With 12 games left, it's playoffs or bust for Miami FC -- with coach Zinho willing to put his locks on the line.

Zinho, a World Cup champion with Brazil in 1994, pledged this week to shave his salt-and-pepper hair if the Blues make the playoffs for the first time in three years. Should Miami FC beat Montreal at FIU Stadium on Saturday, it might be time to warm up the clippers.

The Blues (7-8-3) and Impact (6-8-4) are sixth and seventh in the USL-1 standings -- with the top seven teams making the playoffs. However, Vancouver lurks just a point behind Montreal.

`A SIX-POINT GAME`

With a win, the Blues would hold a five-point lead over Montreal, plus own the season tiebreaker. The teams split their previous two meetings.

``It's not a three-point game, it's a six-point game,'' Zinho said, referring to the swing the victorious team would experience.

The match will be the Blues' sixth appearance of the season at FIU Stadium, where the team has gone 2-1-2. However, attendance has continually shrunk during the past three months, with just a few hundred showing up for the Blues' 3-0 loss to Portland on July 19.

`REALLY IMPORTANT'

However, the team hopes the time (8 p.m. on a Saturday) and the importance of the match against the Impact will convince more to come out to the stadium.

``It's a really important game, because they're right on our heels,'' said defender Cristiano Dias, who has appeared in every match this year. ``There's a little more pressure, playing a team right under us in the standings.''

A player impervious to strain has been Paulo Araujo Jr., who has scored three goals and tallied three assists in just 12 matches. Araujo, who joined the team in mid-May, has supplanted former MLS Best XI team member Diego Serna as the team's top offensive threat.

Araujo was named to the USL-1 Team of the Week for scoring twice in the Blues' 2-1 victory against Minnesota last Friday -- despite facing double, and at times, triple teams.

Serna, on the other hand, has not scored since the Blues' 2-0 win over Austin on June 14 -- a source of concern for Zinho.

``Diego's main function is to finish, and he hasn't done that in a long time,'' Zinho said. ``The team is tactically very good on defense and putting the ball in goal-scoring positions. But we're missing the final pass and the definition.''

Serna, however, seemed far less concerned.

``It's more important that the team wins than I score,'' Serna said. ``Unfortunately, there have not been a lot of plays for me to get goals. I understand the situation we're in.''

Serna and the Blues could get some more firepower soon. The team hopes to bring in an offensive midfielder in the next 10 days, said Traffic Sports director of soccer Fernando Clavijo, who would not specify which players the team is targetting.

LOST 2 PLAYERS

During the past few weeks, the Blues have parted with midfielder Richard Perdomo -- who signed with CD Platense, a first-division club in Honduras -- and defender Facundo Erpen. The latter had hoped to play in Europe this summer, but a broken foot has derailed those plans. Erpen has rehabilitated the injury back home in Argentina, but the team does not expect him back this year.

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