MLS is Back Tournament
Group C, Matchday 2
ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, Orlando FL.
Thursday, July 9 – 8:00 PM ET
Only two weeks into the 2020 MLS Regular Season in March, the league shut down amid the Coronavirus pandemic. Now Major League Soccer is returning to play at the MLS is Back Tournament in Orlando, Florida where all 26 MLS teams are arriving to the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex and will stay in a “bubble”, playing in stadiums without fans, being tested and screened for COVID-19 and remaining in hotels on the property.
The tournament is held in a World-Cup like format starting with group stages and moving on to Round of 16 and onwards to the final series. The first game of Group C will be a rematch from the first week of the original season in February, with Canadian side Montreal Impact facing New England Revolution.
Montreal Impact Head Coach, and former New York Red Bull player Thierry Henry is looking to keep the momentum of his debut season as MLS coach, where the Impact won under him the Concacaf Champions League series against Diportivo Saprissa before the MLS Regular Season begun.
Thierry Henry, Montreal’s Head Coach; Photo: Ryan Remiroz, Canadian Press
The Impacts under Henry kept their winning run going and on Week 1 of the regular season handed a 2-1 defeat to New England Revolution at home with Argentinian forward Maximiliano Urruti leading Montreal’s attack and scoring the winning goal on the 80th minute.
On Week 2, Montreal traveled to FC Dallas and although scoring two goals, curtesy of Maxi Urruti again, Dallas’s youthful side managed to climb out of a 2-point deficit with two late goals, resulting in a 2-2 draw, which was disappointing for the Henry and the Impact.
New England Revolution didn’t manage to get a win in the MLS 2020 Regular Season before the shutdown. After the defeat to Montreal on Week 1, New England hosted at Gillette Stadium Chicago Fire, with Revs’ Polish Forward Adam Buska scoring his debut goal in Major League Soccer. But that was not enough and Chicago’s Jonathan Borstein headed in an equalizer on the second half, with the game ending in a 1-1 draw.
New England should have a pretty strong front with the due of Designated Players: Argentine Forward Gustavo Bou who was crowned 2019 MLS Newcomer of the Year, and Spanish midfielder Carlos Gil. The Revs finished seventh in the MLS Eastern Conference in 2019, just above the playoff line, and the Impact reached the ninth place at the east on that season.