Start whetting your appetites. We now know the opening game of the MLS is Back Tournament will see Florida foes Orlando City SC and Inter Miami CF go head to head for the first time.
Ahead of Thursday's draw to determine the group placings for the tournament beginning July 8, MLS announced that expansion club Inter Miami would join Orlando City in Group A as part of the league's decision to restart the season in the state of Florida.
Orlando City is the seeded team in the group ("A1"), as the "home" team for the tournament that will take place at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort. Inter Miami CF will be designated as "A2."
The other four teams in group A will be determined by the group-stage draw, set to take place at 3:30 pm ET on Thursday and streamed live on MLSsoccer.com, MLS Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.
There will be three Eastern Conference groups and three Western Conference groups, with the five other groups (Groups B-F) consisting of four teams. The other seeds have been announced as the Seattle Sounders, Toronto FC, LAFC, Atlanta United and Real Salt Lake.
All teams will play three group games which will count toward the 2020 MLS regular season standings.
For Group A, which is the only group that will consist of more than four teams, the three matchups for each club will be as follows:
- Team A1 (Orlando City): A2, A3, A6
- Team A2 (Inter Miami): A1, A4, A5
- Team A3: A1, A4, A5
- Team A4: A2, A3, A6
- Team A5: A2, A3, A6
- Team A6: A1, A4, A5
