TORONTO – This may be the first time Toronto FC and the New York Red Bulls have met in the MLS Cup Playoffs, but for many players and coaches, the series has an element of familiarity about it.

Whether based on the region, the club, or individuals, the ties between these sides is strong. 

TFC features some four players with roots in New York/New Jersey. Both Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore were born in the Garden State. Jason Hernandez is a native of New York City, while Alex Bono hails from upstate Syracuse.

Bradley, Altidore, and Hernandez all began their careers with the MetroStars/Red Bull organization – drafted in the 2004, 2006, and 2005 editions on the MLS SuperDraft, respectively.

Said Hernandez of returning to his hometown and the place his professional career began: “It's great. Any time I get to go back and play it's a lot of fun. I have tons of family and friends in the area; even though it was the MetroStars at the time, it was the first club to sign me. There are still some familiar faces there, a team that has a lot of history. It's always a great challenge. Come playoff time, there's nothing better. I'm definitely excited.”

Bradley and Altidore reflected on those early days last week.

In addition to the homecoming, Hernandez will also be linking up with a former teammate, Sacha Kljestan, a player with whom his relationship goes back to when they both attended and played for Seton Hall University. 

“Sacha has to be considered one of the best attacking midfielders this league has ever seen,” said Hernandez. “When you look at his assist record in comparison to [Carlos] Valderrama, a legend in this league, the numbers speak for themselves.”

Kljestan has 84 assists in 211 regular season matches, compared to Valderrama's 114 in 175. Kljestan's figure has him at tenth all-time, the only active player in the top twenty.

Red Bull coach Jesse Marsch too was a former teammate of Hernandez', alongside Kljestan at Chivas USA, adding yet another layer to this encounter.

“Former teammates, good friends; people that I admire in the game,” said Hernandez. “Jesse embodies a lot of the things that I appreciated playing under Bob Bradley and playing with Jesse. He combines many attributes that can amount to success; his track record speaks for itself. Red Bull have done great things since he's been there.” 

“Two guys who have done some very good things in this league,” added Hernandez of the duo.

TFC goalkeeping coach Jon Conway also crossed paths with Marsch in Los Angeles.

“Jesse was [coming to the end of his career]; we didn't play together much,” recalled Conway. “But I remember him as a player, playing against him. Now to go up against on coaching side... [it's] interesting.”

What kind of player was Marsch? 

“He ran around midfield, snapping and biting at everybody and anybody, trying to impose his will on the game,” said Conway. “You can see that in his team now: they want to impose their will and push the tempo, press guys. That is what he was doing as a player.”

And a move to the sidelines has not impacted Marsch's vociferousness one bit.

“I remember him being pretty loud when he was a player as well,” laughed Conway.

Conway was with the Red Bulls as a player from 2006 through 2009, a period he called an “interesting time”.

“When I [joined] it was MetroStars; within a month they got purchased by Red Bull and everything changed,” said Conway. “It was an interesting transition through that time. Being a part of the Red Bull family, being able to experience different things.” 

“Unfortunately I missed the opening of [Red Bull Arena], it was in the process when I was there, but I had moved on,” lamented Conway. “It's great to see that club evolve into one of [those] in the upper echelon of the league. It's come a long way from playing in the Meadowlands, an 80,000-seat stadium with about 10,000 people there.”

Altidore called those the “hard knocks times.”

“Not many people in the stadiums... it was just us,” continued Altidore. “We had to get ourselves up for those games. It was interesting, but fun in its own way.”

Added Conway: “For sure [we had to get ourselves up for those games]. Jozy was drafted when I got there. You really had to buckle down and get motivated to play. It was tough, playing in a huge stadium when it wasn't filled... even though they had a good supporters' groups that were there consistently.”

Asked of his early impressions of young Altidore, Conway said: “He didn't look like a 16-year old. He was a grown man, a bull in a china shop. Wide-eyed, worked his tail off; a real threat early on.”

“Watching him play, go against older, mature guys, he didn't skip a beat,” continued Conway. “It was great to be part of that time there with him. I'm happy now that we [have been] able to reconnect here.”

His most cherished memories from those Red Bulls days?

“[Playing] against [FC] Barcelona, twice,” said Conway. “Both of those games [2006 and 2008] were pretty special. The stadium was full to capacity... to play against Barcelona when they were firing on all cylinders was a really cool experience.”

Prior to joining TFC, assistant coach Robin Fraser had the same role with the Red Bulls, working alongside Mike Petke, the current Real Salt Lake coach through the 2013 and 2014 seasons.

“We had a good time there,” said Fraser. “Mike and I developed a great relationship. The situation was interesting: with Andy Roxburgh as the Sporting Director and Thierry [Henry] still there. It was a very interesting group of individuals that got together and made it all work to be successful.”

They won the Supporters' Shield in 2013.

Fraser, Greg Vanney, and Dan Calichman were also teammates with Red Bull assistant coach Chris Armas at the LA Galaxy, a side that established an MLS single-season points record in 1998 that lasted until this season when it was broken by TFC's mark of 69 points.

As far afield as Belgium, links between the clubs have been made.

Victor Vazquez played against Kljestan in one of the country's biggest clashes, Club Brugge against RSC Anderlecht. Chris Mavinga, on loan from Liverpool FC to KRC Genk, faced off with Kljestan on at least one occasion.

And then there is Benoit Cheyrou, whose connection to New York's Damien Perrinelle go way back, as both call Suresnes, France home.

“We were born in the same hospital,” laughed Cheyrou. “But we've [not] known each other for a long time. When I first came here we met, now we are friends.” 

“He played in France, [so I] knew [of] him; we played a couple times against each other,” continued Cheyrou. “But we were not very close. Since I came here, we got closer and closer.”