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FC Dallas withdraws from the MLS tournament due to virus cases

Major League Soccer pulled Dallas out of its tournament near Orlando, Florida after 10 players and one employee tested positive for the corona virus, MLS officials said on Monday.

The positive tests were released after the team arrived in Florida on July 1, where the tournament begins Wednesday at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex at the Walt Disney World Resort. All of the team’s players, coaches, and staff have been quarantined in their rooms since their arrival, said FC Dallas President Dan Hunt. The individuals are mostly asymptomatic, with dull headache and low fever as the worst conditions, he said.

“Given the impact of the number of positive tests on the club’s ability to coach and play competitive games, we have decided to withdraw FC Dallas from the MLS is Back tournament,” said MLS Commissioner Don Garber in a statement.

Three players from two other teams also tested positive for the virus, which represents a total of 13 out of 557 players in Florida. The remaining 25 clubs will take part in the one-month tournament as MLS is one of the first professional sports leagues to return to competition in North America. The National Women’s Soccer League is underway, and the NBA and WNBA will host similar tournaments in Florida later in July.

Both Hunt and FC Dallas coach Luchi Gonzalez agreed to the league’s decision to pull the team out of the tournament – especially because players had to rely on zoom workouts last week, resulting in a secondary risk of injury from improper preparation led to compete.

Hunt said the team was investigating what may have caused the spike from which the players competed against each other until they were on the plane. So far, the cases do not appear to be linked. This “start and stop” fight could occur in all major sports that come back to play, he said, at least until there is a vaccine against Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus.

Nevertheless, he hopes that the players will recover and return strongly.

“I still think this team is good enough to win the MLS Cup this year,” he said.

The team will return to Frisco, Texas, following Florida and Texas security protocols. However, the schedule and the exact protocols that the team must follow are still undetermined, Hunt said. Both countries have seen a significant increase in infections in the past week. Texas governor Greg Abbott instructed residents last week to wear public face masks to curb the spread.

FC Dallas is not the only missing component in the MLS comeback: 2019’s most valuable MLS player and incumbent top scorer Carlos Vela, a Los Angeles Football Club striker, announced that he will skip the season for family reasons.

“I always want to give my club, our fans and supporters and the city of LA everything I have,” he said in a statement. “However, it is in the best interests of my family’s health to stay at home and be with my wife during a risky pregnancy.”

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