game. We have to be prepared for that and not lose our heads.”

Colorado fired head coach Pablo Mastroeni in the middle of August, replacing him with assistant Steve Cooke on an interim basis. The Rapids went on to lose the next four, but picked up their first road win of the season at Houston on Sept. 9 before securing a home draw with New York City FC, which sits sec- ond in the East, last weekend.

“They’re coming in to play for their jobs,” said Vancouver goalkeeper David Ousted, whose team is 7-2-3 over its last 12. “They’re coming in without any pressure. “That’s always dangerous.” The Whitecaps will be wrapping up a fourgame homestand that saw them collect seven of a possible nine points in the first three matches, which were also played over an eight-day span.

Vancouver picked up a 3-2 victory over Real Salt Lake and a 3-0 decision over Minnesota United before salvaging a 2-2 draw with the Columbus Crew last Saturday.

One of the reasons the Whitecaps have been able to methodically claw their way up the standings has been an ability to avoid a letdown against teams below them – something they will need once again against Colorado.