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They took the second leg of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, 1-0, but that wasn't enough for Sporting Kansas City to complete the comeback on aggregate, as the Houston Dynamo advanced to the Eastern Conference Championship on Wednesday.
Even though their season is over, Sporting KC forward CJ Sapong said following the loss that he knows who the superior team is.
"I think we showed we're the better team," Sapong said. "But things happen that you can't explain. We knew they would sit back and defend and make it tough, but we could have done it."
Sporting KC defender Seth Sinovic echoed his teammate's thoughts, saying, "We outplayed them over the two games and probably deserve more. But that's how playoff soccer is.
"Houston is a tough team with a lot of experience. They're never easy to break down. We did our best tonight and played our hearts out."
Though he believed his team "dominated" Wednesday's game, manager Peter Vermes said Sporting KC just couldn't find a way to get a second goal, which would have tied the aggregate score.
"We had quite a few others that just went across the goal mouth, right over the net," Vermes said. "There were some very good chances."