VANCOUVER — Carl Robinson started four first-choice players and two Canadians in the opening leg of the Amway Canadian championship final in Montreal two weeks ago.

On the eve of Wednesday night’s decisive second leg, two questions are in play: How many of the former does the head coach feel he needs to start to try to get a victory and hoist the Voyageurs Cup for the first time ever? And how many of the latter does he feel obligated to play?

It’s a delicate balancing act, this whole thing to decide the best team in Canada — in reality and from a public relations perspective with fans.

The aggregate goals final sits at 2-2 after the entertaining draw between the Whitecaps and Impact at Stade Saputo on Aug. 12. With away goals being the first tiebreaker, the Caps hold a slight advantage heading into Wednesday’s game at BC Place.

It was pretty clear at the Caps’ mid-season roundtable in July that ownership and management believe that securing a Major League Soccer home playoff date and making a post-season run is priority No. 1 this season. And they’ve got a Western Conference game in Houston on Saturday against a Dynamo squad that is just three points out of a playoff spot.

Winning the Voyageurs Cup is No. 2. CONCACAF Champions League, in which the Caps are currently involved after having finished last MLS season as the top Canadian team, is third.

It’s why Robinson has saved his best lineups for MLS play, rotated freely in the Amway semifinal with Edmonton back in May (and struggling to win that series), then going with an almost complete second-unit lineup against Seattle in the first Champions League group stage game.

However, seeing as how the Voyageurs Cup was a creation of a national team supporters’ group, Canadian content in the tournament will always be a talking point.

The winner is Canada’s sole representative in the CONCACAF Champions League. And with no World Cup spotlight in sight for Canadian men, it’s how much of the rest of the world will view the quality of soccer in the Great White North.

So should there be a Canadian player quota in all tournament games to help develop young homegrown talent?

Should Robinson and Montreal’s Frank Klopas, the opposing coaches in Wednesday’s second leg of the Amway final, be pressured, or feel an obligation, to play Canadians? And how much do hardcore fans care about the deployment of Canadians? What about casual fans?

Robinson certainly understands all the implications.

“If I put a lineup out with Canadians in and we don’t win it, will you write nice things about me or not?” he asked a reporter who wondered if he felt an obligation to start the likes of Russell Teibert, Kianz Froese or Sam Adekugbe.

“Naw, there’s no pressure to play anyone,” he added. “We want to win this game of football. If I think that playing two, three, four, five, eight of my young boys (will get it done), then I will.”

He won’t.

As much as MLS is the top priority, there is a feeling around the club that this has to be the season, that coming up empty for 13 seasons can’t continue. Two years ago, the Caps were runners-up for the fifth consecutive year and had to watch as the Impact hoisted the trophy on the turf at BC Place.

“It’s our time right now,” veteran centre back Pa-Modou Kah said.

He’s in just his first year with the Whitecaps, but he’s heard all about club’s dismal record in the championship.

“We want to make history. I feel it’s about time that we win it. With the group we have, we’re not waiting for a year or two. We want to win it right now. For this organization, it would mean a lot.”

Robinson, a Welshman who won a Voyageurs Cup as a player with Toronto FC in 2012, said “it irks me” that the Caps haven’t won it.

“It does wind me up,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity for us to get that piece of silverware we want. We’re at home. If what you ask for is a home result to maybe win something, you’ll take it.”

CORNER KICKS: The Caps have no other route to the 2015-16 CONCACAF Champions League if they don’t win the Canadian title on Wednesday. The MLS Cup winner and the team that wins the Supporters’ Shield as the club with the most regular season points qualify for Champions League, but not if either of those teams is from Canada … Kah trained Monday with a custom-fit mask — Phantom of the Opera, he called himself — to protect a facial fracture. He said he’ll be good to go Wednesday if Robinson decides to start him.

gkingston@vancouversun.com