Kaye said LAFC players had decided not to play before arriving at the stadium for their gameGETTY IMAGES
LAFC MF Mark-Anthony Kaye "led a chorus of players and managers who insisted that it was the players, not MLS, who decided to postpone" five games yesterday, according to Jeff Carlisle of ESPN.com. Once it was announced that the five games had been postponed, MLS put out a statement that said, "Major League Soccer has made the decision to postpone the remaining matches -- Miami-Atlanta, Dallas-Colorado, Real Salt Lake-LAFC, San Jose-Portland, LA Galaxy-Seattle -- scheduled for this evening. Each match will be rescheduled." But Kaye was "having none of it." He tweeted in response, "We as players made the decision. Fix this, please give the right narrative." Carlisle notes the Bucks' decision not to play "created momentum throughout the day for MLS to do the same." But with Orlando and Nashville kicking off at 7:30pm ET, those teams were under what Nashville MF Dax McCarty called a "time crunch." Carlisle notes that was "exacerbated by the fact that a league rule requires Nashville players to turn off their cellphones an hour prior to kickoff and to have the phones stay off for the duration of the game." Meanwhile, matters were "moving more quickly in other MLS cities." A source said that around the time the Orlando-Nashville match kicked off, MLS Commissioner Don Garber "convened a conference call of owners and team presidents to get a sense of what direction they wanted to head." The source said that while a "majority of the teams wanted to postpone their matches, it wasn't unanimous" (ESPN.com, 8/27).
WEST PROTEST: Kaye in a TV interview said, "We realized we had a real opportunity to join (the NBA) in this fight and show true solidarity among all the sports in the United States. We had a conversation amongst the players in the league and we wanted to make sure that everyone was onboard and understood the importance of doing something like this.” Kaye said that LAFC players had "decided not to play before arriving at the stadium for Wednesday’s road game with Real Salt Lake." In L.A., Kevin Baxter reports Kaye then met with RSL D Nedum Onuoha and GK Zac MacMath to "work out the particulars." No makeup dates for yesterday's game "have been announced" (L.A. TIMES, 8/27).
SHOW GOES ON: In Orlando, Julia Poe reports Orlando City and Nashville SC "took the field" in front of a "limited number of fans." During the Orlando City broadcast, the club "stated its team chose to play out of respect for those fans." However, coach Oscar Pareja and F Nani said that they "didn’t hear about other MLS boycotts until they reached the locker room after the victory." Nashville D Jalil Anibaba said that players from both sides "attempted to formulate a plan ahead of the match but reached a point where both teams had to put away their phones to prepare for kickoff." Poe notes members of the Ruckus supporters group "created a tifo displayed in the supporters section that read 'Say Their Names' and bore the pictures of nine victims of police brutality and racial hate crimes." The group’s social media account "spent the night repeating the names of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd rather than reacting to the Lions’ goals" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 8/27).
