1-1 draws on both May 27 and July 22 -- the foes are familiar with each other and know that the title could go either way.
"The biggest thing is not to freak out. It's just a soccer game like all the others," Reis said of the added pressure of meeting in the MLS Cup Final. "The team that's the most relaxed and can go out and show it I think is usually the team that does the best."
"The guys that have been there before tell everybody else to enjoy it because it doesn't happen every year," said Ching of his Houston teammates. "We have a veteran core of guys who have been to finals and whatnot and we know what to expect and we try to tell everybody to enjoy it, relax and not get too worked up about it because when we're relaxed we play our best."
So as both teams aim to keep their emotions in check, the energy from the fans could become a huge factor in the match. With Houston just a short distance from the Dallas metropolitan area, thousands of orange-clad supporters are expected to make the journey.
"I think we will have an advantage -- I don't know if it will be home-field -- but I think you're looking at four to seven thousand wearing orange. I think it's enough to give you an emotional lift," Kinnear said.
Kinnear also acknowledged the fans that his team left in California when the Earthquakes moved from San Jose to the Bayou City prior to the start of the 2006 campaign.
"We haven't left the San Jose fans behind. Our memories of San Jose are still fond and not far away," he said. "We have two groups of fans and we've been embraced by fans in two cities. Hopefully we'll see some Earthquakes jerseys in the stands Sunday as well."
One thing that all viewers are sure to see on Sunday are some epic battles on the soccer field. Both sides carry extremely talented rosters both offensively and defensively and the matchups are tantalizing even just on paper.
Giants Ching and Shalrie Joseph are sure to lock horns in a few aerial battles, while the more finessed moves of Houston's Dwayne De Rosario and New England's Pat Noonan will also be on display.
"We don't like to pull on one guy because then you get bitten by somebody else," Nicol said of Houston's myriad attacking threats. "We really want to focus on positional stuff and treat every guy like they're the one that's going to hurt us."
Nicol's counterpart may have a little less worrying to do, as midfielders Clint Dempsey and Steve Ralston are still question marks due to injury.
"Both had treatment today," Nicol said. "Both have done a wee bit of jogging and we'll just go day to day."
"We have to prepare as if (Ralston and Dempsey) are going to play," said Kinnear.
It's the third MLS Cup Final in five years for the Revolution -- all with Nicol in charge. The San Jose Earthquakes were in two MLS Cups, winning both, in 2001 and 2003. Kinnear was Frank Yallop's trusted assistant for both of those championships; he now has the satisfaction of having taken his own team to the title game.
"We've had a very interesting year with our transition from moving to a different place ... and climate," he added. "We've hit a couple of goals and obviously we have one more in mind and that's winning Sunday. We anticipate a good game, an exciting game, as all MLS Cup Finals have been over the years."
Jonathan Nierman is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
