Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Orlando City to face Inter Miami in opening match of MLS tournament
Orlando City will face off with Inter Miami to kick off the “MLS is Back” Tournament on July 8 at ESPN Wide World of Sports at Disney World, highlighting the two home-state teams in the competition.
The match is tentatively scheduled to kick off at 8 p.m., with the TV network still to be announced.
It will be the first time Orlando City and expansion side Inter Miami, who already have a budding rivalry, will face off on the pitch.
MLS added Inter Miami to Orlando City’s Group A pool. The rest of the 19 teams unattached to a pool were set via a draw Thursday afternoon.
New York City FC, Philadelphia Union, Chicago Fire and Nashville SC joined Pool A during the draw.
Orlando City will play Inter Miami, NYCFC and Nashville in the group stage.
Inter Miami will play Orlando City, Philadelphia and Chicago.
NYCFC will play Orlando
City, Philadelphia and Chicago.
Philadelphia will play Inter Miami, NYCFC and Nashville.
Chicago will play Inter Miami, NYCFC and Nashville.
And Nashville will play Orlando City, Philadelphia and Chicago.
Here are the other pools in the Eastern Conference:
GROUP C: Toronto FC, New England Revolution, Montreal Impact and D.C. United.
GROUP E: Atlanta United, Cincinnati, New York Red Bulls and Columbus Crew.
And here are Western Conference pools:
GROUP B: Seattle Sounders, FC Dallas, Vancouver and San Jose.
GROUP D: Real Salt Lake, Sporting KC, Colorado and Minnesota.
GROUP F: LAFC, L.A. Galaxy, Houston and Portland.
Fans will not be allowed to attend the tournament at Disney World, with MLS creating a closed environment to help protect players and staff from the coronavirus, but every match is scheduled to be broadcast on ESPN, Fox or Univision.
Orlando City executive vice president Luiz Muzzi said during the MLS draw livestream the Lions don’t have a big homefield advantage with no fans allowed at matches.
“I think it feels good to be home,” he said. “I don’t think there’s a whole lot of an advantage there. You’re playing great teams and they all prepare. … We’re just glad to be back and looking forward to starting.”
MLS announced Wednesday it is staging the tournament, bringing its 26 teams to the Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando for a World Cup style tournament. The event will feature 54 total matches.
The games will be played at 9 a.m., 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. to avoid peak heat and humidity.
There will be a group stage, round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals and championship. Teams will get regular-season points for all matches and the champion of the tournament will get a prestigious spot in the 2021 CONCACAF Champions League.