Andre Blake among Union players unhappy with expanded MLS schedule

After the 45th of what could be up to 54 games for the Union this year, goalkeeper and vice-captain Andre Blake criticized Major League Soccer for overloading the schedule.

MLS teams play in as many as four competitions each year: the regular season (plus the playoffs), the Leagues Cup, the U.S. Open Cup, and the Concacaf Champions League if a team qualifies for it. This year, the Union have been in all four, with deep runs to the Champions League semifinals and Leagues Cup third-place game.

“We’re the ones that are suffering, and the quality of the league is going to go down,” Blake told The Inquirer. “Are you going to allow us to have more depth? Or, if you ask players to play however many games, obviously there’s going to be injuries, and when injuries come, then teams don’t have their best players on the field.”

Blake called the situation “ridiculous, and players have to speak up.” And he isn’t the only Union player who’s speaking.

“Everyone within the teams know something has to be done about that,” veteran centerback Jack Elliott said. “I think there will probably be some conversations about it with the amount of games that go on, especially for teams that play in the Champions League as well. It just adds another element of having to travel more, having to play more — and then Leagues Cup, obviously.”

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Elliott and Blake spoke Saturday night in Columbus, after the Union played their latest game without injured regulars Jakob Glesnes, José Andrés Martínez, and Leon Flach. Glesnes and Flach are dealing with groin-area injuries, a sign of potential over-use.

Blake is also dealing with groin pain, as he has a few times over the years. It flared up during the Union’s game against Dallas last Wednesday, and Blake avoided taking goal kicks Saturday as a precaution.

“I think there has to be a conversation, and hopefully it goes well for everyone,” Elliott said, as politely as he could.

How things got here

Not for nothing did Elliott single out the Leagues Cup, the newest and most controversial addition to the schedule.

It started in 2019 as an invitational event, which hints at roots that are still in place today. In 2020, it became merit-based, which was more palatable: eight top teams from Liga MX and the top four from each MLS conference that didn’t reach the Champions League.

That format was shelved because of the COVID-19 pandemic, then shrunk to an eight-team field for 2021, all with teams just short of the Champions League. In 2022, a too-busy calendar (there’s another hint) forced the tournament into a one-year hiatus, becoming a series of exhibitions instead.

But plans were already in place by then for a spectacle to trump all before it. This year, the Leagues Cup became a month-long, World Cup-style competition with a group stage and knockout rounds, and all 47 teams from MLS and Liga MX involved. Both leagues stopped their campaigns for a month, from mid-July to mid-August, to participate.

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This was immediately derided by a chorus of fans and media as a cash grab. Apple was thrilled to sell MLS Season Pass subscriptions to the legions of Mexican soccer fans in the United States, and Univision and Fox were happy to televise games.

MLS profited in ways it can’t from the Open Cup and Champions League, events with far more history and prestige but separate broadcast rights deals. The U.S. Soccer Federation runs the Open Cup, welcoming teams at every level from amateurs to pros; and Concacaf runs the Champions League, as the name implies.

Not every MLS team values the Open Cup the same, but fans cherish its democratic nature and Cinderella upsets. Not every casual fan knows the Concacaf Champions League, but gets it when told it’s this continent’s version of Europe’s same-named showcase.

The Leagues Cup, though, was to be what, exactly? That question wasn’t fully answered until Lionel Messi chose to join Inter Miami, and MLS lucked into the timing of him debuting in the tournament. Miami then made a spectacular run to the final, including a rout of the Union in the semis.

Had that confluence of events not happened, perhaps the original cynicism would have stayed prominent.

‘The last thing we need now’

“There’s been a million competitions, there’s been almost confusion as to what counts for the most and what’s the best,” Union manager Jim Curtin said last week, his latest of many remarks on the subject.

This year also brings a new playoff format, expanding the first full round from a one-game knockout to a best-of-three series. The change drew a heap of criticism, since its true purposes were barely hidden: to give every team a home game regardless of merit, and to give Apple more games to show.

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As Curtin said in February when the new format was announced: “You work all season in the 34 [regular-season] games to earn that home-field advantage. We had to win two home games [last year] to get to a final. That’s a real reward for having a great regular season.”

Blake said Saturday that the playoff format was changed without the MLS Players Association’s approval. A separate source confirmed that, and said approval wasn’t required.

“Even with the new playoffs format, the last thing we need now are more games and more travels,” Blake said. “I think it’s ridiculous, and I think something like this should never be approved without the players having a say.”

Expect the critics’ chorus to grow next year when the United States guest-hosts an expanded version of the men’s Copa América, South America’s continental championship. Six North American nations will join all 10 South American teams, which means a lot of MLS players will be involved.

There certainly won’t be criticism of hosting the tournament, or expanding it. The event will be a great showcase for everyone involved, and a dress rehearsal for the 2026 men’s World Cup in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

The question is how MLS will deal with it. The tournament is scheduled to run from June 20-July 14. Traditionally, the league goes dark for a stretch during summer tournaments. Will it this time? If not, its games will lack not just many stars, but many players, period.

We don’t know for sure if that will happen yet. Nor do we know where the Leagues Cup will fit in to the summer. It’s not just skeptics who want to know, in the Union’s locker room and beyond.

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