As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to reshape our world, those who follow and are part of MLS canāt help but wonder when games will return.
That eventuality could occur behind closed doors, heeding advice of public health and medical officials. Tightly packing tens of thousands of fans into stands with the looming danger of the novel coronavirus is, in a word, dangerous.
That situation ā playing without fans ā isnāt ideal, according to FC Dallas head coach Luchi Gonzalez. But itās also better than nothing.
āIf thatās what we have to do to take steps to earn being together in a real fan environment with full stadiums, thatās what weāre going to do,ā Gonzalez said Wednesday in a conference call with reporters. āWeāre going to do it with a lot of pride. Although itās not ideal, itās still better than the situation we are in right now where weāre not even able to train together.ā
If that comes around, Gonzalez noted that fans tuning in on TVs, smartphones and tablets would experience something different. The profanities and trash talk you only catch if you have sideline seats? They could echo into your living room.
āThereās a lot of things being said between the players and staff that you donāt hear in the live game because of the audio being absorbed with the fans,ā Gonzalez said. āBut thatās going to be a new experience that weāre goin to have to manage. Youāll see the fire, youāll see the competitive nature of all the players. Theyāre going to want to win.ā
Gonzalezās remarks come after LAFC head coach Bob Bradley said āa game without fans has no soul.ā Asked about that remark, Gonzalez didnāt go to such an extreme..
āI wouldnāt say you completely lose our soul or the game will lose its soul, but part of it, itāll lose part of its soul,ā Gonzalez said. āI think we still love this game, even in the preseason when we have no fans and weāre playing against Inter Miami or Philly or Vancouver. We want to give it our best and we want to play for the jersey.ā
The looming possibility comes as MLS released a statement Tuesday saying itās "extremely unlikely" that games will return in mid-May. But when that return does arrive, Gonzalez has a sense of what challenges await ā even if some emotions canāt quite be replicated.
āItās going to be a challenge of can we cover the same distance, can we exert the same physical and emotional energy as a game with a full stadium?,ā Gonzalez posed. āWeāre not going to know that until we actually go through this experience, but I know our boys will try."