MLS is Back Tournament draw is out: Sporting KC faces RSL, Minnesota, Colorado first
Sporting Kansas City has learned who its first opponents will be when the “MLS is Back Tournament” kicks off July 8 in Orlando.
A draw held Thursday afternoon determined that Sporting KC will be in Group D for the group-play state of the tournament alongside fellow Western Conference clubs Real Salt Lake, the Colorado Rapids and Minnesota United FC.
The three group-state matches will count toward the regular-season MLS standings. Sporting KC is currently 2-0. Play across the league was halted in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Asked about the draw, Sporting KC coach Peter Vermes said each game will be a challenge.
“I would say this: Major League Soccer is a very difficult league to play in because of the talent that’s in the league and then the changes that a team can make from one year to another,” he said. “We expect each game to very difficult — the competition is always very difficult in the West — and so yeah, whether we’re playing them or somebody else in the West, they’re all going to be tough games.”
Sporting, of course, has history with each of its group-stage opponents. Sporting beat RSL in the 2013 MLS Cup and 2018 Western Conference semifinals at Children’s Mercy Park, as well as in matches played during the 2015 and 2018 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup tourneys. Sporting’s played the Rapids 78 times and owns a 5-3-2 record against Minnesota United FC since the latter’s inception in 2017.
Queried about not being a seeded team in spite of Sporting’s unbeaten start before the virus hit, Vermes took a pragmatic approach.
“Honestly, I don’t really care at this point,” he said. “You can help me in one group or another, but we have to play everybody anyway at some point, so it doesn’t matter. ... I understand why they picked the top seeds the way they did from last year, and maybe there wasn’t enough of a sampling from this year, and I’m OK with that.”
Preparations for the MLS is Back Tournament, which will be held at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World, are underway now across the league, including in Kansas City, where full-team training resumed this week amid precautions taken because of the ongoing pandemic.
Per Thursday’s draw, all 26 MLS clubs are separated into six groups. Groups A, C and E consist of the 14 Eastern Conference clubs — six teams in Group A and four each in Groups C and E — while Groups B, D and F each consist of four Western Conference teams. Nashville SC has moved to the East for the remainder of the season.
The top two finishers in each group and the four best third-place finishers advance to the knockout rounds, with a single-elimination bracket from the Round of 16 (July 25-28) onward. The quarterfinals will be played July 30-Aug. 1, the semifinals Aug. 5-6 and a championship game on Aug. 11. Details about the rest of the MLS season, at the clubs’ home venues, have not yet been unveiled.
The tournament opener features Orlando City SC vs. Inter Miami CF. Details about the rest of the MLS season, at the clubs’ home venues, have not yet been unveiled.
The winner of the tournament will earn a spot in the CONCACAF Champions League, and all clubs will have the opportunity to earn additional bonuses as part of a $1.1 million prize pool.
Vermes is ready to get his soccer on.
“No matter what, it’s going to be good competition and we’re looking forward to it,” he said. “It’s all about getting down there and playing the first game and going from there.”
A full tournament schedule, including match dates and broadcast details, is expected to be announced soon by MLS.
This story was originally published June 11, 2020 at 4:31 PM with the headline "MLS is Back Tournament draw is out: Sporting KC faces RSL, Minnesota, Colorado first."