TORONTO – Toronto FC wanted to train at BMO Field on March 12 when the session and then the season were suddenly interrupted.
On Friday evening, 106 days later, they returned to a first training session at their home stadium since the global pandemic in Major League Soccer came to a halt.
“And we’re back,” tweeted 20-year-old defender Rocco Romeo on Saturday.
“Hello BMO Field,” added midfielder / striker Tsubasa Endoh.
“Nice to be back on the field,” said defender Chris Mavinga.
“Close to it,” wrote midfielder Jonathan Osorio.
Toronto is preparing for the MLS is Back tournament, which will take place from July 8th to August 11th at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex in the Orlando region.
A club spokesman said the team chose to train on the BMO Field rather than the training facility in North Toronto to do evening training in a stadium before the World Cup style tournament
Toronto returns to DC United on July 10th in a game that begins at 8 p.m. ET. Two of the three group games start in the evening.
Toronto, which was drawn in a group with DC United, Montreal Impact and New England Revolution, is due to charter to Florida next Friday.
Hitting a ball on an empty BMO field could be a forerunner later in the season when the teams start playing in their home markets again.
The club released a short video and some photos showing the BMO Field session on Saturday afternoon. According to the MLS rules for returning to training during the COVID 19 pandemic, the practices are closed to the media.
MLS has been off since the game was suspended for two weeks in the season. Toronto ended their season opener 2-2 in San Jose on February 29, before beating New York City 1-0 on March 7th.
Following the league and local government protocols, TFC gradually returned to training – starting with voluntary one-on-one sessions on May 11, small group sessions on June 1, and full team training on June 15.
This Canadian press report was first published on June 27, 2020.
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