COVID-19 impacted the MLS is Back Tournament again Sunday, with a pair of test results on the eve of kickoff prompting Toronto FC’s opening match to be called off.
MLS deputy commissioner Mark Abbott made the announcement just minutes before the arranged 9 a.m. ET start at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports complex in the Orlando area.
The league said a round of pre-game testing Saturday had returned a positive test for a D.C. United player and an inconclusive test for a Toronto player. The positive test is considered unconfirmed until backed up by a second test.
Both players and teams were retested Sunday morning. The match will be reorganized once results of those tests come back, Abbott said.
The tournament has already lost FC Dallas and Nashville SC due to a rash of positive COVID-19 tests.
“We believe the tournament can still be conducted safely,” Abbott told a virtual conference call Sunday morning. “And if at the point we determine it can’t, obviously we would make a decision then.
“In the case of Dallas and Nashville, the decision was made that based on the extent of the positive tests in those teams (and) their ability to train, that the more prudent course was to withdraw them.
“But we had established a set of protocols that are working as they were designed, which is to identify players that have had positive tests for COVID-19, to remove and separate them from the team and isolate them. And to continue the process of testing the other players … We view this (case) as the process working.”
It marked the second delay for both Toronto and D.C. United. They were supposed to meet Friday night but the match was pushed back to Sunday due to Toronto’s late arrival at the tournament because of the need for additional COVID-19 testing in the wake of a player reporting symptoms.
Under league protocols, players who test positive are isolated while those who test negative “move forward.” Abbott said because Toronto only arrived last Monday, the decision was made to await the results of tests conducted Sunday morning before playing the game.
“When we receive the results of those two complete team retests, we’ll be in a position to know when the game could be rescheduled,” said Abbott.