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So Robinson understands the circumstances aren’t exactly optimal for his team as it prepares for the Sounders, just as he understands the vast majority of soccer fans have an expectation for Thursday night.

Just be aware he’s expecting something slightly different.

“One-nil,” Robinson answered Wednesday, shortly before his team headed down the I-5 to the Emerald City. “It will be a tight game. but we’ll take it 1-nil.”

And just in case you missed the point, Robinson offered this as his session with the media concluded.

“Remember, 1-nil.”

Don’t worry. It will be hard to forget.

Photo by DARRYL DYCK / Canadian Press files

While his isn’t exactly the consensus view, the Whitecaps’ irrepressible head coach sees a way to victory on Thursday. This is following a dreary first game in which the Whitecaps failed to generate so much as one freaking shot on Sounders goalie Stefan Frei and were content to defend cravenly for the 90-plus minutes.

But Robinson has a plan for Thursday night, and even if that plan seems to be scoring one goal and hanging on for dear life, it’s still a plan.

“Do we want to sit and defend?” he asked rhetorically. “No. That’s not our intention. We believe in certain periods of the game and certain areas, we can exploit their weaknesses. We’ve identified a number of weaknesses in the four games we’ve played (their season record is 1-1-2, with the Sounders thumping the Whitecaps 3-0 in their last meeting at CenturyLink in September).

“We know they’re good going forward. We know that. We’re going to have to be organized and disciplined, but they have got weaknesses in their armour.”