KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Toronto FC manager Ryan Nelsen stood outside the visitors locker room at Sporting Park and promptly rattled off a list of the reasons his club is in position for its first playoff appearance in franchise history. He raced through the areas of improvement in only a matter of seconds. But that index eventually led him to a realization that his club learned the hard way Saturday. Theres still work to be done. Sporting Kansas City put a stamp on its Eastern Conference lead by routing Toronto FC 4-1 in front of 20,730 fans at Sporting Park. Toronto FC fell to 0-2-1 this season against the Eastern Conference leaders. "We needed to harden as a team, but you have to do that through experience, through playing and through the plays, year after year of grinding it out," Nelsen said. "I think we still got a wee bit to go, but the positives on our day, we can beat anybody in this league, and I think everybody knows that." Toronto FC, 9-8-5, performed better than the scoreline indicated. The visitors recorded only one less shot than Sporting KC and held 47 percent of the possession - a hard number to reach at Sporting Park, where only one visiting team has claimed victory this season. But Sporting KC striker Dom Dwyer broke a five-game scoreless slump when he converted a pair of first-half penalty kicks. He has 16 goals this season. Toronto FC forward Gilberto Oliveira Souza executed a nifty flick to beat goalkeeper Jon Kempin in extra time of the first half to cut the deficit to 2-1, but Soony Saad and C.J. Sapong finished off corner-kick plays for the 4-1 final. "I dont think well be giving away goals on corner kicks like that. We dont normally," Nelsen said. "And then its just two penalties. If you take all that away, they dont create much against us and dont break us down very often. "We had very many opportunities to score a lot of goals in open play. Were dangerous. We look good now. Well be a different animal when we have a few guys (back)." The club played without its captain, defender Steven Caldwell, as well as Jermain Defoe, Mark Bloom and Warren Creavalle. Nelsen said all four players could return when Toronto FC returns home Aug. 23 to host the Chicago Fire. Their absences loomed large - particularly on the back line. "We looked young at the back today - some indecision," Nelsen said. "But we learned from it. All those guys learned from it. Theyll grow from it. The experience will be good for them. The exciting thing about it is if were lucky enough to come back and play these guys again, Im very confident in our team." Gilberto provided reason for optimism in the first half when he finished off a crossing pass from Dominic Oduro, but he missed his chance to knot the score later in the game. Gilberto found himself in a one-on-one with Kempin - who was making the first start of his Major League Soccer career - only six minutes after halftime, but Kempin deflected the shot wide. Toronto defender Jackson Goncalves - responsible for the first penalty kick when he tripped midfielder Benny Feilhaber - had an opportunity to atone for his mistake in the second half when he found himself one-on-one with Kempin. But he took too long to make his move, and Sporting KC defender Aurelien Collin hustled back to clear the ball from danger. That was the end of chances for Toronto FC, which still managed to secure six points over its four-game road swing. "I think youd take six points from four away games. I think if someone offered me that, Id probably take it," Nelsen said. Craig Biggio Jersey . The Red Sox maintained a share of the AL wild-card lead Tuesday night, using four home runs to beat the Baltimore Orioles 8-7 and set up a dramatic conclusion to the regular season. The skidding Red Sox were 6-19 this month before rebounding to edge the last-place Orioles. Jeff Bagwell Jersey . Pospisil, from Vancouver, and Sock will compete for the title against defending champions and top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan of the United States, who defeated the 12th-seeded French duo of Michael Llodra and Nicolas Mahut 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-2. http://www.baseballastrosproshop.com/nol...-astros-jersey/. Sure, Josh Browns 45-yard field goal on the third drive of overtime lifted the New York Giants to a 23-20 win over Detroit on Sunday. But the Lions (7-8) dropped themselves out of the NFC North race by losing five of their last six games, blowing fourth-quarter leads in each setback. Houston Astros Jerseys . Hall had a goal and three assists in a 5-4 loss to San Jose on Tuesday, had an assist in each of Edmontons next two games the capped the week with a goal and two assists in the Oilers 4-2 win over Anaheim on Sunday. Gerrit Cole Jersey . Stepanek gave the Czech Republic its second straight Davis Cup title Sunday, sweeping past Dusan Lajovic in straight sets in the fifth and decisive match to secure a 3-2 win over Serbia in the final. MILAN, Italy -- Fiorentina fell to a surprise 1-0 defeat at Cagliari as it lost ground in the race for a Champions League place, while AC Milan coach Clarence Seedorfs winning start in the Italian league ended on Saturday. Milan was held to 1-1 at home by Torino. Cagliari scored six minutes from halftime when Mauricio Pinilla blasted home from the penalty spot after Facundo Roncaglia tripped Marco Sau. The home side could have doubled its tally in stoppage time as first Fiorentina defender Stefan Savic almost scored an own goal then Albin Ekdals shot clipped the top of the upright. Fiorentina new signing Anderson made his first start following a loan move from Manchester United but proved ineffective. The Tuscan team was missing leading strikers Mario Gomez and Giuseppe Rossi, who are out with long-term injuries. Fiorentina remained three points behind third-place Napoli, which visits Atalanta on Sunday. Later, Seedorf was looking to become the first Milan coach since Luigi Bonizzoni in 1958-59 to win his opening three Serie A games. Milan, which was without the suspended Mario Balotelli, dominated but Torino took the lead in the 17th minute thanks to a wonderful solo effort from Ciro Immobile. He ran almost half the length of the pitch before feinting past Daniele Bonera and firing across into the bottom right corner ffor his 11th goal of the season.dddddddddddd Adil Rami scored his first for Milan since his move from Valencia to level matters four minutes after halftime. The France defender ran onto Sulley Muntaris short pass before unleashing a rocket shot into the left of goal. Robinho thought he gave Milan the lead 10 minutes later when he curled Kakas through ball into the far side of the net, but he was narrowly ruled offside. "Its a really great emotion to score," Rami said. "It was four or five months that I didnt play, it was a difficult moment for me, it wasnt easy in my head. Im lucky to have a strong character." Rami was suspended by Valencia at the beginning of October after insulting his coach and teammates in a radio interview. Elsewhere, Udinese snapped a run of four successive defeats to beat Bologna 2-0 in a relegation fight. Udinese took the lead in the 15th minute when a somewhat soft penalty was awarded against Michele Pazienza for a nudge on Andrea Lazzari, and Antonio Di Natale fired Udinese in front, despite Bologna goalkeeper Gianluca Curci guessing the right way. Nico Lopez sealed the result in stoppage time when he finished off a swift counterattack. Udinese moved provisionally six points clear of the relegation zone. 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