Seattle Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer insists history and form counts for little heading into Tuesday's Western Conference Semifinal with FC Dallas.
Schmetzer's side finished second in the Western Conference at the end of the shortened regular season and beat Los Angeles Galaxy 3-1 in their opening Playoff fixture.
The Sounders now boast a record of 13 postseason home victories in a row and are in strong contention to win a third MLS Cup in five seasons.
But Schmetzer has warned his players to remain grounded ahead of the visit of a Dallas side on a high after scoring a late equalizer before knocking out Portland Timbers on penalties in their First Round tie.
"If there is one message that I pound into them prior to kickoff, it is the fact that there are a lot of upsets in MLS and anything can happen," he said.
"There's some pretty great, tremendous, interesting, fun games to watch. So we don't want to be on the losing end of any of those games.
"It is certainly of interest to me to make sure that the team doesn't get carried away. That's something that I always try to make sure they don't get too high and too low."
Dallas are winless in 13 successive visits to Lumen Field since May 2011, their most recent encounter coming in last year's opening round of the MLS Cup Playoffs.
Jordan Morris struck a hat-trick to earn Seattle a memorable 4-3 extra-time victory but Dallas boss Luchi Gonzales is hopeful of a different outcome this time around.
"We learned lessons last year that were hard," he said. "You can't concede four goals and go through. You can, but it's going to be very difficult.
"So we need to make sure we protect our half, protect our box and our goal in a way that doesn't allow it to be such an open game.
"Seattle is a team that I think can hurt you on open-play counters, it can hurt you if you sit low, so we need to know when to vary our defensive blocks and read the game and make sure we get pressure on the ball and compete with them."
The winners of the tie will face either Sporting Kansas City or Minnesota United in the Conference Finals.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Seattle Sounders - Jordan Morris
Morris was the star of the show in that aforementioned meeting between the sides last season and will be looking to build on a return of 11 league goals so far this campaign.
The most recent of those goals came in the 3-1 win over Seattle last week, marking the fourth time the trio of Morris, Nicolas Lodeiro and Raul Ruidiaz have all registered in the same MLS game since the latter joined in 2018.
Dallas - Ricardo Pepi
Pepi became the second 17-year-old to score in the 2020 Playoffs, after New York Red Bulls' Caden Clark, with his late equalizer in the shootout win over Portland.
With three goals from 18 appearances this term, just four of those being starts, the Dallas youth product now has a chance to make a real name for himself.
KEY OPTA FACTS
- Dallas have lost seven of their last eight trips to the Emerald City but did manage a scoreless draw in the 2019 regular season.
- Seattle and Dallas will meet for the fifth time in the last seven postseasons dating back to 2014. The first two meetings, during the 2014 playoffs, were drawn with Seattle advancing on away goals, while the home team has won each of the last five matches, spanning the 2015, 2016 and 2019 playoffs (Seattle won in 2016 and 2019, FC Dallas won on penalties in 2015).
- The Sounders have trailed in only two of their 13 home games during their ongoing postseason winning streak, for a total of 55 minutes, with 49 of those coming against Dallas in the 2015 meeting (2-1 Sounders win).
- Dallas advanced past Portland in a penalty shootout (1-1, 8-7 SO) in the First Round of the playoffs, the first time they avoided defeat in a road playoff match since a scoreless draw in Seattle in 2014. Dallas made all eight penalties they took in the shootout, the most consecutive spot kicks made in a shootout in MLS postseason history.
- Prior to Pepi and Clark scoring in the First Round ties, the last player under the age of 18 to score in a postseason match was Jozy Altidore for the Red Bulls in 2006.
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