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The losses had mounted, the embarrassment along with it.

A five-game slump in Major League Soccer play, getting shutout three times and outscored 17-2 along the way.

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Crashing out of the Canadian Championship to a team comprised of players who couldn’t crack or stick on an MLS roster.

The cracks had long begun to show, with both spats borne of frustration or freelancing in assignments on the field.

Then, after a long travel day to St. Paul, Minn., ahead of a game with Minnesota United FC last week, the Vancouver Whitecaps held a team meeting. It wasn’t a lengthy video review session, nor about tactics, skills, formation or scouting.

And it wasn’t an airing of grievances. It was about life, and finally getting to know each other as teammates.

The next day, they went out and played one of the top-five teams in the Western Conference to a standstill. The losing streak was snapped, one game short of setting a new record.

NEXT GAME

Saturday

Vancouver Whitecaps vs. Portland Timbers

8 p.m., Providence Park, TV: TSN 1/4; Radio: TSN 1040 AM

On Saturday, they took the next step, beating an opponent for the first time since May 25, a span of more than two months. Seventy days, if you’re counting.

The Whitecapsbattled back after going down six minutes in to beat FC Cincinnati 2-1, with midfielder Felipe scoring in the 84th minute to provide the winning margin. That’s two straight games unbeaten. Four points out of a possible six.

They didn’t look “fragile,” as head coach Marc Dos Santos deemed the team during their losing spell, even after Allan Cruz put the home side up just minutes into the game, a situation the Caps might not have recovered from before. They did Saturday, and didn’t seem flustered or fractured.

“I think that it started in Minnesota,” said coach Marc Dos Santos. “That mental toughness … we spoke a lot about how no one from the outside is going to help us. We believe in the core that we have here, and that if we to stick together, we can get results all the time.”