Houston 3 - 1 Colorado

Dalglish's double sees off Rapids

Updated: November 5, 2006, 9:23 PM ET

HOUSTON -- Paul Dalglish scored twice in the first half and Brian Mullan added a goal in the 71st minute to help the Houston Dynamo advance to the MLS Cup with a 3-1 victory over the Colorado Rapids on Sunday in the Western Conference final.

Houston will face the New England Revolution, a 1-0 winner over D.C. United on Sunday in the Eastern final, in the title game next Sunday in Frisco.

Though this is the first season for the Dynamo, the squad is made up primarily of players and coaches from the San Jose Earthquakes, the MLS champion in 2001 and 2003.

Jovan Kirovski's goal in the third minute after a hand ball by Adrian Serioux gave Colorado a 1-0 lead. Dalglish tied it in the 10th minute on a goal from inside 5 yards.

Dalglish put the Dynamo ahead in the 20th minute on a header in the middle off a pass from Brad Davis. Mullan also got an assist on the play.

"This is awesome," Dynamo coach Dominic Kinnear said. "For the guys to come back from a goal down early was great. I was thinking words you can't say in public when we got down so quick."

Dalglish, the son of Scottish soccer legend Kenny Dalglish, bounced around Europe until the middle of the MLS season before signing with the Dynamo. At the time, Houston had become a predictable team that relied on either Brian Ching or Dwayne De Rosario.

"There were three of them here really with Ching and De Rosario and (Alejandro) Moreno," Dalglish said. "Hopefully I can add a little to those guys and they can't concentrate on them.

"I'm delighted to be here. The fans stood up and were great tonight. We did Houston proud."

Houston beat Colorado three times, and the teams also tied once.

"I think we were playing a little too high," Rapids goalkeeper Joe Cannon said. "We've kind of had a problem with that all year for some reason. I think we gave them a lot of space in behind."