MLS rolls out Orlando tournament dates
World Cup style tourney unveiled, still questions regarding prize pool and safety measures
It’s a “Small World” sometimes and because of that Vancouver Whitecaps coach Marc Dos Santos can finally talk about MLS being a Mickey Mouse soccer league without being worried about getting fined.
Major League Soccer made its Florida-based tournament official on Wednesday, with all 26 teams scheduled to take part in the event at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex on the Disney World Resort grounds in July.
The tournament will follow a World Cup style model, with six groups playing three round robin games starting on July 8, followed by a knockout round and championship game on Aug. 11.
The winner of the tournament gets an automatic berth into the CONCACAF Champions League, and a prize pool of US$1.1 million will be divvied up with the players in an as-yet-determined bonus structure.
Dos Santos likes his team’s chances, with a young and deep roster that matches well to the event’s condensed schedule.
“I think it’s a tournament that all 26 teams have the opportunity to win,” said Dos Santos. “It’s not always the best team on paper that wins. It’s not enough to have the best players. It’s not enough to have the best crowd. In a tournament like that … it’s the team that shows up with the best mindset.”
Wednesday’s announcement made official what had been reported for weeks, and cleared the runway for the league to take flight again. The three round robin games will count toward the regular-season standings, and the league hopes to play as many as 16 more matches — eight home, eight away — later this year, but that is dependent on the guidelines surrounding the COVID-19 restrictions in each region. No concrete return date has been established.
The draw for the ‘MLS is Back Tournament’ will take place on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. with Orlando already getting tapped as the top seed in Group A as the host city.
Atlanta, LAFC, Seattle and Toronto will also top their groups as the 2019 MLS Cup semifinalists, while Real Salt Lake gets the final No. 1 seed by virtue of having the next highest points total.
While the concept and planning has been unveiled, there are still a few question marks. No word was given on how the $1.1-million bonus pot will be divided, and despite a comprehensive testing protocol, there was no plan announced for what would happen should more than one player on a team test positive for COVID-19.
Florida’s pandemic numbers have been increasing steadily during the past few weeks, like many other states, and while players and staff will be sequestered, the staff at the Disney Swan and Dolphin Resort won’t be, nor will any transport workers or support staff. All outsiders must wear PPE and follow a strict protocol when inside the grounds.
“For me to be here and say zero concern, no problem at all, I would be lying,” said Dos Santos. “Of course it’s a little bit in the back of our heads. What we believe in, is that MLS … will take all the measures to be as most secure as possible, and we don’t have doubt in that.”
MLS commissioner Don Garber also addressed those concerns in a conference call Wednesday.
“I think the key point there is those staff people will not be coming in close contact with our players, and if they were going to be in close contact, then we would manage it through a different protocol,” he said.
“So we are all going to be living in a world where we are going to be able to test every person that comes in contact with each other or comes in contact with us as we go on with our lives,” Garber said.
“We do need to manage social distancing. We will have that in place. We will need to manage face masks and other
PPE for anyone that is involved in this project. We will have sanitizing and other things like temperature checks and the like for those who are involved in the hotels and involved in housekeeping and the like.
“It’s not as if the tournament will be open to the public. There won’t be any guests in the environment where we are going to be.”
Teams are expected to fly out a minimum of a week from the start of the tournament to facilitate testing, though some may fly out earlier. The Whitecaps hope to train at UBC as long as possible to minimize how long players are away from their family — there is still the requirement of a self-isolation upon return from the U.S. — but their decision could change if local guidelines aren’t relaxed enough to allow resumption of full training.
“If the authorities allow us to train at home full in the next two weeks, we want to make sure that the players stay with their families, have the most fun as possible, that we address mental health and make sure the players are in a comfortable spot,” said Dos Santos. “But unfortunately, if we don’t have the green light to train at home, we will have to think about going to Orlando as soon as we can.”