Major League Soccer will return to action July 8 with a World Cup-style tournament that will run through Aug. 11 in the Orlando area.
All 26 teams will take part in the “MLS is Back Tournament” at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.
The NBA is also looking to resume play at the Disney complex.
The 54-match MLS tournament, which will be played before empty stands, marks a resumption to the league’s 25th season, which was halted March 12 after two rounds due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When we first put together the tournament concept at Disney World, we just were very uncertain about when we’d be able to return to our stadiums in our home market and thought ‘Why don’t we get them all together, get our teams, 26 teams together in one neutral site, play games every day, get our players back on the field for our fans,”’ commissioner Don Garber said in a recorded video.
“But very importantly doing it with games of consequence, so a total prize pool of (US)$1 million … All of this is our best foot forward to do what we can in an exciting, compelling and meaningful way to return to play for 2020.”
Garber said Disney has the infrastructure to host the nearly 2,000 players and staff expected at the tournament.
The hope is the league, once the Florida tournament is completed, can continue the regular season with a revised schedule in home markets. The league says details of the new schedule will come later, as will whether teams will play clubs from the other conference.
The July 8 tournament start comes after the midway point of the original schedule. Toronto FC, for example, would have played 22 of its 34 regular-season games under its original schedule by then while the number would have been 20 for Montreal and 21 for Vancouver.
Players will be tested before leaving for Orlando and upon arrival, with clubs travelling by charter.
Players, staff and officials will be tested every other day during their first two weeks in Florida. They will be tested “regularly” after that, including the day before each match.
If an individual tests positive as part of routine testing, they will be isolated with contact tracing undertaken.
Group stage matches in the Florida competition will count in the regular-season standings and the tournament winner, regardless whether it is an American or Canadian club, will earn a spot in the 2021 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League.
The winner will take the Champions League spot usually awarded to the MLS regular-season points leader in the conference opposite of the 2020 Supporters’ Shield winner.
That means Canada could get two berths in the CONCACAF Champions League if a Canadian team wins the MLS tournament. The Canadian Championship winner also qualifies, although details of this year’s tournament have yet to be announced.
CONCACAF says Canada will still get a berth in the Champions League, separate from the MLS tournament if there is a Canadian winner.
Clubs will begin arriving in Orlando as early as June 24 for “pre-season training.”
Teams will play three group stage matches across 16 days. The top two in each of the six groups along with the four best third-place finishers will then move on to the knockout stage: round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals and final.
Games will begin at 9 a.m., 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. ET with most taking place in the evening, the league said.
A draw to determine the tournament groups will be held Thursday.
Orlando City SC, as host club, will be the top seed in Group A, which will feature six teams and open play July 8.
The other five seeds are the four semifinalists from the 2019 playoffs _ Toronto FC, Atlanta United, Los Angeles FC and the Seattle Sounders _ plus Real Salt Lake, the team with the next highest points total in the Western Conference from the 2019 season.
The draw will assign the remaining non-seeded 20 clubs to groups, depending on conference.
The Eastern Conference, which will become home to Nashville SC for the remainder of the 2020 season, will have three groups _ one consisting of six teams and two consisting of four teams each. The Western Conference will have three groups, each consisting of four teams.
The tournament will allow teams five substitutions a game and feature video review. Teams will be able to dress 24 players for matches.
Matches tied at the end of regulation time in the knockout phase will go straight to a penalty shootout.
Players, coaches and officials on the bench or technical area are required to wear masks and practice social distancing “to the extent possible” during matches. Players involved in the game are being asked not to exchange jerseys or kiss the ball.
Players considered to be in a high-risk category for severe illness related to COVID-19 will not be permitted to take part in the tournament unless cleared by their club’s chief medical officer.
Key Dates
June 24: Teams begin arriving in Florida.
July 8: “MLS is Back Tournament” group stage begins.
LONDON – Canada will meet three-time champion Germany in the Davis Cup quarterfinals in Malaga, Spain this November.
Canada secured a berth in the quarterfinals — also called The Final 8 Knockout Stage — with a 2-1 win over Britain last weekend in Manchester, England.
World No. 21 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal anchored a five-player squad that included Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., Gabriel Diallo of Montreal, Alexis Galarneau of Laval, Que., and Vasek Pospisil of Vernon, B.C.
The eight-team draw for the quarterfinals was completed Thursday at International Tennis Federation headquarters.
Defending champion Italy will play Argentina, the United States will meet Australia and Spain will take on the Netherlands. Schedule specifics have yet to be released but the Final 8 will be played Nov. 19-24.
Tim Puetz and Kevin Krawietz were unbeaten in doubles play last week to help Germany reach the quarterfinals. The country’s top singles player — second-ranked Alex Zverev — did not play.
The Canadians defeated Germany in the quarterfinals en route to their lone Davis Cup title in 2022. Germany won titles in 1988, ’89 and ’93.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Canada, fuelled by a 2-1 win over the U.S. and scoreless draw with Mexico, has jumped two places to No. 38 in the FIFA men’s world rankings released Thursday.
Of the top six CONCACAF teams, Canada was the only one to move up. Mexico was unchanged at No. 17 while the U.S. and Panama each fell two rungs to No. 18 and 37, respectively
Costa Rica slipped one spot to No. 50 and Jamaica two places to No. 61.
It marks Canada’s highest ranking under coach Jesse Marsch, who was hired in mid-May when the Canadians were ranked 50th. Since then, the team has climbed to No. 49, 48, 40 and now 38.
Canada has been as high as No. 33 in the men’s ranking, achieved in February 2022 under John Herdman with Canada, named the “Most Improved Side” in 2021 by FIFA, turning heads with an unbeaten run in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying.
The new rankings encompass 184 internationals involving teams from all six confederations including 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Asia, Oceania and South America.
The top 10 was unchanged with Argentina ahead of France, Spain, England, Brazil, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, Colombia and Italy. But the gap at the top is closing with Argentina losing 2-1 away to Colombia and 3-1 at home to Italy.
Teams 10 through 15 were also unchanged. But there was movement after that in the form of Japan (, up two), Iran (No. 19, up one) and Denmark (No. 20, up one). Egypt (No. 31), Ivory Coast (No. 33), Tunisia (No. 36) and Algeria (No. 41) all jumped five places while Greece (No. 48) climbed six spots.
The biggest movers were Brunei Darussalam (No. 183) and Samoa (No. 185), who vaulted seven spots on the back of two wins apiece.
Qatar suffered the biggest drop, tumbling 10 places to No. 44.
San Marino remains at the bottom of the rankings in 210th place despite recording its first victory in more than 20 years, San Marino defeated Liechtenstein 1-0 on Sept. 5, ending a 140-game winless run since a 1-0 decision over the same opponent in April 2004.
Liechtenstein fell four places to No. 203.
Canada’s next match is an Oct. 15 friendly against Panama at Toronto’s BMO Field. The next men’s ranking will be released Oct. 24.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024
It has been a difficult start to the NFL season for quarterback Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers.
Carolina has dropped its opening two games after Sunday’s 26-3 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. And Young, the first player taken in the ’23 NFL draft, was 18-of-26 passing for 84 yards with an interception while being sacked twice.
As a result, veteran Andy Dalton will start Sunday when Carolina faces the Las Vegas Raiders (1-1).
According to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., the Chargers’ win was the most accurately predicted moneyline selection by Proline bettors. A whopping 92 per cent of wagers were on Los Angeles beating Carolina with 92 per cent also picking the Chargers to cover -4.5.
In other action that went in favour of Proline bettors: Kansas City edged Cincinnati 26-25 (86 per cent correctly selected the Chiefs to win); Houston got past Chicago 19-13 (81 per cent); the New York Jets defeated Tennessee 24-17 (78 per cent); Pittsburgh beat Denver 13-6 (76 per cent), Washington beat the New York Giants 21-18 (73 per cent); and Seattle toppled New England 23-20 (62 per cent).
However, only five per cent of bettors had the Raiders upsetting Baltimore 26-23.
And there was one winner of Proline’s second week main NFL pool of $407,613.
In NFL futures bets after the second week of the season, the odds for offensive player of the year got shorter for running backs Breece Hall (Jets) and Bijan Robinson (Atlanta) and Detroit receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown. But they got longer for running backs Kyren Williams (Rams), Christian McCaffrey (San Francisco) and Jonathan Taylor (Colts).
Quarterbacks Bo Nix (Denver), Jayden Daniels (Washington) and Caleb Williams (Chicago) all had their odds for offensive rookie of the year go up while they went down for running back Ray Davis (Buffalo), tight end Brock Bowers (Raiders) and receiver Malik Nabers (Giants).
Quarterbacks Patrick Mahones (Chiefs), Aaron Rodgers (Jets) and Jalen Hurts (Eagles) all had their odds for regular season MVP go up. But quarterbacks Jordan Love (Packers), Lamar Jackson (Baltimore) and Joe Burrow (Cincinnati) all saw theirs go down.
Kansas City, Philadelphia and Houston had their Super Bowl odds increase while Green Bay, Baltimore and Cincinnati all decreased.
Not surprising, the week’s top events were all NFL games. In order, they were; Buffalo-Miami, Chicago-Houston, Cincinnati-KC, Raiders-Ravens; and Saints-Cowboys.
A Proline retail player cashed in a $26,183 winner from a $10 bet on a 12-leg major-league baseball parlay. Another won $24,602 from a $10 wager on a 12-leg NFL parlay.
A third received $1,737 from a $3 bet on a six-leg NFL parlay.
A digital bettor earned $2,927 from a $25 bet on a five-leg NFL parlay while a second had a $704.35 return from a $1 wager on a seven-leg NFL parlay.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
