Can Sporting KC make the playoffs? It’s must-win mode with just two matches remaining

They’re approaching Saturday’s match with their backs against the wall, just two regular-season games remaining.

It’s genuinely must-win time for Sporting Kansas City in the chase for the Major League Soccer playoffs.

Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes irked some fans earlier in the season when he said only a championship final qualifies as a must-win (Sporting was winless through 10 matches at the time).

Well, he revised that perspective this week.

“If we’re gonna stay in this, we’ve gotta win,” Vermes said.

With a loss Saturday night at Real Salt Lake plus unfavorable results elsewhere, Sporting KC could be eliminated from MLS postseason contention this weekend. At 10-14-8, Sporting KC currently rank 11th in the Western Conference standings, three points off the playoff line.

The most “catchable” of the teams above the playoff line — San Jose and Dallas — play each other Saturday night.

Of course, this predicament is mostly of Sporting’s own creation. Since the weekend they picked up their first win of the season, they’ve had the third-best record in the West (10-7-5).

“It’s unbelievable to me, not because I think we’ve done so great,” Vermes said. “No, I think it’s unbelievable because of the ups and downs of all the teams.”

LAFC and the Seattle Sounders sit second and third in the Western Conference, but neither own a winning record over their last 22 games. So Sporting KC’s situation might be entirely different right now if not for that lengthy skid to start the year ... or not.

“Even if you exclude the first 10 games,” Vermes said, “(there’s) a lack of consistency from a defending perspective. ... It’s the lack of concentration, the decision-making in giving up the goals that is a big situation, I think.”

Inconsistency in both execution and concentration is certainly a key factor. Sporting KC dropped 20 points from a winning position during matches this season — third-most in Major League Soccer.

After his team’s 3-0 loss to Nashville two weeks ago, goalkeeper Tim Melia stressed how important it was to earn wins and points. That was a recurring problem for KC this year — Sporting never won three matches in a row and only twice managed to win back to back.

“We need to win three more games,” Melia said then. “Would it be nice to do it at home, in order, and provide a little bit of relief at the end of the year? Of course. Has that been our year all season? No (freaking) chance.”

Sporting bounced back from that loss to Nashville, beating the Houston Dynamo. But, in keeping consistent with their inconsistencies, they imploded over the final 20 minutes of a 4-1 defeat in St. Louis.

Sporting KC’s record after a loss this year is actually very good (8-0-2 across all competitions since April). And the team has not lost back-to-back matches in months. But most of Kansas City’s wins this season — seven, to be exact — have come on home turf at Children’s Mercy Park.

Meanwhile, Sporting KC pieced together just two road victories this season, and a mere four in the past two years.

Entering Saturday’s 8:30 p.m. showdown with RSL in Sandy, Utah, Sporting KC captain Johnny Russell said the team is clear-eyed about what’s at stake.

“It’s my job to speak to people and keep that mentality going in the right direction,” he said. “But if your mentality isn’t right for a game like this, where you know you have to go and win, this is probably not the right sport for you.”