Current LAFC MVP scoring champion Carlos Vela will not participate in the MLS Is Back tournament in Orlando, giving the league another setback in his quest to become the first major professional sports league in the United States in replay during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
LAFC is scheduled to leave for Florida on Monday, and according to a person with knowledge of the situation, Vela would not be on the charter flight, choosing to stay home with his pregnant wife, Saioa, and the couple’s 3-year-old son, Romeo. . The person requested anonymity because he is not authorized to comment, and LAFC officials declined to comment.
MLS gave players the opportunity to skip the five-week tournament, which begins Wednesday, for health or family reasons. Vela, the LAFC captain and the fourth highest-paid player in the league with a salary of $ 6.3 million in 2019, is the highest-profile player to choose not to participate.
Javier “Chicharito” Hernández, the Galaxy’s highest-paid player, also has a pregnant wife, but he is expected to accompany the team to Florida on Monday. Both teams play their first game on July 13.
The 31-year-old Vela broke the league scoring mark last year with 34 goals in 31 games while leading LAFC to the best one-season record in MLS history. He scored in both LAFC games this season, giving him goals in 11 consecutive appearances. His 50 goals in more than two seasons are the best in a Mexican player’s MLS.
His absence will rob him of the league’s 54-game TV tournament perhaps its biggest draw, but that’s not the only setback MLS has suffered in its bid to return. In the past eight days, at least 12 players and two staff members from three teams have conducted tests to detect the coronavirus within the league’s protective bubble. The league’s last round of testing, however, found just two positives in 1,191 tests, the lowest number in more than a week.
Four days before the tournament opens, two teams remain in quarantine, unable to train, forcing the league to delay FC Dallas’ first game.
Commissioner Don Garber said the league could lose up to $ 1 billion to the pandemic, prompting the MLS to join the NHL, NBA, and MLB to suspend play in early March, two games in its season. . MLS hoped to recoup some of that loss by having its teams return to national television this week, nearly three weeks earlier than other leagues.
But since MLS announced its plan to restart behind closed doors at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports complex, COVID-19 cases have emerged in Florida. The state reported more than 21,500 cases over the weekend, a record.
With Vela unavailable, LAFC coach Bob Bradley will likely turn to Adama Diomande, the team’s second-highest scorer in 2018, and winter signing Bradley Wright-Phillips, two-time MLS scoring champion. Both players missed the team’s first two games this season due to injury.
“Brad is making progress in training every day,” said Bradley of Wright-Phillips, who underwent off-season surgery for a sports hernia. “We are excited about what you can bring to our team.”
Vela is not the first professional athlete to have chosen to stay out due to COVID-19 concerns. Women’s World Cup stars Megan Rapinoe, Christen Press and Tobin Heath are not playing in the NWSL Challenge Cup due to fears of the coronavirus.
Dodgers pitcher David Price announced Saturday that he would not play this season, joining Mike Leake of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Ian Desmond of the Colorado Rockies and Ryan Zimmerman and Joe Ross of the Washington Nationals. The Angels’ Mike Trout, whose wife Jessica is expecting the couple’s first child next month, and Giants catcher Buster Posey remain unsure whether they will be in uniform when the baseball season begins in late July. Avery Bradley of the Lakers, Trevor Ariza of the Portland Trail Blazers and DeAndre Jordan and Wilson Chandler of the Brooklyn Nets are among the NBA players who will not play when the season resumes in Orlando later this month.
