For the second year running Major League Soccer's champion will be decided via a tension-fuelled one-off clash between Boston-based New England Revolution and Texas' Houston Dynamo. The Revs, who lost last year's MLS Cup in a heart-breaking penalty shoot-out after looking like shading it, will be keen on revenge and have substantial momentum after a hearty 1-0 win over Chicago Fire in their conference final on Thursday. The Dynamo, for their part, will be fancying their chances of a second straight title after making easy meat of the Kansas City Wizards on Saturday.

New England have the unenviable reputation of being the league's nearly men, having lost out on all three of their trips to the marquis, one-off final which annually decides the season's champion. However, this year the club managed to pick up their first silverware in the form of the US Open Cup (comparable to England's FA Cup) and turned that momentum into a hot run through the play-offs.

After beating Claudio Reyna, Juan Pablo Angel and the star-studded New York Red Bulls in their two-game conference semi-final, Cuauhtémoc Blanco and his Chicago Fire were always going to be a tough test at the penultimate hurdle. But the Revs, who have made a habit of beating the men from the Windy City in post-season play, stayed cool and had their talisman Taylor Twellman to thank for their slim 1-0 win.

Although the game, at New England's stronghold in Foxboro, Massachusetts, always looked to be going the way of the home side, it took a moment of unparalleled inspiration from the team's ace scorer to settle the affair. Sandwiched in between two defenders in the 38th minute, he reacted quickest to his deflected header to line up under the looping ball, rise like a rocket and slam home a perfectly executed bicycle kick.

"You always dream about winning a big game with a goal like that and my hat's off to him," said head coach and former Liverpool great Steve Nicol after the match that sent the Revs to their fourth MLS Cup in 12 years. "It's going to be the first final where we're going in guns blazing and feeling 100 per cent ready," Twellman added about the upcoming all-or-nothing contest in Washington DC on 18 November. " Let the chips fall where they may. Hopefully they fall in our place this year."

With the disappointment of last year still fresh in the minds of Twellman, Steve Ralston, Pat Noonan, Shalrie Joseph and all the rest of the Revs, the lads will be keen to make this one stick and bring a league and cup 'double' home to the Northeast.

Dynamic Dynamo
The Dynamo, who at the start of last season relocated and changed names from their previous incarnation as the San Jose Earthquakes, will be sure not to make things easy on the eager Revolution. After beating fellow Texans FC Dallas over two legs in their western conference semi-final, the orange-clad defending MLS champions made no mistake in knocking out Kansas City Wizards 2-0 in their one-off conference final to book passage to MLS Cup.

The game on Saturday, played at their home ground of Robertson Stadium, was a largely defensive affair in which the hosts denied Eddie Johnson and the clutch of Kansas City attackers a single shot at goal over 90 minutes.

On the other side of the coin, when Houston were presented with chances they made absolutely no mistake. Nate Jaqua scored a header from a Richard Mulrooney cross and a thunder strike from Canadian sensation Dwayne De Rosario nine minutes from time sealed the deal for the Texas men.

"Our goal these last three games has been to out-work the other team and I think we've done that," said Dynamo defender Eddie Robinson. "And that is going to be our main objective going into the MLS Cup, to outwork New England which is going to be tough because they have a bunch of guys who work their tails off."

The one-game final in DC is bound to be a tense affair as MLS Cups always are. The drama will be compounded by the fact that the Revs will be looking to settle a score after they came within seconds of winning last year's final. Brian Ching, though, had other ideas. His header broke their hearts and forced a penalty shootout which the Dynamo went on to win.

Who will be the champions this time: the long-suffering Revs or the new dynasty from Texas? All will be known on 18 November in the late autumn chill of RFK stadium in the US capital.