VANCOUVER, B.C.—The Vancouver Whitecaps had no lack of motivation heading in to their season finale with the Portland Timbers at BC Place on Sunday afternoon.
They talked all week about their desire to play spoiler and prevent the Timbers from getting into the playoffs. Factor in knowing a victory by three goals or more would secure the Cascadia Cup for a record-breaking sixth time and the 'Caps came out all guns blazing, achieving both in a comprehensive 4-1 victory.
The Whitecaps turned in one of their best performances of the season, raising the obvious question of just where has that form been all year?
"This performance absolutely drives me mad," said head coach Carl Robinson. "People will say, 'Are you delighted?' No, because it drives me mad. I know we have the players to do it, but we haven't done it on a consistent basis.
"I asked the players to put on a performance for the fans and try and get those three goals back to win a trophy for the supporters. Did I think we could do it? I had a feeling we could. Consistency during the season showed me we probably weren't going to do it. But they answered and we got what we deserved in the end."
The win made sure that Vancouver's disappointing season at least ended on a high note, dumping their rivals out of playoff contention and getting some modicum of revenge for Portland ending the 'Caps season in last year's playoffs.
"I wanted them to have a go," Robinson said. "I wanted them to make it an uncomfortable afternoon for Portland because they're a really, really good team. They're not MLS Cup champions from last year for no reason. I wanted to make it uncomfortable. We did and that's a credit to the players."
Robinson and Vancouver will now regroup. With 2016 now done and dusted for the 'Caps, there will be a lot of self-reflection among the team and the fanbase.
The Whitecaps miss the postseason for the first time since 2013, but end up with the top seed heading into the CONCACAF Champions League knockout stages next year. That's a positive coming from an otherwise tough season.
"When you have a difficult run, there's no hiding from anyone," Robinson said. "It's important you salvage something out of it and what we've managed to salvage this year, from a difficult season, is Champions League football as number one seed, which is a great achievement for us, and also win the Cascadia Cup.
"We were five seconds away from winning the Amway Canadian Championship and we're two wins away from getting into the playoffs. If we'd [done that] everyone would have said it was an unbelievable season."
Robinson admits his team haven't had the consistency needed to be serious playoff contenders this season. He's determined to find out the reasons behind that, and certainly isn't looking at the win over Portland as anything but an anomaly that's papering over the obvious cracks.
"I don't know why, but I'm going to get to the bottom of [the inconsistency]," Robinson said. "I don't want to be sitting here next year saying the same things to you like a broken record. I want to be in the playoffs next year and that's our challenge, as will 21 other teams. We finished on a high today, but I'm not fooled. Thirty-four games and we didn't win enough."
