Seattle advances to West final despite losing to FC Dallas in 2nd leg

Would a loss by any other scoreline be as sweet?

Such was the margin of the Seattle Sounders' first-leg victory over FC Dallas, meaning even a 2-1 loss at Toyota Stadium in the second leg was not enough to keep them from advancing to the Western Conference Championship with a 4-2 victory on aggregate.

It was, in truth, a series that was over before it really started, with Seattle earning a 3-0 win at CenturyLink Field last Sunday. But that didn't stop Dallas from trying to score the four goals it needed to complete a comeback effort.

Tesho Akindele scored in the 25th minute, feeding off an assist by Atiba Harris to cut Seattle's aggregate lead to just two goals, and the Hoops took a 1-0 lead into halftime.

But Sounders star Nicolas Lodeiro further compounded Dallas' misery in the 54th minute, scoring a tap-in goal off Tyrone Mears' low cross to tie the match and give Seattle another massive advantage with an away goal.

It's why Dallas could not celebrate when Maximiliano Urruti scored just two minutes later, as that away goal still forced the home side to hunt for three more unanswered goals with just half an hour remaining.

It was a task too difficult to complete for Dallas, and despite losing 2-1 on the day, the Sounders still advance to face the Colorado Rapids in the conference final.

Pablo Mastroeni's side ousted the LA Galaxy on penalties, and with the result, the final four teams of the 2016 postseason are now set, with Toronto FC and the Montreal Impact competing in the East to vie for the MLS Cup in December.