League’s tournament will get a jump on every league but the NWSL, but will Carlos Vela play?
Major League Soccer will resume play on July 8 with a World Cup-style tournament at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex at Orlando’s Disney World, commissioner Don Garber confirmed Wednesday. It will make the league the second to return to play after shutting down because of the COVID-19 outbreak, and will apparently beat the NBA and NHL in those leagues’ return to play.
The National Women’s Soccer League will begin its season with a similar Challenge Cup tournament beginning June 27 in the Salt Lake City area, although a number of members of the U. S. Women’s National Team who play for NWSL teams, including Megan Rapinoe, have opted out of the tournament.
It is not known, however, if LAFC captain and 2019 MLS MVP Carlos Vela will compete in the tournament, which will involve all 26 of the league’s teams in group play followed by a knockout round and will run through Aug. 11. Vela’s wife is expecting the couple’s second child this summer, and as of yet there has been no indication if he will play. LAFC spokesman Seth Burton said in an email Wednesday morning that there is no update as of yet, but “we are working through players individual situations with them in the coming days.”
Galaxy star Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez’s wife is pregnant as well, but Galaxy spokesman Chris Glidden confirmed Wednesday that he is expected to play.
“The question is, how do we deal with a handful of players that have a series of issues that we are continuing to work through our clubs to manage?” Garber said in a videoconference Wednesday morning, also noting that Jordan Morris of the Seattle Sounders, a Type 1 diabetic, is in a high-risk group medically.
