All of the Canadian teams got to the Round of 16 in the MLS is Back tournament in Orlando. Toronto FC won Group C with a 1-0 record at night and 0-0-2 in the early morning. Montréal Impact came through with its only win over DC United. Vancouver also went 1-2 but needed a 2-goal win, scoring both goals after a weather delay in the second half Thursday morning.
The Montréal Impact will play Orlando City Saturday night at 8 pm on ESPN2. Toronto FC will take on New York City FC on Fox Sports 1 on Sunday at 8:30 pm, getting a reasonable timeslot. The Vancouver Whitecaps will battle Sporting Kansas City in a West Coast friendly timeslot of 11 pm Sunday night on Fox Sports 1.
These games are the only ones that count in the MLS regular season standings. The other games have other incentives.
Win and advance; lose and you can leave the bubble. If the teams advance, the quarterfinals start Thursday.
Toronto FC won Group C thanks to the Montréal win Tuesday night. The Reds let DC United back into the first game, giving up 2 second half goals WHILE being up a man.
The Vancouver Whitecaps lost their first opponent when FC Dallas had to withdraw. The team didn't play a game until July 15 and ended up playing 3 games in 8 days. The Whitecaps had numerous important players who didn't travel to Orlando. The game with San Jose had a couple of goals where the Earthquakes made mental mistakes.
Rob Stone of Fox Sports called the Toronto-Montréal rivalry aka the Canadian Classic "arguably, the best rivalry you don't know about in MLS." "Some people know about it. But more people should know about it," replied Alexi Lalas.
Stone and Lalas were talking about the Canadian Classic since their match ended up in the Fox Sports 1 timeslot.
"We don't do this rivalry series often. But when we do, these teams tend to deliver" — play-by-play John Strong during the Toronto-Montréal match.
Fox Sports on the soccer side is far kinder to Canada than Fox Sports is for MLB.
We blasted (deservedly) the lack of English-language TV coverage on the original schedule. The MLS is Back tournament had more than its share of schedule issues. MLS deserves credit for doing some fine juggling when FC Dallas and Nashville didn't stay in the tournament.
The U.S. networks did supplement their telecasts of the Canadian teams. All but one happened due to movements of games to dates in their windows.
ESPN had Toronto dates with D.C. United and New England on the original calendar.
ESPN picked up the Chicago-Vancouver match (ESPN2 carried the finish) and ESPN2 carried the Montréal-D.C. game. Fox Sports 1 picked up the Montréal-Toronto match and the Seattle-Vancouver game.
The TUDN coverage was decent; the English-language SAP commentary comes through fine. You seem to learn more about what is happening with the ESPN and Fox Sports crews.
MLS 2020 Orlando tournament preview
CanadianCrossing.com soccer coverage
Toronto had some scoring power. Ayo Akinola, 20, (above) had 2 goals in 3 years before the MLS tournament in Orlando. Akinola scored a pair of first-half goals against DC United and a natural hat trick against the Impact. Alejandro Pozuelo had 2 assists against DC United and 3 assists in the first half against Montréal.
Jozy Altidore played briefly in the final game after missing the first 2 games. He wasn't in playing shape.
What sports will look like on Canadian soil in 2020
MLS plans on a regular season schedule after the Orlando tournament. This will be a significant problem for Toronto FC, Montréal Impact, and Vancouver Whitecaps. The Canadian government decision on the Toronto Blue Jays home schedule would apply to the MLS teams.
The teams could try and pick an alternate home site. Availability might depend on whether the NFL starts on time.
The teams might also have to be based in the United States for the rest of the MLS season.
photo credits: Fox Sports 1 (2); ESPN2 // MLS
Didn't know MLS planned to play a season after this tournament. Glad to see.
Posted by: JD | August 05, 2020 at 12:47 PM