The Houston Dynamo enter Sunday's MLS Cup against the L.A. Galaxy as the heavy underdog.

But the underdog, according John Bolster of MLSsoccer.com, has a way of rising to the occasion in the championship, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. (MT) at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. It will be shown on ESPN and Galavision.

Boslter ranks Real Salt Lake's victory against the Galaxy in 2009 as the biggest upset in cup history. His list:


1. 2009: Real Salt Lake 1, Los Angeles 1 (RSL 5-4 PEN)—Real Salt Lake squeaked into the playoffs on the last day of the season, dragging the stigma of a losing record (11-12-7) with them. They made the most of their postseason opportunity, though, rolling all the way to the final and edging out [David] Beckham, [Landon] Donovan and the rest of the heavily-favored L.A. Galaxy on penalties while jump starting their own run of dominance in the process.

2. 2005: LA Galaxy 1, New England 0 — The Revolution had the second-best regular season in the league that season, while the Galaxy limped to the eighth and final playoff spot. With 17 goals, Taylor Twellman was the MLS MVP and Golden Boot winner, and Revs defender Michael Parkhurst was Rookie of the Year. It didn’t matter, though. The sides played a scoreless 90 minutes at Pizza Hut Park before Guillermo Ramírez struck in the 105th minute to give LA an unlikely 1-0 victory.

3. 1998: Chicago Fire 2, D.C. United 0— D.C. United had grown into a bona fide dynasty and were gunning for a third-straight MLS Cup in 1998. Awaiting them in the final were Bob Bradley’s Chicago Fire, who joined the league alongside the Miami Fusion that season. Chicago’s 2-0 victory ended DC’s run at the top and made the Fire the only expansion team ever to win a title in their first year of existence.


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