Whenever Toronto and Montreal meet on the pitch, regardless of what preceded or what comes after, the energy required will be found.

On short rest after their opening match in the MLS is Back Tournament in Orlando, Florida, Toronto FC found the reserves needed to defeat the Montreal Impact 4-3 in a wild one.

The action started early when Richie Laryea opened the scoring after eight minutes by latching onto an Alejandro Pozuelo ball and crossing up his marker before picking out the far corner of the goal. Only for Montreal to respond six minutes later through Romell Quioto, sprinting behind the Toronto back-line to pounce on a long, defense-splitting ball.

Ayo Akinola would reinstate the TFC lead in the 25th minute, capping off a brilliant passing move that saw Auro play to Pablo Piatti, who cut in-field from the right before reversing the direction of play to Pozuelo. The Spaniard picked up his second assist of the night with an inch-perfect ball through the goalmouth for Akinola to left-foot into goal.

Montreal would again pull level come the 37th minute, this time through Saphir Taider at the penalty spot, only for Akinola to put Toronto ahead once more seconds later, right off the restart from another Pozuelo set-up.

The first half had a furious pace.

“Guys were excited to play this match,” said Greg Vanney. “Every time you play Montreal there's always a little bit more emotion. And the guys were a little frustrated with how the first game ended, so I wasn't surprised that the game was fast early on.”

“[Montreal] stepped up their pressure a little bit more, which also opened things up,” he continued. “Both teams were trying to feel each other out, in terms of how they're going to defend. That also led to us realizing that this game was off of two days rest. As the game progressed we were a little bit tired, legs were a little bit heavy, but it was gutsy and a lot of heart to get the result tonight.”

With a 3-2 lead heading into the second frame, cognizant of the two late goals conceded to D.C. United in the tournament opener on Monday, Toronto knew they needed to keep going.

Both sides made plenty of changes, but it was Akinola again who all but sealed the result in the 83rd minute when he bodied a defender away from a Nick DeLeon flick-on to surge in on goal before delicately finishing past Clement Diop.

Quentin Westberg played the initial ball, picking up the rare goalkeeper assist in the process.

A 94th minute penalty kick, again converted by Taider, would be meagre consolation to defeat for Thierry Henry’s Impact.

Following another memorable encounter, Vanney was noticeably hoarse in his post-match press conference.

“Their legs are tired, my voice is tired for sure; that's a fair assessment,” he replied. “As a Montreal-Toronto game it was exciting, it was back-and-forth, both teams were going for it.”

“Both teams are trying to get their legs under them, get their fitness together, trying to get sharper, so there were some mistakes out there, some stuff that wasn't as clean as either of us would really want in the grand scheme of things, but it had all the heart and determination and the fight and the battling that these games always have,” he assessed. “The only thing that was missing was the crowd that would be pushing the guys on and the excitement that they bring. We missed them, but the game itself had a lot of the stuff that we're used to seeing in this these matches.”

Having netted twice on Monday, Akinola brought his two-game tally at the tournament to five goals with three more on the night.

“I’m pretty happy to get the hat-trick,” said Akinola. “But I know it's not over. We’ve still got one more game left [before the knockout stages]. This game is in the past, I’m already thinking about the next one.”

Signed to a homegrown contract in December 2017, Akinola had made 12 MLS appearances over the previous two seasons, scoring once. It has been a breakout week for the 20-year-old, confirming the club's projections for his potential and position.

“Over the last few years, internationally, he's been playing on the wing – I've always viewed him as a striker,” began Vanney. “In his head he's been trying to come to grips with just who he is at the professional level and what he's going to be most successful at.”

“For us it's always a central striker who plays between the centre-backs, or off of the one centre-back tonight because they played in a back three – who uses his power and his speed and his aggressiveness in front of goal,” he continued. “Because he has soft feet, he can hold things up, but he's just so powerful and fast.”

“I always envisioned him as this guy, the guy that he is showing now,” Vanney reiterated. “He's gotten himself fit. He looks like he loves playing soccer and all of that is coming out in his performances.”

And with Pozuelo providing the chances and guidance, it is no great surprise at the uptick in Akinola’s trajectory.

“He's got an experienced guy like Pozuelo guiding him through the course of the game, helping him with some information, but also a guy who can provide you with some really good chances, and he's putting them away,” Vanney added. “We can create opportunities – that's one thing our team can definitely do. A guy like Ayo and his profile is always going to get his chances and the question is just putting them in the back of the net. For sure he is now.”

With three assists, Pozuelo now has five in the last two games, picking up just where he left off in 2019.

It is the joy with which he takes to the pitch on which Michael Bradley focused.

“He loves to play and so his mentality, especially in this period, coming off the lockdown when we were forced to stay at home and we were all without football for a while, he's totally reinvigorated,” said Bradley. “He loves to play, he loves to train, he loves to find little spots on the field, his eye for windows for final passes is excellent.”

“The relationship that he's developed in a short amount of time with Piatti, with Ayo, with Auro on that right side, there's a lot of good things,” Bradley added. “It's no secret that we continue to rely on his ability to set plays up in the final part of the field in a big way.”

That second goal stands out as the ‘system goal’ that every coach and side look to craft. It was not a moment of individual brilliance or random chance, but one of collective effort and intent.

With four points from the first two matches, TFC have themselves atop Group C – D.C. and New England play on Friday night – and in good stead to move on to the Knockout Rounds. They face New England in the third group stage match on Tuesday.

Until then, the emotions from the latest edition of the Toronto-Montreal saga will continue to percolate.

“Another chapter, that's for sure,” reflected Bradley. “Somebody asked me before the game about what I hoped for our fans on a night like this and, for me, the answer was simple.”

“Obviously, if it were possible, we’d of had every single one of our fans watching us live tonight. Given that they weren't able to, we wanted to step on the field and play in a way that they can be proud of,” he continued. “Play in a way where wherever they're watching tonight, whether it's in their living room or whether it's in the backyard or at some outside patio, socially distant, wherever it is, we wanted to give our fans that feeling of winning a big game against your rival.”

“We understand what the game means to them. The game means the same to us,” he added. “It's a special night, it's a big three points – a bizarre night as well, given the circumstances, the lack of a crowd, the scoreline, everything – but it's still Toronto- Montreal and that speaks for itself.”