Preseason match cancellations rarely carry this much drama.
Columbus Crew SC and Orlando City SC were scheduled to meet in a 2020 preseason closed-door match in Cancun, Mexico. However, the Feb. 1 meeting was cancelled on the morning of the match and both clubs addressed the reasons on Twitter.
Orlando City were first to announce it, sending a not-so-subtle message to Crew SC in the process, which in turn prompted a strong reply:
Columbus also published a separate tweet citing the field conditions and weather:
As a result of the cancellation, Orlando City opted to play an intrasquad scrimmage with the weather reportedly holding up nicely.
According to Weather.com, there was a 90 percent chance of precipitation on matchday and thunderstorms in the forecast. Historical weather data for Cancun showed no recorded precipitation since the start of the year.
Columbus have been in Cancun since January 29 and will stay through February 6. Meanwhile, Orlando City are spending one week in the same city with one previously announced match remaining on the docket: February 4 against Inter Playa.
Orlando City and Columbus Crew will meet twice during the 2020 regular season on Saturday, April 11 in Columbus and Saturday, May 23 in Orlando.
MLS fans will remember that back in 2015 the head coaches of both teams – Caleb Porter (Crew SC) and Oscar Pareja (Orlando City) – were involved in one of the more heated exchanges between coaches in MLS history when they were at the helm of the Portland Timbers and FC Dallas, respectively. The two coaches moved on from the incident and in the 13 matches in which they've matched wits between 2013 and 2017, the two were evenly matched with a 5W-5L-3D record.
