Coming into their Eastern Conference final clash, both the New York Red Bulls and Columbus Crew aren’t expecting any real surprises.

In a meeting of two teams with extremely similar mentalities, the top-seeded Red Bulls are set to visit the Crew on Sunday, kickstarting a playoff series that will send one of them to the MLS Cup (5 p.m., ESPN). Set to become rivals for the next two weeks, the two teams understand exactly what they will face on Sunday, especially given the similarities between the two sides.

Both near the bottom of the league’s payroll, the Red Bulls and Crew have vaulted into the league’s final four with aggressive mentalities. For the Red Bulls, it’s the now-famous high press, as a talented midfield unit looks to choke the opposition into submission. For the Crew, it’s a high-tempo attacking system, one that takes full advantage of the team’s talent atop the field.

Having clashed three times in the regular season, neither side expects any sort of wrinkles or added gimmicks. Rather, the two Eastern Conference finalists expect a series that will be decided by whichever team truly puts its best foot forward over the two-leg collision.

“We have a pretty good idea of how they want to play, and they have a pretty good idea of how we’re going to play,” Crew head coach Gregg Berhalter said. “It’s about execution and that’s going to be the difference in this series. They’re an excellent team, the best team over the course of this season, so we have our work cut out for us.”

“It’s a team that we respect a lot,” added Red Bulls head coach Jesse Marsch. “We admire the way they play and their coach has done a fantastic job with their team. It’s a team that we respect and a series that we can’t wait to get started and that we’re ready for. The preparation has been good and we’re excited for a good series.”

For the Crew, the key to the series will be to find a way to escape the Red Bulls suffocating press, and that all starts with winning the midfield battle.

In the team’s prior clash, a 2-1 Crew loss in October, Berhalter’s side certainly didn’t win that battle, as Red Bulls stars Dax McCarty, Sacha Kljestan and Felipe dictated much of the play. That game, however, was played without Crew focal point Wil Trapp, who has yet to face the Red Bulls this season due to injury and international duty.

Now several weeks from that result, Berhalter hasn’t learned anything about the Red Bulls that is truly new. Having watched D.C. United’s failures in the prior round, the Crew are certainly not seeing any sort of magic blueprint, especially given D.C.’s more direct approach.

Rather, the Crew understand that the series will all but come down to the same thing it always does: limiting mistakes caused by the Red Bulls press as much as possible.

“Red Bull has done a great job of having a style of play and sticking to a style of play and having it be successful,” Berhalter said. “Opponents passing percentage in their own half is extremely low and that shows that they’re executing their game plan.”

“Dax is one of the best holding midfielders in the league and he gets forward well,” added captain Michael Parkhurst. “A lot of respect for him and his career. Sacha is a guy whose movement as a No. 10 is fantastic. He finds those holes in between lines very well. He links up with Bradley (Wright-Phillips) up top very well. Felipe is an engine in there who works very hard. He keeps everything together. No doubt it’s a strength, it’s a strong point of theirs, but we feel very confident in our midfield and how we matchup.”

While the Red Bulls’ midfield remains their strength, the Crew enter with plenty of talent of their own.

Led by the trio of Ethan Finlay, Federico Higuain and Kei Kamara, the Crew arguably have the league’s most fearsome attacking trio. Combining for 42 goals and 30 assists this season, the Crew strikeforce should prove to be a handful for a Red Bulls defense that is expected to feature an unpolished pairing of Matt Miazga and Ronald Zubar.

With both Miazga and Zubar sitting on yellow cards, the task of stopping Kamara becomes even greater, as the Red Bulls face off with a player that Parkhurst called the most athletic he has ever faced.

“We have a ton of respect for them,” McCarty said. “The way that they play and the way that they’re coached, I think everyone can admit that it’s great for our league. It’s certainly something I’ve been impressed with throughout the two years. The way that they play with the ball is something every team strives to be like. It’s a very impressive team and they’re very dangerous in a lot of different ways.

“With that being said, we feel very well prepared. Tactically we’ve gone over a lot of different ways in which we can be successful against them, but like I said, they’re a very good team that we’re ready and prepared to face.”

Having reached the MLS Cup just once in his career, McCarty understands that finals don’t come too often, while admitting that each team still alive has the ability to lift that Cup in the coming months.

Now, it becomes about battling for that spot, as the two teams inch closer and closer to the league’s ultimate prize.

“I think everyone is looking forward to the opportunity,” Parkhurst said. “We have a lot of guys who have never played this far into a season, into a conference final, and I think everyone is just relishing the opportunity to continue the season, to keep training on a daily basis, to have this opportunity to play a home game in the Eastern Conference final. We’re really looking forward to it.”