The New England Revolution and Houston Dynamo met just over one year ago to the day in the one-off MLS Cup to decide Major League Soccer's champion for 2006. The orange-clad Dynamo, in their first year of existence, earned the laurels 4-3 after a penalty shoot-out, but the simple result hardly does the story justice.

After a pulsating 90 minutes of tension-fuelled, scoreless football, the game, played near to Houston's home-base in Dallas, Texas, went to extra-time. Both sides were fully aware that one mistake, one stumble, one missed step or one moment of inspiration could cost their side the title.

That moment seemed to have come seven minutes from the end of the second period of extra-timewhen New England Revolution ace striker Taylor Twellman eluded the Houston defence and slotted home from close range. The celebrations that followed were fuelled by massive relief as it seemed the Boston-based side were finally going to lay hands on an MLS title in their third appearance at the all-or-nothing final.

Brian Ching of the Dynamo had other ideas though, scoring a sharp header just 45 seconds after the restart and forcing penalties, which Houston went on to win amid scenes of horror and elation in equal measure.

"I'm not really worried about their (Revolution's) feelings," said Dynamo creator Dwayne De Rosario in the run-up to Sunday's do-or-die rematch in Washington DC. "We're going out there to win and we'll let them worry about their record of losses in the final."

Revolution stand-out centre-back Michael Parkhurst represents the other side of the coin. "That was the most heartbreaking game for me and for a lot of my team-mates," he told FIFA.com, knowing the Revs will be bolstered heading into this final by winning the 2007 US Open Cup. "All we had to do was hold the lead for seven minutes, but we lost it in less than 45 seconds and all of us will be desperate to make sure that doesn't happen again."

Round two of the MLS heavyweight showdown is set for Sunday 18 November at RFK Stadium in DC. Click on the links to the right to read complete exclusive interviews with two key players ahead of the big re-match.