Potentially an MLS Cup final for the ages

A little more than a year ago, Major League Soccer had a chance to put on an MLS Cup final for the ages. The league had two teams with star-studded lineups, playing beautiful soccer all season long and dominating opposition to leave little doubt as to who the two best teams in MLS were. All the New England Revolution and San Jose Earthquakes had to do was get to the final.

Gail Oskin/WireImage

Revolution stars Matt Reis, left, and Clint Dempsey could make the jump to Europe next season.

It didn't quite work out that way. The Earthquakes were knocked off in the first round of the West playoffs and the Revs were too battered and bruised from navigating the Eastern Conference playoffs to win the championship that seemed destined to be theirs. The result was that the Los Angeles Galaxy, a team with a .500 record, lifted the championship trophy.

One year later, the dream matchup we were cheated out of a season ago has been realized, with a few subtle changes. The Earthquakes changed towns, names, histories and colors, resurrecting themselves as the dynamic Houston Dynamo, the orange-clad bunch that hasn't forgotten the style of play that won the Quakes a pair of MLS titles.

Meanwhile, the Revs haven't changed all that much. They have the same stars, the same coach and the same injury problems heading into the final. What is different in New England is the stark reality that this is probably the last go-round for a core group that has played some of the league's best soccer over the past four years.

What we should have, if Scottish-born coaches Dom Kinnear and Steve Nicol allow, is a wide-open encounter with enough scoring chances to leave the sold-out crowd at Pizza Hut Park yearning for more. Why? Why shouldn't we expect another 1-0 yawner, like last year's final between Los Angeles and New England? We shouldn't expect the worst because Sunday's match features two talented teams preparing for what could be their last hurrahs (ABC, 3:30 p.m. ET).

Consider Houston. The Dynamo could be the team most affected by the arrival of expansion team Toronto FC, with playmaker Dwayne DeRosario, goalkeeper Pat Onstad and defender Adrian Serioux high on the new club's list of targets. DeRosario grew up near Toronto, making his professional debut with the Toronto Lynx in 1997. Onstad has similarly strong ties to Toronto, having played for three different Toronto-based teams during his professional career. At 38, you would imagine that Onstad would be ready to finish his career back home. Serioux might be the least likely of the three to head north. A native of Scarborough, the same Toronto suburb as DeRosario, Serioux was originally signed by Toronto FC coach Mo Johnston when Johnston was coaching the Red Bulls last spring, before dealing him rather suddenly for midfielder Danny O'Rourke.

The list of potential departures doesn't end with Houston's Canadians. Forward Brian Ching is a solid prospect worth European looks, while Ricardo Clark, who will miss the final due to a suspension, has been the target of foreign suitors since last year. That makes as many as five Dynamo starters who could be elsewhere in 2007. Maybe all of them won't leave, but enough are likely to leave to make Sunday's final Houston's best chance for the title in a while.

New England finds itself in a similar situation. Midfielders Shalrie Joseph and Clint Dempsey are regarded as the MLS players most likely to depart this offseason, but are they the only players capable of bolting? Michael Parkhurst continues to improve, which could lead to him being priced out of a league that isn't known for paying big dollars to defenders. Goalkeeper Matt Reis has surely turned heads and is looking more and more like the next American goalkeeper to make the move to Europe. Welsh-born Andy Dorman also has done a good job of elevating his stock, making him a potential target for English clubs looking for a relative bargain.

Sunday's final isn't just about the players who could be playing their last games for their clubs. It is also about a pair of standout coaches who are both missing titles on their resumé. Kinnear was Frank Yallop's lead assistant for both of San Jose's MLS titles (2001 and 2003) but questions about his coaching ability began surfacing when he wasn't able to duplicate that success when he took over as head coach in 2004. It didn't matter to some that Landon Donovan had since departed for the Los Angeles Galaxy via Germany. All that some could remember is how the Earthquakes were eliminated from last season's playoffs in the first round.

Kinnear erased some of those doubts not only by keeping his team together (amidst a tumultuous move from San Jose to Houston) but also by piecing together a lineup and roster that played some of the most entertaining and well-balanced soccer in MLS. The Dynamo's performance in the Western Conference final, when it decimated Colorado, served as the best evidence of Houston's smooth transition from California to Texas.

New England coach Steve Nicol doesn't have many doubters of his coaching ability anymore, but he does have room on his resumé for a title. He has become famous for rallying his players at the tail end of every season, helping them find the perfect rhythm heading into the postseason. Nicol did it in 2002, when the Revs didn't have much talent, and last year, even as injuries seriously hampered the Revs' normally dangerous attack.

This year Nicol has done it again, helping the Revs seemingly play better when they don't have their best players. No Clint Dempsey? No problem. No Shalrie Joseph? No problem. No Pat Noonan? No problem. Nicol moves players around with the ease of a chess master, and now all he needs to solidify an impressive MLS record is a championship.

So there you have it. Two talented teams, fully aware that this might be the last chance at glory, and two coaches seeking well-deserved validation. If these circumstances don't set the stage for one entertaining MLS Cup final, then nothing can.

Ives Galarcep covers MLS for ESPNsoccernet. He is a writer and columnist for the Herald News (N.J.) and also writes a blog, Soccer By Ives. He can be reached at Ivespn79@aol.com.