BERLIN -- German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and his Conservative challenger Edmund Stoiber, in a dead heat before the September 22 national election, face their final direct showdown during a live television debate Sunday.

The two squared off in a polite exchange of jabs two weeks ago in Germany's first-ever American style TV debate which most observers said ended in a draw.

Sunday evening, with just a fortnight to go before election day, the two are expected to pull off the gloves on issues ranging from a possible war with Iraq to the struggling German economy.

"The feeling of a championship final is in the air," said Nikolaus Brender, news chief at ZDF, one of two public television networks broadcasting the debate. "After the tie last time, viewers want to know who would be the better chancellor."

With an estimated 16 percent of German voters undecided in one of the closest races in years according to the polling institute Infratest-Dimap, Schroeder and Stoiber are dueling for every mind they can sway.

After months of trailing Stoiber's Conservative Christian Union Alliance, Schroeder has come out of his corner in recent weeks, using his staunch opposition to a possible U.S.-led war in Iraq and rediscovering leftist issues such as the environment to mobilize his Social Democrats.

Opinion polls indicate that most Germans believe attacking Baghdad would be a dangerous mistake and Schroeder has made Germany the first major U.S. ally in Europe to flatly refuse to participate in an Iraqi war, even with a new United Nations mandate.

He stressed that point Saturday evening at an informal summit with French President Jacques Chirac in the western city of Hanover, where the two leaders presented a united European front against a "unilateral" U.S. attack on Iraq.

Schroeder's position has helped him close the gap with Stoiber, as has his effective handling of a flood disaster in East Germany last month which caught his opponent off-guard.

The telegenic Schroeder is expected to hammer home these points during the debate, which two weeks ago drew some 15 million viewers -- comparable to the ratings for a soccer match featuring the national team.

Stoiber, who has also criticized plans for military action in Iraq but has refused to rule out a German role if there is a un mandate, has warned of lasting damage to U.S.-German relations due to Schroeder's hard line.