Toronto FC, NYCFC a matchup of stars and varying vintages

There has been little separating Toronto FC and New York City FC in the clubs’ respective regular season battles this year. Over the next two weeks, something is finally going to have to give.

The MLS Eastern Conference semifinal that starts on Sunday at BMO Field (7 p.m.) is a perfect stage for two of the biggest scoring stars in the league with Sebastian Giovinco sharing the marquee with NYCFC’s David Villa. Given the history of games involving these two teams, it could very well be a series that dazzles the fans while giving nightmares to defenders.

The two meetings this season came right at the start of the season with one ending 2-2 and the other ending 1-1 while last season’s 4-4 game at Yankee Stadium is certainly one to remember.

“It will be interesting,” said defender Nick Hagglund, who played in the 4-4 game last year. “Playoffs is different from the regular season. Teams are more willing to keep a shutout than score a bunch of goals but you never know. We’ve got Sebastian on our team so anything can happen.”

New York comes into Toronto boasting as much star power as TFC. But its trio of designated players - Villa, Frank Lampard and Andrea Pirlo – are at the tail end of their careers, while Giovinco, Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley are in their prime years.

The battles between the experienced heads of New York and Toronto’s younger stars will be an interesting story to follow over the 180 minutes that will be concluded on the small surface at Yankee Stadium next Sunday.

“Their guys are obviously seasoned veterans that have been around for a long time that are very clever, smart and connect well with each other,” said TFC head coach Greg Vanney. “I think our guys connect well with each other. I think our guys are a little younger so the turnaround from game-to-game, I think it will be an interesting match-up.”

Wednesday’s playoff win over Philadelphia was very much a collective effort as many players picked up the slack, but New York is a much bigger task. TFC needs that same level of collectivity if they have any hope of making a deeper playoff run.

The Montreal Impact’s 4-2 win over D.C. United on Thursday moved it into the other Eastern Conference semi, and kept alive the possibility of an all-Canadian conference final. Montreal hosts the New York Red Bulls on Sunday (3 p.m.) and hopes on-field success can continue to distract from off-field drama involving the team's biggest name.

With Didier Drogba likely disappearing forever from the club after the season in a cloud of petulance, Montreal may very well benefit as it simply looks better without him. The results have also proved that, so even if Drogba atones for his behaviour and decides he’s a team player again, Mauro Biello won’t be faulted if he continues to leave out the Ivory Coast international.

Like Toronto, Montreal got that back-to-front team effort in its knockout round win. Laurent Ciman, Matteo Mancosu and Ignacio Piatti got on the scoreboard while the backline kept a clean sheet until the final moments when the result was no longer in doubt.

Montreal is the underdog, but the MLS Cup playoffs have proven to be anything but predictable.