Major League Soccer, MLS, is finally back.
After a long hiatus due to COVID-19, the United States’s top men tier is back in action.
In March, After only two matchdays, the league was suspended, and until Wednesday there were no matches. The tournament which is taking place at Disney in Orlando erupted controversy.
The headlines were running before a ball had been kicked when FC Dallas was sent home after coming back with a cluster of positive tests. With that said, apart from them and Nashville SC, there have been minimal positive COVID-19 tests, especially compared to the NBA and MLB testing programs.
Orlando City v Inter Miami
Once all the dust settled, MLS supporters were excited to see teams play. In the first match, we saw a new rivalry. The two Florida teams, Orlando City SC and expansion franchise Inter Miami, faced off for the first time. It was Inter Miami’s Juan Agudelo who opened the scoring early in the second half. All the drama began in the 51st minute when Dom Dwyer and Andres Reyes both contested for a header with the ladder coming out with a nasty throat injury that took seven minutes to clear up.
In the end, the biggest name of the field decided the game. Former Manchester United and Portuguese international, Nani, turned up the gears with an assist to Chris Mueller in the 70th minute, and then a 97th-minute winner to take home the points for the Lions. Injured Reyes has recovered but saw his friends losing.
2-1 Orlando in full-time.
Philadelphia Union v New York City FC
The next game was between the Philadelphia Union and New York City FC. The game itself was an uneventful one with Alejandro Bedoya scoring from a sharp angle to edge the Union past NYCFC. However, the off-field stuff took the majority of the headlines. First of all, it was a 9 am Eastern Standard Time kickoff which is rare in any sport. Secondly, and more meaningful, the Union players had the names of African American victims to police brutality instead of their names on the back of their jerseys, honouring the Black Lives Matter movement that has taken the world by storm. It was an incredibly moving and essential symbol signalling the need for change in society.
Montreal Impact v New England Revolution
Finally, there was one uneventful match between Thierry Henry’s Montreal Impact and Bruce Arena’s New England Revolution.
Gustavo Bou’s rocket in the 56th minute was the matches’ only goal. Some late heroics from the Revs’ Matt Turner in goal helped seal the 1-0 win.
Thierry Henry kneeled for 8:46 minutes straight from the opening whistle, referring the exact amount of time George Floyd was under an officer knee before he died, in what has kicked-off the current public unrest from authorities treatment of blacks.
Overall, the first few matches have been similar to the restart of the European leagues. The lack of match fitness is significant, as the quality and speed of the play should increase with time, and the #MLSIsBack will bound to be an exhilarating tournament.
Photo courtesy via the MLS Official Twitter Account.
