Minnesota United has received help from teams jockeying with, above and below it in recent weeks, but nonetheless the seventh-place Loons possess their playoff possibilities all themselves.
Win their final games at San Jose on Saturday and at home against Vancouver in next week's season finale and coach Adrian Heath is convinced his team will not only earn a playoff spot but quite possibly one at Allianz Field as well.
"We've had a lot of favors done over the last few weeks, but ultimately it will come down to what we do, not what everybody else does," Heath said. "If we were going to go and get four or six points, I think that would be enough."
With six games remaining, Heath said two more victories likely would be enough to gain one of seven playoff spots in the Western Conference. The Loons are 0-4-1 in their past five games.
Now they are down to two games left, with those two victories still needed. If they win both, they could claim one of four home-field playoff games.
"We put ourselves in a little bit of a hole," Heath said. "But you look at the table and you look at the fixtures and it's impossible if we do what we've got to do for the teams below, in and around to stop us from getting in there because they're playing each other. They can't get [enough points], so it's on us."
The Loons are 2-2-1 at last-place San Jose and 2-0-2 at home against ninth-place Vancouver since they entered MLS in 2017.
"We've had some good results in San Jose," Heath said. "We have to go there and get another one. If we were to get three points this weekend, I think everything would look a lot better for us going into the last game."
