Repeat defeat leaves Khano in tears
By Stephen Wright in Washington, DC
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Khano Smith: ' We'll win it some day. We' ve just got to keep going.'
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MATT SLOCUM
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A deflated Khano Smith sits slumped over in the Revolution's locker room, head in hands, losing his fight to hold back the tears.
Just 45 minutes earlier he had been sitting on the same wooden bench at the RFK Stadium with Revs one up, confident in the knowledge half the task was complete.
Heart-breakingly for the young Bermudian he is now revisiting the same raw emotions he experienced a year ago when Houston Dynamo once again shattered his dreams.
His MLS Cup demons remain unexorcised, and the usually lucid 26-year-old is struggling to find words to express his feelings of despair.
"I'm speechless," says Smith. "To be honest I have no idea what happened just then, I really don't. I don't know what's worse this or last season's (MLS Cup) defeat — they both suck!"
Just 45 minutes earlier Smith had been sitting in the same wooden seat, recharging his batteries, after a hugely impressive first-half showing where the ex-Dandy Town man had arguably been Revs' most potent weapon.
But that seems like an eternity now with the Revs once again admirable losers as he politely addresses the media in the now deathly silent locker room.
"We came in at half-time after playing great and were looking at going back out there and doing the same thing," Smith says.
"We dominated them in the first half and we probably should have put them away then. We had opportunities, not clear-cut chances, but we didn't finish them off and let them back in the game.
"I don't think we switched off or made any real mistakes. I guess it's just not meant to be.
"We didn't play as well in the second half as the first half, but I didn't feel we played badly. Maybe they just came into their own."
While some of his solemn team-mates are already changed into their tracksuits looking eager to leave the scene of their latest MLS Cup melt-down, Smith is making his way to the shower.
"There's nobody to blame as we're a team and we're all in this together. I guess we probably just have to come back again next year.
"We'll win it some day," he says trying to smile. "We've just got to keep going."
