Impact, TFC set to take Montreal-Toronto antipathy to a higher pitch

The sporting rivalry between the cities of Montreal and Toronto is eternal but with one city’s hockey team perpetually stuck in neutral, it’s taken their respective soccer clubs to bring back some relevance to the historical animosity.

On Tuesday night at the Olympic Stadium, upwards of 60,000 fans will pack the place as Toronto FC visits the Montreal Impact in the first leg of the MLS Eastern Conference Final as the 401/Autoroute de Souvenir Derby achieves must-watch status in Canadian sporting circles.

Last season’s 3-0 win for Montreal in the knockout round was more of false start in that regard but with both teams peaking at the right time, this season’s two-legged series could be a wild 180-minute ride with a first Canadian MLS Cup berth at stake.

“I haven’t been here long but I realize how the sports fans feel about each other in each city,” defender Drew Moor said after a training session late last week. “It’s almost hard to put a finger on. I can’t quite explain it. There’s a hatred there that nobody really talks about. It’s maybe under the surface a little bit but I understand how much it means to TFC fans and if it means that much to them, it means that much to us.”

Just watch the highlights from August’s regular season game to see the fireworks that could easily erupt when these two teams meet. First there was the melee in the first half when Callum Mallace laid out Steven Beitashour. Then, a man down, Ignacio Piatti scored to give Montreal the shock 1-0 victory.

Simply put, anything can happen when these two teams play.

“It’s great for Canadian soccer because two teams out of the three are in the conference final and one will be able to attend the final,” said Bernier. “It shows the growth of professional club soccer here in Canada. These are the types of game you want to play in.”

Last year’s playoff game between these two teams aside, it’s tough to remember when a match-up between the two cities in any sport featured two teams that were any good.

Until such a time where the Canadiens and Leafs meet in the playoffs, which likely won’t happen anytime soon, the soccer rivalry will be a much more entertaining (and cost-effective) rivalry between two cities fan groups that share a long sporting history.

Both sides feature heavyweights on both ends of the field. With players like Giovinco, Altidore, Bradley, Moor on Toronto and Piatti, Mancosu, Bernier and Ciman on Montreal, this is going to be a lot of fun.

For the growth of the game in Canada, this can only be a good thing.

“Having such a meaningful match between two Canadian teams will draw more eyes to it both in the stadiums and on the field,” said Toronto head coach Greg Vanney. “In our stadium, we fully expect to sell-out so by my calculation there could be 100,000 fans between the two stadiums and the two games. That’s pretty amazing.”

Hopefully one day when these two teams will meet in a playoff series like this with so much on the line, there will be a bit more Canadian content then a scattering of players from both sides. But it’s moments like these that could help make that happen.