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NEW YORK (77 WABC) — If the NBA or NHL players were wondering what life will be like once they enter their respective league’s bubble to return to play, all they have to do is look towards Major League Soccer.
The MLS has already established its bubble for the MLS is Back Tournament, which begins on Wednesday, as it tries to to keep its players and team staffs safe as it resumes play following a lengthy pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The league has set up shop at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Walt Disney World, but there have already been plenty of hiccups before play has even started.
On Monday FC Dallas had to withdraw from the tournament after nine of its players and on technical staff member tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving at the Orlando bubble. Tuesday, Nashville SC had its matching with the Chicago Fire postponed after five players tested positive for the virus.
The realities of the situation have not been lost on NYCFC midfielder Keaton Parks.
“There’s definitely a lot of worry. It’s a global pandemic everyone reacts different,” Parks told reporters on a Zoom call Tuesday. “Clearly it’s here. It’s in the bubble. There’s definitely a lot of worry throughout our team. I’m sure through the other teams here and we’re doing the best we can to keep ourselves safe and to keep others safe. We just keep hoping we stay away from it.”
NYCFC begins the group stage of the tournament on Thursday with a 9 a.m. matchup against the Philadelphia Union. They’ll also face Orlando SC and the Chicago Fire in the group stage.
(Video courtesy of MLS)
The club arrived at the Walt Disney World Resorts last Thursday ahead of the tournament to allow for final preparations. It also gave NYCFC the chance to adjust to life inside the bubble and to the protocols in place to keep everyone safe.
“The first day, second day it was a little bit hard to continue to do the things we had to do,” winger Ismael Tajouri-Shradi said Tuesday. “But after a few days you just used to doing it and we try to do our best to stay safe, to stay healthy and to stay in shape.”
The club has been getting up early in the morning to train, according to head coach Ronny Deila. That means hitting the pitch by 8 a.m. until about 10 in the morning, then the team has lunch, then they get tested and after that the players have time for themselves.
Deila is happy that the players have so much time to relax and unwind, but that doesn’t mean the realities of the world around them aren’t there. Parks and several teammates went golfing one day after arriving in the bubble, which involved a bit of choreographing to do so.
Tee times around when the players would be on the golf course were reserved to prevent them from coming in contact with anyone and they were shuttled in a private bus to and from the course. “We had security following us the whole time to make sure that we were isolated and social distancing from each other, but also staying away from the public,” Parks said.
Even with the concern over how well the bubble will protect teams participating in the tournament, there is plenty of excitement for some sort of normalcy. Deila appeared ecstatic to be back coaching again after months of sitting and waiting.
“It’s like a wife when you’re away from her for a couple of months,” Deila said. “It’s so good to see her again. It’s great to be back coaching.”
