For someone with Patrick Vieiraās pedigree, there arenāt too many new experiences left in the beautiful game.
Perhaps thatās why New York City FCās Head Coach is so excited for the upcoming weekend when he leads his team into an MLS postseason game for the very first time.
Toronto FC are the opposition following their 3-1 win over Philadelphia Union in Wednesday nightās Knockout Round setting up a semifinal tie which promises to be gripping for fans and neutrals alike.
Vieira has never experienced Playoffs before but he compares the format to the UEFA Champions League which he featured extensively throughout his storied playing career.
The 40-year old is relishing the pressurized environment and the ākill or be killedā nature of this showdown with Toronto.
āI believe that when you play the European Cup and going into the latter stages itās a different kind of pressure because you know if you lose youāre out so you have to manage the pressure,ā Vieira considered.
āWeāll take the same approach and put out a team to try and control the game. We have to take their strengths into considerations too but thatās what weāll look at on Thursday or Friday.
āWe have to enjoy it ā as a football club, itās the first time weāve played in the Playoffs and weāre in a really good period so we just have to continue what weāve been doing in the last few months.
āItās exciting for us at the football club because itās something weāve never done before ā for all the people working in the office, the players ā we have to enjoy this moment.
āToronto have Giovinco who is one of the best players in the league ā they have individual talents who are dangerous.ā
The Last Time: Toronto v NYCFC
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Vieiraās starting XI will make for fascinating reading on Sunday afternoon when the first leg takes place at BMO Field.
There are talking points in all positions across the field and that means difficult decisions for the Head Coach and his team to make, chief among them is the call on whether Frank Lampard can start following his muscle injury.
Vieira said: āHe [Frank] hasnāt played so much but heās in double figures for goals ā Frank is important for us because when we start pushing for this playoff spot, he came back into the team and thatās when we started playing well.
āItās always good to have him back in the team. At the same time, I have to look at how he trains this week ā how physically he can cope and whether he can start the game or come from the bench. Thatās a decision we have to take.
āWe have to see how heāll react with the workload but this morning he did a full session with no problem at all ā when everyone was off earlier in the week he came in to do some extra work, so weāre going to see.ā
Read: Tommy McNamara Excited by Toronto Matchup
Another tough choice when it comes to team selection will be in the goalkeeper position.
Following Eirik Johansenās impressive MLS debut on Sunday, it remains to be seen whether it will be the Norwegian or Josh Saunders between the posts in Canada on Sunday.
Patrick confirmed that he was happy with Eirikās first league showing but has not taken a decision on who will play.
He added: āI still have a few days to make this important decision ā Iām really happy with Eirikās performance against Columbus and I was really happy with Josh and the way he played the season so far. Weāre going into a critical period of the season and weāll have to make a lot of difficult decisions ā this is one of them.
āIn the last three months weāve played some really good football and that makes it difficult to leave guys out but this is my job.ā