According to Jeff Carlisle of ESPN, Major League Soccer plans to have a MLS is Back Tournament starting July 8 at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, FL. In all, there will be 54 games played in the tournament and will conclude on August 11 with the MLS is Back Tournament Final.
At this time, teams will be placed in six different divisions for the tournament. After a series of group stage games, there will be a round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals and final. The top two teams from each division plus the four best third-place teams will advance to the knockout round.
The winner of the tournament will qualify for the 2021 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League. Normally, it is the MLS regular season winner that gets a spot in the Champions League. That will not be the case in 2020.
It should also be noted that the group stage games in the tournament will count in the 2020 Major League Soccer regular season standings. At this time, there were four teams that had a record of two wins and zero losses at the time of the coronavirus shutdown on March 12. They were Atlanta United FC, Sporting Kansas City, Minnesota United FC, and the Colorado Rapids.
At the conclusion of the tournament, the remainder of the regular season will take place, followed by a MLS Cup playoff. In five of the divisions, there will be four teams each, and in the other division in the Eastern Conference, there will be six teams. It is expected that the regular season will have an abbreviated schedule.
Nashville FC, which has a record of zero wins and two losses, will also be moving from the Western Conference to the Eastern Conference. Those in charge of Major League Soccer find it important that all the divisions do not have an odd number of teams for the remainder of the season. Initially, there were to be 13 teams in the Western Conference and Eastern Conference.
At the time of the coronavirus shutdown, the MLS leading scorer was Montreal Impact striker Maximiliano Urruti. The native of Rosario, Argentina had three goals in two games. The first goal was a game winning goal in a 2-1 win over the New England Revolution on February 29, and the other two goals came in a 2-2 tie with FC Dallas on March 7.
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