Valour FC won't touch the tape across the finish line first in the Canadian Premier League and won't step foot on the medal podium.
But Winnipeg's professional soccer club will sprint to the end, even with the playoffs out of the picture for a seventh straight season. Already eliminated from the postseason, Valour -- currently sixth in the tables with a 6-15-4 record -- has three matches remaining this year, including Sunday's home date against Atlético Ottawa, with a 2 p.m. start at Princess Auto Stadium.
And the goal in the final three is simple: play for the badge first and foremost.
"I'm looking for this group to honour its obligations," said Valour FC GM and head coach Phillip Dos Santos in a media conference call on Friday. "We're competitors. We're professional athletes and coaches and we have a mandate to play every game with the right mentality, to show up every day with the right mentality."
Sunday's match is a daunting one on paper for Valour, as Ottawa is second in the CPL standings with a 15-2-8 record -- just two points back of first-place Forge FC. That said, Valour is 2-2-1 in its last five, including a 2-1 victory over Forge on September 11th in the team's last appearance before a home crowd and just one of two defeats for the Hamilton-based squad this season.
Asked if the motivation was to potentially take points from a team in a push for first overall, Dos Santos said the goal is more Valour-focussed, as it should be.
"I don't think about it like that," he said. "I think about us showing up and doing what we need to do to win a football match for us, for our fans, for our pride, for what the future could look like.
"It's important for us to show up for the right reasons and the right reasons need to be Valour FC and us finishing with pride and trying to stay as high as we can in the table. If we can't finish fifth, fourth, third then let's try to secure that sixth spot and finish strong."
Entering the weekend Valour is one point up on seventh place Pacific FC and four ahead of Vancouver FC. After Sunday's match the club will be home to Halifax Wanderers on October 11th before finishing the schedule on October 18th in B.C. against Pacific.
"It's very important (to finish the season strong). The fan base deserves that," said veteran midfielder Kris Twardek. "It's been a difficult season for everybody involved; there's no hiding from that.
"Giving fans competitive games at home, showing that we're fighting for the club, is very important. They got that the last home game and we've got to do that two more times.
"... You have to treat this as three matches you have to take very seriously. The motivation shifts. You're not fighting for playoffs, you're fighting for pride, you're fighting for a good collective performance and you're fighting for the fans."
Valour has dropped its last two -- 1-0 to York United and 3-0 to Cavalry FC -- but prior to that posted 2-1 and 5-2 wins over Forge and Vancouver while drawing Pacific 1-1. The club has surrendered eight goals over its last five, an improvement in defending which has been an issue this season.
Valour has conceded a league-high 55 goals, but Dos Santos mentioned the play of Frankie Facchineri and Diego Konincks in the middle of the back line and the work of Myles Morgan and Kianz Froese up top as positive signs of late.
And, in reinforcing the same message, Dos Santos said the last three matches will not be used as an opportunity to empty his bench and see what the reserves might offer.
"I told the group right now we play every game to try and win them," he said. "We're human beings and even in preseason you want to win every game. I said to the group we're not here in these final three games to give gifts. We're here to make sure that we play the team that gives us more guarantees to go and win matches. If you ask me what's your mentality, I'm going to coach to try and win the three matches we have left.
"It's two at home, it's one at Pacific, I want to finish strong. I'm a competitor and I want to make sure the team also understands that. As a coach, when you start moving things around too much you might be passing a different message. I want to be clear and coherent with my message: we are going to try and win the three games that we have left. I'll coach like that. I've been working my week like that, and I'll tell my staff that we have to show up to the end with integrity, with the right mindset and make sure the players don't think or believe that we are here just to play the rest of the schedule. No, that's not who I am, and I won't do that."