Win, and you’re in.
This will likely be the mentality in San Jose’s locker room before Sunday’s 1 p.m. kickoff against Minnesota United FC. A victory over a ninth-seeded expansion team is the only obstacle that now stands between the Earthquakes and snapping the club’s five-year postseason drought.
And it could only be fitting that this would all culminate for San Jose on Decision Day 2017, though it’s still very likely a scenario that few had ever considered would play out for a club who sacked its head coach halfway through the season and one who currently carries a goal differential in league play of -22.