Nashville forced to withdraw from MLS return
Nine players test positive as COVID-19 forces second team to back out of tournament
Nashville SC has joined FC Dallas in having to pull out of the MLS is Back Tournament in Florida after nine players tested positive for COVID-19.
The Major League Soccer expansion club said one player had tested positive upon arrival July 1 at the league’s host hotel in the Orlando area. Another eight followed suit within a few days of arrival.
“Due to the number of positive tests, the club has been unable to train since arriving in Orlando and would not be able to play matches,” MLS commissioner Don Garber said in a statement Thursday.
Nashville had been scheduled to play Chicago in one of the tournament’s two opening matches Wednesday at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports complex. That game was postponed Tuesday.
FC Dallas was forced to withdraw from the World Cup-style tournament Monday in the wake of positive tests for 10 players and a coach.
Nashville said it arrived in Orlando “having taken all the necessary steps and following all the mandated protocols established by the league as well as local and national health authorities to minimize the risk and exposure to the virus.”
Despite that, the team was ravaged by the virus.
“In what has been a challenging year, and in an uncharted environment created by the tornado that devastated our city, and COVID-19, this is another big disappointing outcome for Nashville SC and its supporters,” Nashville CEO Ian Ayre said in a statement.
“Our focus now lays on the recovery of our players who have been infected with COVID-19 and on getting our complete travelling party back home safely. Once everyone is safe and healthy in Nashville, we can then turn the page and focus on our preparation and participation in the return to play for the latter half of the season post Orlando.”
MLS has rejigged the tournament groups in the absence of the two teams.
Chicago moves from Group A to Group B, replacing Dallas and joining the Vancouver Whitecaps, San Jose Earthquakes and Seattle Sounders. Group A, which had started with six teams, is now down to four with the departure of Nashville and Chicago’s shift.
With the tournament reduced to 24 teams, there are six groups of four clubs. The top two from each group along with the four best third-place finishers will move on to the knockout round-of-16 stage that begins July 25.
The Whitecaps will now play San Jose on July 15 (10:30 p.m. ET), Seattle on July 19 (10:30 p.m.) and Chicago on July 23 (9 a.m.)
On Wednesday, MLS said it had recorded four more positive COVID-19 tests over the past two days.
The league says the four tests came from two different clubs.
There were 1,888 players, coaches, referees, club staff, league staff and other individuals tested Tuesday and Wednesday.
The league announced the test findings in a social media post late Wednesday. It did not identify the two clubs with positive tests.
The competition kicked off Wednesday night with Orlando City defeating expansion Inter Miami CF, 2-1.
The Montreal Impact faced the New England Revolution on Thursday night.