A new era in the saga begins on Thursday night.

Greg Vanney’s Toronto FC will meet Thierry Henry’s Montreal Impact for the first time since the Frenchman took the helm of the Quebec-based club in November as the MLS is Back Tournament continues at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida.

Henry needs no introduction after a legendary career spent at the highest levels of the game. He will be intent on bringing that experience to his new club.

Though only a handful of matches into his tenure, one element is plain for Quentin Westberg, who followed in Henry’s footsteps at the celebrated French Football Federation academy bringing together the best players from the Paris region, training as a teenager while Henry was part of the winning side at the 2000 UEFA European Football Championship.

“Thierry Henry is an INF Clairefontaine graduate, so I've been following his footsteps as a player and as a coach,” opened Westberg. “One thing that I know is he loves the game. He's passionate about the game, he eats, he breathes, he sleeps football.”

“A passionate person will, eventually, always find solutions and find ways to spread his energy and contaminate his players,” he continued. “There's a lot of things we can expect. We just know that they're going to be ready.”

“I'm not expecting, or I'm not focusing on them as much as I'm focusing on us,” the goalkeeper added. “But for sure, they'll come out ready and we'll need to show a good brand of soccer again.”

Between MLS and the Concacaf Champions League, Thursday’s contest will be the sixth match under the watchful eye of Henry for the Impact. As such, Vanney watched their tournament opener closely, looking to glean any additional insight into what changes the Frenchman has wrought.

Henry lamented the lack of fight from his side in the 1-0 loss to the New England Revolution and urged that more be shown against Toronto.

Vanney isn’t reading too much into a single performance.

“It's just one piece of information, along with the first two games of the season,” said the TFC coach. “So far they've played more five in the back. In the first half, they took their wing-backs and inverted them inside and, in their 3-4-3, used their front three more as wingers who would then drop down the line and try to isolate them in one-on-one situations and use their dribbling ability to create things.”

“That's a different viewpoint than we've seen from them in the past,” Vanney compared. “I still think their strength is in the defending, in the counter attacking and using their pace and quality.”

“They obviously don't have a [Ignacio] Piatti who, in that style of play, was always a tremendous weapon for them, but they have other guys who are capable,” he cautioned. “A lot of numbers behind the ball defensively, that back line of five where you run into a brick wall if you can't move those guys around, so it's important for us that we remain purposeful in our attacks. We can't just pass the ball around in front of them, we've got to continue to try to break them down, we got to continue to try to get behind and score goals, and we've got to try to pin them into their half full field and really not allow them to get out through those three front guys who are all very capable soccer players and good runners.”

“Thierry has his own vision of how he's going to do it,” Vanney concluded. “But, for me, their strength right now is still in the transition and the counter attack and breaking out from their defensive shape.”

That the only Piatti on the pitch will be in red is another wrinkle.

As Vanney mentioned, Montreal’s Ignacio Piatti was a constant thorn in Toronto’s side, but his return to Argentina paves the way for Pablo Piatti to take up the mantle.

A derby clash adds further to what was already shaping up to be a crucial second group stage fixture as only the top two sides from Group C will advance automatically to the knockout rounds.

Not that either side needs reminding of the stakes.

“We didn't need any added pressure or anything for us to go into this Montreal game ready to go,” said Richie Laryea. “It's a rivalry game. We know what's at stake.”

“We dropped two points against D.C. United, so this is a very big game for us,” he continued. “We're ready. And it just so happens that it's against our rivals as well, so even better.”

Form goes out the window when rivals meet; expect the unexpected.

“One thing that I know is when Montreal plays Toronto and when Toronto plays Montreal, the truth of the previous game doesn't always stand,” pinpointed Westberg. “It's a particular game for both clubs and thinking you know what to expect is probably the biggest mistake you can make.”

“There's a little bit more passion and a little bit more thrill to these games,” he anticipated. “Maybe they didn't play their best game against New England, but I'm sure they will do much better against us. And we need to be ready for it.”

Much has been written about the history between these two clubs over the last decade. The 2020 edition is about to get underway, albeit under peculiar circumstances.

“It's an important game for both teams in the immediacy of the tournament to get through the round,” reminded Vanney. “The intensity level will be there.”

Without the fans driving on their respective sides, Vanney sees the play on the pitch as the determining factor in what tenor will be reached.

“It really is how the game starts off: if there's any physical challenges, if the temperature starts to rise inside the field a little bit with the players, then it could get to a higher level,” he suggested. “But in general I think the teams will compete hard. Both teams are going to try to play their style and try to gain control of the game. And I don't think anyone's going to take a step back.”