Tonight will kick off the MLS finals in a unique and innovative format. For five weeks, the clubs will play a group stage and qualifying rounds that will end with a grand finale on August 11. Like the NBA, which will do so since the end of the month, the incredible facilities of the Disney amusement park in Orlando are used. And, as in the basketball league, not all the protagonists are really convinced that sanitary measures are sufficient.
MLS claims to have performed more than 3,000 PCRs on all personnel posted to Orlando and, since June 26, there have been several positives. The most concrete case is that of FC Dallas, with 10 footballers and a member of the coaching staff infected with COVID-19. In these circumstances, the team has decided to abandon the competition.
As a precaution and fear of the coronavirus, a pandemic that has already claimed the lives of more than 130,000 AmericansThere are players who, in their personal capacity, are not willing to take the risks of resuming competition. One of them is the most known in the Spanish League, Carlos Vela. The captain and star of Los Angeles FC, one of the best teams in the competition, announced that he will not play this final phase so as not to endanger his family. “I think it is a personal decision because his daughter was born and it is understandable”said his compatriot Pizarro to defend him.
Security measures will be extreme for footballers and, in general, all professionals who come to this final phase. They will undergo tests every two days, and a mandatory quarantine on the premises. However, the risk remains and league commissioner Don Garber explained that “There is no specific protocol for the amount of positives that are needed for us to stop the tournament”.
There will be 36 group stage matches spread over fifteen days without rest until they reach the qualifying rounds. An improvised tournament for which, with the numbers that are some are not willing to take the risk.