D.C. United vs. Toronto FC may be played Monday after new COVID-19 results
Major League Soccer postponed a match between D.C. United and Toronto FC scheduled to kick off Sunday morning because of COVID-19 test results.
MLS confirmed one D.C. United player registered an unconfirmed positive test and a Toronto FC player registered an inconclusive test during mandatory testing conducting 24 hours before the match.
Both players registered negative test results later Sunday and MLS is working to reschedule the match for Monday morning, a source confirmed to the Orlando Sentinel. The Athletic and Washington Post were the first to report the news.
“Because of the arrival time of the clubs in Orlando, the league’s protocol called for retesting both teams this morning and to await the results of those tests prior to playing the match,” MLS said in a statement announcing the match delay.
FC Dallas and Nashville SC previously were removed from the tournament due to a high number of COVID-19 cases on both squads.
MLS sources have told the Orlando Sentinel they do not believe they have community spread within the league bubble at the Swan and Dolphin Resort housing the teams and ESPN Wide World of Sports facilities, with test results suggesting cases stem from coroanvirus exposure in the teams’ home markets.
“We believe the tournament can still be conducted,” MLS deputy commissioner Mark Abbott said during a conference call with reporters Sunday morning. “At the point we determine we can’t, obviously we would make a decision then. … We view this as the process working in terms of identifying” players who have tested positive.
The match was originally scheduled to be played Friday and was delayed until Sunday due to Toronto’s delayed arrival in Orlando due to potential COVID-19 symptoms reported by a member of the team’s travel delegation. Subsequent testing was required before the team could travel.
TFC landed in Orlando Tuesday and has spent less than seven days in the MLS is Back Tournament bubble.
D.C United arrived in Orlando late July 3 and has been in the bubble for nine days.
On Sunday morning, Toronto stayed at the team hotel while United reported to the Wide World of Sports field before the match was postponed. The Washington Post reported both teams were told to report to the complex Sunday, but TFC stay at the hotel.
Toronto’s next scheduled match is 8 p.m. Wednesday against Montreal, while United’s next scheduled match is at 8 p.m. Thursday against New England.
On Friday, Sporting Kansas City announced one player tested positive for COVID-19. The league has not delayed Sporting’s match against Minnesota United scheduled to kick off at 8 p.m. Sunday despite the SKC player training alongside his teammates ahead of the match. MLS protocol requires Sporting Kansas City to be subject to daily testing following the positive player’s positive COVID-19 test result.
The SKC player who tested positive Thursday night was quarantined and the rest of the team registered negative test results, so there are no plays to delay the match, a source told the Orlando Sentinel. ESPN’s Stefano Fusaro was the first to report the news.
Major League Soccer’s Disney World bubble differs from the NBA in one significant way.
NBA players have arrived at least three weeks before their first scheduled games, which allows for more testing to determine whether players were exposed to coronavirus outside the bubble and provides them with more recovery time if they register a positive test result.
MLS originally proposed a comparable stretch for pre-tournament training, testing and isolation, but it tightened its timeline when players objected to spending so much time isolated in Orlando, a league source told the Orlando Sentinel. The league’s tournament proposal was first reported by The Athletic.
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