TORONTO — Canada's three MLS teams are linked Saturday as the chase for post-season places comes down to the crunch.
And Vancouver and Montreal can team up to eliminate Toronto FC from post-season contention.
A win by the visiting Whitecaps in Toronto coupled with an Impact victory over Columbus in Montreal will end the playoff chase for TFC, which would be left 10 points out with only three games remaining.
Ninth-place Toronto (9-15-6) dodged the same bullet last weekend by beating eighth-place New England 4-1 while sixth-place Montreal (12-15-4) was thumped 5-0 by seventh-place D.C. United.
D.C. United (10-11-8) is likely in the driver's seat even though the team is two points behind Montreal, which occupies the final playoff spot in the East. It has a game in hand on Toronto — which has a game in hand on Montreal — and four of its five remaining games are at home.
But Toronto continues to think positive.
"If we get three points (Saturday) then we're still very much in it," said coach Greg Vanney. "We put some pressure on the teams that we're chasing to have to continue to get results. And if that's the case, we still have everything to play for in the final few matches."
There is also urgency for Vancouver (11-12-7), which enters the weekend in eighth place in the West and six points out of the playoffs.
Should Toronto survive the weekend, it has away games at D.C. United and Montreal before wrapping up the season at home to league-leading Atlanta.
"The week of training we had this week was as good as any we've had all year, just in terms of sharpness, quality ... now it's on us to see if over these last four games we can keep winning," said Toronto captain Michael Bradley.
"I think there's a few twists and turns to come," he added.
The last MLS champion to miss the playoffs the next season was the Portland Timbers, who won it all in 2015 and then finished two points out of the post-season in 2016.
Toronto will have to face Vancouver without veteran defender Drew Moor, who is still working his way back from a calf injury. Striker Jozy Altidore, who has come out of the last two games early due to an ankle problem, could see some action.
For the Caps, it's the second game under acting head coach Craig Dalrymple, who took over for the fired Carl Robinson. Vancouver lost 3-0 at the Los Angeles Galaxy in Dalrymple's debut at the helm.
"I'm sure he's not trying to change everything up there," said Vanney. "They've got a good team and they've been solid. It's maybe about finding a tweak here or there to try to get a couple of results along this stretch to give them momentum.
"He's not going to change up the profile of the team in the course of days or weeks. I don't suspect that they'll be too far removed from what they were last time we saw them with maybe a couple of nuances in where they think they specifically can get at us and/or control us."
It's the first meeting between the two since August when Toronto won the Canadian Championship 7-4 on aggregate.
"We're going to Toronto, we're going there to fight," Vancouver defender Doneil Henry, a former TFC player, told reporters this week. "It's all about pride right now."
Friday marked Dalrymple's fifth training session at the Whitecaps helm.
"What we've tried to do is keep it positive and competitive and challenging in the training environment," he said.
Dutch winger/forward Marvin Emnes, who joined the team last month, picked up an injury in training Wednesday.
Saturday will be Alphonso Davies' last trip to BMO Field in a Vancouver uniform, although the 17-year-old is slated to be back there Oct. 16 for Canada's CONCACAF Nations League game against Dominica. Davies is headed to Bayern Munich at the end of the season.
Davies, voted No. 1 on MLSsoccer.com's list of top under-22 players this week, has 11 assists this season — the youngest player in MLS to reach double figures in assists, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
The attacking midfielder is also the youngest MLS player to record three assists in a single game.
"Hopefully we can keep him at bay (Saturday) and make it a slow game for him in terms of his production and then I wish him well after that," said Vanney.
As Toronto struggles to move up the table, the team it beat in last year's Cup final is poised to enter the record books.
The Seattle Sounders (14-11-5) are on the verge of clinching a playoff berth for the 10th straight year, matching the league record set by the Los Angeles Galaxy from 1996 to 2005.
Toronto and Seattle both went deep into the CONCACAF Champions League this year (TFC made it to the finals while the Sounders reached the semifinals) and suffered early on in the league.
Seattle opened with three straight losses and was 3-9-3 after 15 games while TFC lost four of its first five and was 4-8-3 over the same period.
But Seattle has gone 11-2-2 since, compared to 5-7-3 for Toronto.
Atlanta and the New York Red Bulls, meanwhile, are going after TFC's single-season league record of 69 points set last season.
Atlanta United (19-6-6), which has three games remaining, is six points shy of tying the mark. The Red Bulls (19-7-5) need seven points from their final three matches to reach 69.
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS (11-12-7) AT TORONTO FC (9-15-6)
Saturday, BMO Field
TALE OF THE TAPE: Toronto has a slight edge in the series with a 4-3-1 record in league play. TFC leads 2-1-1 at home but the visiting team has won the last three games.
FORM: Vancouver has lost three straight, matching its longest slide of the season (April 7-20). TFC is coming off a 4-1 win over New England but is 2-2-0 over its last four outings.
AVOID YELLOW: Toronto's Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore are both one caution away from a suspension.
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Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
