With no love lost between the two fan bases, TFC is eager to face the Impact in an MLS match with something tangible to play for.

TORONTO — Even though both teams have booked their places in the MLS playoffs, the upcoming regular season finale between the Montreal Impact and Toronto FC will still have plenty on the line.

When the teams line up opposite each other at Stade Saputo on Sunday, they'll be playing for positioning in a tight and still-undecided Eastern Conference playoff picture. A victory for either the Impact or TFC could see the winning team vault to as high as second in the conference, while a loss could mean finishing sixth.

Add in the traditional Montreal-Toronto rivalry, and it could have the makings of a very spirited match.

"It's going to be an interesting weekend," TFC coach Greg Vanney said after his club's 2-0 loss to the Columbus Crew on Saturday. "It's exactly what the league wants. Not really what we wanted, but there should be a lot of interest. It's been amazing down the stretch how many teams have kept themselves in the picture and the spots haven't been owned up for, if you will, or accounted for.

"So there's a lot of jockeying that's going to go on in this last weekend."

With all Eastern Conference games taking place simultaneously this weekend, all Toronto and Montreal can do is worry about each other and hope that the other results are favorable. To that end, both sides have considerable fire power that will make the other wary.

While TFC boasts an attack led by odds-on MVP favorite Sebastian Giovinco, the Impact will look to talisman Didier Drogba to lead the line. Drogba, who has spearheaded a recent Montreal resurgence since he joined the club in August, will be a particularly troublesome player to defend, Vanney said.

"He's obviously a big, strong forward who can hold up the ball," Vanney explained. "I actually have played against him in France and one of the most difficult things with him is that one minute he'll play like a beast, and physically you're just trying to deal with him, and the next minute he'll fall over. So the second you think you're going to play hard on him he drops to the ground and he gets the call, so it's a very difficult matchup for you because he can do a lot of things, and if he can draw fouls when you try to play physical with him, you're really in a tough situation.

"For us it's key to minimize the amount of service he gets, make sure we have a presence on him."

The potential Giovinco-Drogba battle aside, only a single point currently separates the Reds and the Impact. So while each team's respective stars will be looked upon to shoulder a lot of the attacking load, TFC captain Michael Bradley said it's going to take a team effort to get the desired result in such a massive game.

"Just talking amongst ourselves, we've known for a while that [we] were going to go into this last game with so much still to play for," he said. "We want to finish things off in a good, solid way. We want to beat our big rivals, and we want to get three points — which will mean a lot in terms of positioning."