One thing is for sure, whichever team wins the Western Conference Championship will be the sentimental favorite to take MLS Cup ’06, writes Marc Connolly of MLSnet.com. Both the Houston Dynamo and the Colorado Rapids look like underdogs when paired with either the New England Revolution or D.C. United. However, Colorado is the pluckiest underdog of them all, and a trip to the finals would be a particularly sentimental affair given that Glenn Myernick, the last coach to bring the Rapids as far, suddenly passed away a few months ago. Houston’s story is that of a group of players who last winter were forced to pack up and move from San Jose, Calif., to the big Texas town, which they’ve managed to endear themselves to in just one season. A couple of former U.S. national team players preside over these teams: Fernando Clavijo, a veteran of the 1994 World Cup in the U.S., and Dominic Kinnear. Clavjo also presides over a Rapids team loaded with long-serving U.S. national team players, including Pablo Mastroeni, Clint Mathis and Jovan Kirovski. Expect Houston, the home team, to set the tempo while Colorado will soak up possession and focus on keeping the likes of Brian Ching and Dwayne De Rosario off the score sheet. Mastroeni, the Germany 2006 veteran, has the task of containing De Rosario, who was short-listed for this year’s MVP award. The regular season series went Houston way, 2-1-1.