Caps not looking past San Jose in playoff fight

Sitting three points shy of the playoff cutoff line with nine games to play, the Vancouver Whitecaps haven’t hit the panic button — yet.

But, heck, a little desperation never hurt nobody.

“I think that’s the mindset we have to go into it with,” Caps centreback Aaron Maund said ahead of Saturday ’s Major League Soccer away game with San Jose.

“When you go in with that mindset, you don’t hold anything back, and that’s (what) we need to have.”

Heading into this week’s slate of games, the Whitecaps (9-9-7) are in eighth place, a point behind Seattle and three behind both the L.A. Galaxy and Portland, who occupy the final playoff berth. While their Cascadia rivals both have games in hand over Vancouver, the Caps have played one fewer than L.A., and are potentially within one win of catching them.

The perception of the Whitecaps’ current form — as usual — has been coloured by the 5-2 thumping they suffered in last week’s Voyageurs Cup final in Toronto, and the bitter taste left after conceding a last-second equalizer to 10-man New York on the weekend.

But Vancouver is on a fourgame unbeaten run, having tied the league’s overall second- and third-place teams, while also taking down two in-form squads, including the Timbers and their league-best 15-game unbeaten streak.

“When you take away the Canadian championship, and just look at our last four MLS games, we have eight points,” said goalkeeper Stefan Marinovic. “If you’d asked beforehand and said ‘would you like eight points from those four games?’ you would have nodded

your head vigorously and said ‘Yes, please!’

“We have nine games and everything to play for. All in all, I think we’re very positive.”

The Earthquakes (3-13-8) are rock bottom in the MLS, winning just once at home (1-5-5) in league play. They have more points on the road (2-8-3) than they do at Avaya Stadium.

But despite prodding to the contrary, none of the Whitecaps rose to the bait when asked if the homeand-home series against the lowly Quakes would vault them back into playoff contention.

First, Vancouver has never won in San Jose.

Second, one of the Quakes’ three wins came on the road against Western Conference-leading FC Dallas, with the 3-1 upset marking the only loss the Toros have suffered at home this year.

And third, that win is part of a four-game span where San Jose has picked up points in three. Since adding Georgian international centre back Guram Kashia five games ago, the Quakes have conceded just five goals.

“We know they ’ve had an unfortunate year, up and down, things haven’t gone their way, but it’s going to be a very difficult game for us,” said Caps coach Carl Robinson, whose team tied 2-2 at home with the Earthquakes earlier this season.

“But it’s one we firmly believe we can go and win.”