Two weeks ago as the number of COVID-19 positives were increasing in Florida, Fire coach Raphael Wicky stressed that he trusts Major League Soccer to keep everybody safe during the upcoming MLS Is Back Tournament in Orlando.
On Tuesday, with the Fire a day away from departing for Florida, Wicky reiterated that faith in MLS. But that doesn’t mean he’s unaware of what’s happening.
“I have to be honest; we have not spoken with the team about this,” Wicky said Tuesday. “We obviously follow the news, we read newspapers, internet and we know that the cases are quite high in Florida, but like I already mentioned last time, we trust the league. I mean, we have agreed to this tournament. We’re excited to go to this tournament, but from the beginning we all said we trust that the league wants everyone to be safe and will keep everyone safe.”
The Fire are scheduled to resume their season July 8 with a match against Nashville SC. They have been practicing as a full group for more than two weeks, and are eager to restart a campaign that was halted after a pair of matches.
When the Fire and the rest of MLS play in Orlando, any coronavirus-related developments will be part of the backdrop. Yet, because that’s not something the team can control, it isn’t a focus for Wicky.
“We obviously sometimes speak with the staff, but again, even when we speak with the staff, we just talk about, ‘Have you seen yesterday there was a new peak in Florida?’” Wicky said. “But we don’t then go more into further discussions because it doesn’t really make sense. It’s out of our control right now and we trust the league. I mean, I think that was clear from the beginning. Everyone wants to be safe and that’s the most important thing.”
Before most tournaments or seasons, a key part of training is getting players healthy and fit for the upcoming campaign. That is still a priority now, and could be even more challenging because of the long layoff, the Florida heat and even the inconsistent start times for the Fire’s three group-stage matches.
These days, however, there’s another goal of avoiding COVID-19 and planning for contingencies if somebody does test positive. And so far, the Fire have been safe.
On Tuesday, Wicky said the Fire have had no cases, attributing that to being both “very, very lucky and disciplined.”
“We hope that it stays that way,” Wicky said. “And we will follow the protocols should a person [test] positive, which we really hope will not be the case.”
