Whitecaps' Carl Robinson on 2nd-place finish: 'It's a great achievement'
Vancouver Whitecaps head coach Carl Robinson was beaming with pride after his side's 3-0 win over the Houston Dynamo on MLS Decision Day, after learning that his team finished the 2015 season in second place in the Western Conference.
Robinson's men entered Decision Day in fifth place but - after picking up another three points and waiting for the dust to settle in the West - the Whitecaps moved up to second with 53 points overall, earning a bye for the first round of playoff action.
"It's a great achievement," Robinson told reporters after the match. "I'm really proud of the guys in there and I'm proud of the football club. Sometimes you get opportunities. We had an opportunity this year where I firmly believe we recruited a good group of players that could do something special.
"Over 34 games the league doesn't lie. It evens itself out over the course of the season. We deserve to be where we are."
Vancouver enjoyed a relatively consistent season over those 34 games, and challenged for the Supporters' Shield throughout the early-to-mid parts of the 2015 season. But, injuries to key figures in the team left Robinson's side thin at times, seeing Vancouver drop to second at seasons' end.
The Whitecaps square off against one of the LA Galaxy, Portland Timbers, or Seattle Sounders, as the lowest seed will take on FC Dallas in the second round. Should Sporting Kansas City advance, it would automatically take on Dallas anyway.
Robinson is hoping his players will be ready to fight when that first match comes around on the weekend. But he isn't too worried, either.
"Hopefully I can get a couple of guys fit and healthy," Robinson said. "It's very important for us. We've never used the injuries as an excuse. I never will because you build a squad for the football club and they get their opportunities.
"You could say, 'Well we lost him and we lost him,' but it doesn't sound right. Is it the difference that we didn't get closer to the Supporters' Shield? Maybe, but football's funny isn't it?"
The Whitecaps now enter the playoffs facing their toughest test yet, as all four of the club's biggest rivals clinched postseason berths, too. Portland and Seattle qualified on Decision Day to complete the Cascadia trio in the Western Conference. Over in the East, Toronto FC or the Montreal Impact potentially await them in the MLS Cup final, too.
Robinson will be looking for victory against any team, of course, and doubly so when considering that a Canadian team has yet to win a playoff match in MLS history. It's a trend that Robinson's team won't be able to overturn first, having earned a bye week, meaning Toronto or Montreal will claim victory on Thursday.
But, Robinson isn't focusing on the small details or the minor footnotes; he's got his eye on the big prize.
"I said to them, 'We're not there to make up the numbers now,'" Robinson explained. "'We're in the playoffs for the second consecutive year, the third time in our history. Let's not go to make up the numbers. We're there to try and win it.'
"There's going to be eight teams that are going to try and win it. Let's go and have an outright good go.'"