The Montreal Impact goalkeeper Evan Bush and MLS Players’ Association commented on the resumption of MLS macthes by videoconference on Tuesday.
The circuit of Commissioner Don Garber announced earlier today that he would return to play with a World Cup tournament in Orlando, followed by a possible shorter season.
According to Evan Bush, if the players are happy to return to the pitch, the last negotiations with Major League Soccer will leave their mark.
“The players were excited to return to the game, but also nervous about going to Florida for several reasons. It has fueled many of our discussions over the past six to eight weeks.” Bush said.
“We would have liked to resume games in our markets, but it was not possible at the moment. We accepted the Orlando tournament.” Bush added.
The 27-year-old goalkeeper noted that not a single player showed up for voluntary individual workouts Monday or Tuesday, which may have hastened the negotiations, resulting in a new CBA that runs through the 2025 season.
“On Sunday, when we sent our proposal to the league, we thought it would be over in 24 hours. Unfortunately, the Commissioner, acting according to his own judgment, saw fit to send another proposal, which contained different language, in particular on cases of force majeure. It would have been impossible for the players to accept this.” Bush said.
“Then threatening the lockout players was unheard of for our union. It led to resentment among some players. We received this proposal at 10 p.m. Sunday.
“Players were scheduled to attend training sessions at 8 a.m. on Monday. All players across the league have decided not to run. It is to show how shocked the players were by this proposal.” he added.
From what we understand, it is that the disappointment was all the more acute as the players knew that they were going to have to work in concert with MLS to get through this situation which was both difficult but unpredictable.
