To even have a chance at advancing in the "MLS is Back Tournament," the Seattle Sounders must find a way to finally win a match in the event. The same can be said for the Vancouver Whitecaps.
The reigning MLS Cup champion Sounders play their final Group F match on Sunday night against the Whitecaps outside Orlando, Fla.
Perhaps the biggest on-pitch story of the group-stage portion of this World Cup-style tournament would be the Sounders (1-1-2) failing to move on to the knockout rounds. Seattle opened the tournament with a scoreless draw against San Jose, then lost 2-1 to Chicago on Tuesday after conceding Mauricio Pineda's 84th-minute tiebreaking score.
The result left the Sounders sitting third in the group, on one point, heading into their final match of this stage. Meanwhile, first-place San Jose (four points) plays its final group contest Sunday against Chicago, which is second on three points. The Fire and Vancouver (1-2-0), which has no points, still have two games left to go in this stage.
While there are various, somewhat time-consuming, scenarios that can get Seattle on to the knockout rounds, none can happen if they don't win Sunday. It's that simple, and the Sounders are obviously well aware that's only thing that matters.
"To have any chance of going through, we've got to win," Sounders forward Jordan Morris, who has two goals on the season, told the official MLS website. "That's our mentality for the next game - is doing everything we can.
"We'll have a little more rest, which will be good, and Vancouver is a team that we're familiar with. So, we're going to have to come out and do everything we can to get a win because we know that's our chance to move on in this tournament."
Potentially good news for the Sounders is that they are amid a 5-0-3 stretch against Vancouver, which tries to get over a stunning 4-3 loss to San Jose from Wednesday.
The Whitecaps looked to be in good shape to win their tournament opener against the Earthquakes, up 3-1 rather late into the match. However, the 'Quakes stormed back with goals in the 72nd minute, 81st minute and the shocking winner from Shea Salinas in the eighth minute of stoppage time.
Potentially making a bounce-back tougher for Vancouver is its overall depth. Key contributors such as Fredy Montero, Tosaint Ricketts and Andy Rose are not taking part in the tournament, leaving a significant void in selection. That said, Whitecaps manager Marc Dos Santos is trying to take a positive approach going into the next two matches, though a loss Sunday would keep them from moving on.
"There's a lot of positives that we're going to take from this game and move on, and now it's time to think about the Seattle game," Dos Santos told the Whitecaps' official website.
Ali Adnan and Cristian Dajome each scored for Vancouver against San Jose. They are two of four different Whitecap to score this season.