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Major League Soccer is in the midst of completing its season this weekend when Columbus Crew hosts the Seattle Sounders in the MLS Cup final. It caps a lengthy year that had a massive hiatus due to the coronavirus outbreak, had a created tournament to ease the teams back into play before a shortened regular season and an expanded playoffs.
From that, we will have teams playing in the Concacaf Champions League, both to finish out 2020 and to also enter the 2021 competition. And, in normal times, we have the U.S. Open Cup as well as the Leagues Cup for some teams between MLS and Liga MX.
However, Liga MX is trying to get MLS into another major competition:
El fútbol mexicano intentará volver a disputar la Libertadores en el corto plazo. La idea es presentar una propuesta conjunta con clubes de la MLS . Varias de las entidades más importantes de Sudamérica creen que lo mejor es mantener la competencia entre equipos de CONMEBOL. pic.twitter.com/FkdIZiuAle
— VarskySports (@VarskySports) December 8, 2020
That’s right, for those who don’t speak Spanish, Liga MX wants to rejoin CONMEBOL’s Copa Libertadores in the near future. To get the confederation’s clubs to invite them back in, they want MLS to join them to boost their chances.
There’s also Copa Sudamericana, CONMEBOL’s version of the Europa League. It could be interesting to have teams play there as well. However, the tweet goes on to say that many of the important clubs in South America want the competition to remain between CONMEBOL teams only.
If Major League Soccer were to enter Copa Libertadores or Copa Sudamericana, there would definitely be more opportunities for teams to test themselves against some of the best clubs in the Western Hemisphere. It would be some incredible experience for the players as they play in hostile environments on foreign soil. It would force teams to think about improving their depth. If a team did well, it would also boost the profile of the league. However, schedule congestion and the lengthy travel would have to be a concern, and it could put incredible strain on already thin rosters.
The Community Corner question this week: should MLS attempt to send teams to play in Copa Libertadores or Copa Sudamericana? Hit the comments on this matchday and discuss.