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Teams that experience a coronavirus outbreak during the MLS Cup playoffs will likely be forced to lose their game and thus exit the postseason, sources told ESPN.
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Major League Soccer has completed its protocol for the playoffs, and that document includes how it handles COVID-19 outbreaks within one of the participating teams. A source with knowledge of the situation stated that MLS will do its best to reschedule games in which one or both teams experience a COVID-19 outbreak.
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But MLS is operating under a compressed schedule due in part to the pandemic, and the postseason is scheduled to conclude with the MLS Cup on December 12. That gives the league little flexibility in terms of rescheduling games.
The source said that if a game cannot be rescheduled, the team with the COVID-19 outbreak will be forced to withdraw from the postseason, allowing the COVID-19-free team to move forward. If both teams are dealing with an outbreak, the team with the highest average points per game during the regular season would be the one to advance.
MLS has battled the pandemic all season. The campaign was originally closed on March 12, and only the first two weeks of the regular season had been played. MLS resumed its season in July with the MLS is Back tournament held at the Wide World of Sports complex on the grounds of the Walt Disney World complex. (ESPN is owned by Walt Disney Co.)
At the conclusion of the tournament, MLS opted for a modified regular season that reduced the number of games from 34 to 23. Most teams resumed play in their home markets, with the league’s three Canadian teams: Montreal Impact, Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps – Required to play “home” games in the US due to travel restrictions between the US and Canada.
Since September 25, MLS has had to cancel or postpone 11 games due to COVID-19 outbreaks, primarily due to an outbreak within the Colorado Rapids organization that saw five players and 13 staff members test positive. In total, seven games were canceled, forcing MLS to use points per game to determine where teams finished in the conference standings.
The playoffs are scheduled to begin this Friday with a couple of play-in games. New England Revolution will host Impact while Nashville SC will take on Inter Miami CF.
Source: espn.co.uk
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