Sporting KC, league’s other teams will resume play July 8 with ‘MLS is Back’ tourney
The finer details have emerged about Major League Soccer’s return-to-play plan, with parameters for a 26-team tournament dubbed “MLS is Back” unveiled by the league.
The tournament will feature all 26 teams playing at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando for a World Cup-style tournament beginning on July 8.
“This is a project that literally took nearly three months to pull together, and the culmination of efforts of everyone throughout the league office, the clubs, our great partners at Disney and ESPN, in conjunction with a number of infectious disease consultants and our own chief medical officers, both at the league and at our respective clubs,” MLS commissioner Don Garber said Wednesday.
The first two weeks of the season, which was suspended in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic, will still count toward the MLS standings. Sporting Kansas City was 2-0 when competition was halted.
Similar to the 1994 FIFA World Cup, which was held in the U.S. and was the last World Cup to have as few as 24 teams, the MLS is Back Tournament will feature six groups.
Five of the groups will include four teams apiece while the sixth group will have six, with every team playing three group-stage games. The top two teams from each group will advance to the knockout stage along with the top four third-place teams.
Teams will then enter a typical knockout-style tournament until one is crowned champion. All 54 matches of the tournament will be broadcast live.
Groups wil be sorted by conference. The only exception is Nashville, which will move into the Eastern Conference for the rest of the season to ensure an even number of teams per group.
That means Sporting KC will be in one of the groups of four and is guaranteed to compete in a group that includes 2019 MLS playoff semifinalists LAFC or Seattle, or Real Salt Lake, which finished the 2019 regular season with next-highest point total.
“Obviously it’s the best option we have in the short-term, so as I said from the very beginning, whatever we’ve got to do to play, I’m all for it,” Sporting KC coach Peter Vermes said. “I’m excited we’re getting the chance to play games, so if it’s Orlando, then let’s go and let’s get the games on.”
Each game in the tournament will hold more weight than a simple friendly. All group-stage matches will count toward the MLS standings — and while the knockout-stage games won’t, the winner of the tournament will be awarded a spot in the 2021 CONCACAF Champions League. The Champions League berth replaces the one awarded to the conference winner not awarded the Supporters Shield in the 2020 regular season.
Additionally, players will have the opportunity to earn additional bonuses as part of a $1.1 million prize pool.
Sporting KC will play in Orlando without 2019 team MVP Felipe Gutierrez, who underwent successful knee surgery Tuesday. Having missed much of the preseason and first two games of the season, Gutierrez now faces a seven- to nine-month rehabilitation process.
That means he’ll miss not only the rest of the 2020 season but presumably the start of the 2021 season, if it starts on time in late February.
Otherwise, Sporting will head south with a fairly clean bill of health. The club is one of the few in the league to have already begun full-team training, making Sporting eligible to arrive in Orlando as early as June 24.
“As long as it keeps getting hot like it is now and gets hotter, that should help us get acclimated (for Florida) like we need to,” Vermes said. “Hopefully, it’ll be this way for the next few weeks and we’ll get a good dose of being able to acclimate ourselves to the weather. You don’t want to go down there and get an uppercut to the jaw when you step out of the car.”
The group-stage draw for the tournament is slated for Thursday at 2:30 p.m. Central Time.
‘MLS IS BACK’: KEY DATES/FACTS
June 24: Teams begin arriving in Florida
July 8-23: Group stage
July 25-28: Round of 16
July 30-Aug. 1: Quarterfinals
Aug. 5-6: Semifinals
Aug. 11: Final
Number of matches: 54 (39 group stage; 15 knockout stage)
Number of match days: 26
Minimum matches: 3 per club
Maximum matches: 7 per club
This story was originally published June 10, 2020 at 10:58 AM with the headline "Sporting KC, league’s other teams will resume play July 8 with ‘MLS is Back’ tourney."