MLS is Back!

HILTON BEACHFRONT RESORT, SANTA BARBARA, CA -- Okay, those aren't my words but what the new Major League Soccer tournament is actually called.  "MLS is Back" is a World Cup-style tournament where all the group stage matches will count in the official regular season standings.  The hope is, that if this tournament goes off without too many surprises, the rest of the MLS regular season can proceed afterwards, likely without fans, but in hometowns.  This tournament will all take place at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at the Walt Disney Resort in Orlando, Florida.  Due to hot and humid weather expected, matches will start at 9 am, 8 pm, and 10:30 pm local time (EDT).

So with the 26th HWCI NCAA Tournament Pool and 3rd HWCI EURO Pool both cancelled due to COVID-19, this MLS tournament, an official one as group matches will count towards regular season play, presented an interesting opportunity to get ONE pool done in 2020.  Of course, the problem is, there is so much uncertainty (the DAL-VAN match has already been postponed due to 8 FC Dallas players testing positive), there is no way for me to handle payments/refund headaches if the tournament gets shortened, postponed, or re-designed mid-tournament.

Thus, for the first time, the HWCI pool is FREE.  You will be limited to two entries instead of three but hopefully this will present a distraction from the chaos of everyday quarantine and life.  As for prizes, I have some old MLS/Galaxy/Chivas USA swag that if shipping is decent enough, I can send to the top 3 finishers.

This runs like the regular World Cup/EURO pools and more in line with the 2019 Women's World Cup where you have to pick 3rd place finishers.  There are key differences to note:

• Group A has 6 teams instead of 4 (like Groups B/C/D/E/F)
• Thus, the top THREE teams in Group A make the Knockout Stage (Round of 16)
• The top TWO teams in Groups B/C/D/E/F make the Round of 16
• The next THREE best teams make the Round of 16 -- that could be the 4th place team in Group A or the 3rd place teams in Groups B/C/D/E/F
• The seeded teams in each group are the 2019 MLS Playoff Semifinalists (Atlanta, LAFC, Seattle, Toronto), the next best 2019 point earner in the Western Conference (Real Salt Lake), and host Orlando
• Group A teams will play 3 games like everyone else, but because there are 6 teams in the group, there are 9 games in Group A
• Thus, there are 39 (instead of the usual 36) matches to pick in Group play
• In the Knockout Stage, there is no Extra Time so if a match ends in a tie in regulation, they go straight to Penalty Kicks
• There is no 3rd place match, so like EURO, the Total Goals Tiebreaker is 3 matches (2 Semis and Final) - as always, in 1/2 goal increments and only in regulation (no Extra Time)

So download the form (Word | PDF), fill it out the 3rd page and send it to worldcup@hwci.com.  The deadline to enter is 5 pm PDT Wednesday, July 8th.  Hopefully, following this we will have EURO 2021, World Cup 2022, and Women's World Cup 2023.  Good luck and stay safe!