MLS slashes this year’s World Cup break down to nine days

Major League Soccer’s upcoming season includes a nine-day break in June for the World Cup in Russia.

The hiatus for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil was two weeks. The U.S. national team, which played in 2014, did not qualify this year.

More than two dozen MLS players from other national teams are expected to play in the World Cup, although rosters have not been announced.

The World Cup break will run from June 14 to 22 during the group stage of the tournament.

The MLS season opens March 3 with Toronto hosting Columbus.

The Vancouver Whitecaps open their season by hosting the Montreal Impact March 4.

This season the league fields a new team, Los Angeles FC, which opens March 4 in Seattle.

The Sounders will play the Portland Timbers three times in the Cascadia Cup rivalry. But those two teams will each play the Whitecaps twice, effecting the point system for the rivalry’s annual trophy.

DC United will officially open its new Audi Field on July 14 when they host the Whitecaps.

The MLS All-Star Game is set for Aug. 1, hosted by Atlanta United, with the international opponent yet to be announced. The regular season concludes on Oct. 28 with Decision Day when all the league’s teams play simultaneously.

The season could be the last in Columbus for the Crew. Anthony Precourt and Precourt Sports Ventures, which has owned the Major League Soccer club since 2013, announced the team will move to Austin, Texas, following the 2018 season unless a privately financed stadium is built in downtown Columbus.