Orlando-Nashville match goes ahead despite calls to join protests
The first of six Major League Soccer matches scheduled for Wednesday evening kicked off with Orlando City hosting Nashville SC.
MLS postponed the five remaining matches later in the day after Inter Miami and Atlanta United, who were facing each other in the second game of the midweek slate, walked off the pitch together ahead of their contest in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The league says it will reschedule the postponed games.
The Orlando-Nashville game kicked off despite Los Angeles FC midfielder Mark-Anthony Kaye and Toronto FC forward Jozy Altidore putting pressure on MLS. The players were calling on the league to take a stance against racial injustice following Sunday's police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
The Milwaukee Bucks' refusal to take the court for Game 5 of their first-round series against the Orlando Magic earlier Wednesday sparked a wave of walkouts across various sporting events in North America.
@MLS @thesoccerdon put out a statement regarding what’s happening in this country. Don’t be the last to do so. Protect your players and do your part to help bring about change please. I’m furious. We don’t feel safe...
— Mark-Anthony Kaye (@MarkThEwizz) August 26, 2020
@MLS what are you going to do?
— Jozy Altidore (@JozyAltidore) August 26, 2020
Human lives mean more than sports!
— Mark-Anthony Kaye (@MarkThEwizz) August 27, 2020
The Orlando Pride's Sydney Leroux, a World Cup winner with the United States women's national team, tweeted her disappointment in the city's failure to observe "a historic day" in sports.
Today was a historic day combatting racism in the sports world. I’m sad that our sport in our city missed the mark.
— Sydney Leroux Dwyer (@sydneyleroux) August 26, 2020
The other contests were scheduled to involve FC Dallas and the Colorado Rapids, Real Salt Lake and Los Angeles FC, the San Jose Earthquakes and Portland Timbers, and LA Galaxy and the Seattle Sounders.