In his customary appearance on Sports Radio 810 WHB this morning, Sporting Kansas City captain Matt Besler provided fascinating insight on Major League Soccerās developing plans to bring all 26 clubs to Orlando, Florida, for a closed-door summer tournament at ESPNās Wide World of Sports complex at Disney World.
The proposal is far from finalized, Besler said, but multiple stakeholders continue to partake in active dialogues every day as the league eyes a return to competitive action.
āItās a real proposal, and as of now it seems to be the best proposal or option that we have as a group to return to playing games,ā Besler said. āThe tough thing is how do we make it work? Weāre on calls right now with the (MLS players) union and the league on a daily basis, just trying to figure out ways to make it work. Weāre voicing our opinion on how we feel about it, what the conditions are going to be like, how long the tournamentās gonna be.
āUsually the MLS commissioner (Don Garber) is on the phone, and heāll relay the proposal or the idea to the player reps who are all on a conference call together. After the information is received from the player reps, usually what happens is we take that information and I hop on a call with Tim (Melia) or Graham (Zusi) or Roger (Espinoza)āsome of our veteran leadership. We kind of digest that information and we say, āAlright, hereās what we heard, how do we want to present it to our guys?āā
From there, Besler and Sportingās veteran leaders gather opinions from the rest of the players on the roster and convey those sentiments to the MLS players union. The union then relays that feedback to MLS in a process that Besler said can take up to five days.
āIt is a constant process,ā he said. āWe are constantly on calls trying to figure it out. For me personally, I think everyone wants to try and play games. If going down to Orlando in a tournament situation is the best option, then I think most players would be for it. What weāre trying to figure out right now is how can we make that environment as player-friendly as possible.ā
A driving force behind Major League Soccerās return to play has been Sporting Manager Peter Vermes, who crafted the individual workout protocol that all MLS clubs have adopted. Vermes has since taken further steps as a key voice in the leagueās quest to resume full team training and competitive matches.
āHeās got a little bit of everything that youād want in a coach and someone who is leading your team,ā Besler said of Vermes. āHis intensity and work ethic is unmatchedāhis preparation, his passion. Heās always the first guy to fully immerse himself in a situation, whether itās good or bad or he doesnāt know anything about it. Heāll just jump in, start digging through it and figure out a solution.ā