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Major League Soccer’s wacky playoff scheduling could become a nuisance for Atlanta United if they are to advance past New York City FC and make it to the Conference Finals. Both Darlington Nagbe and Brad Guzan have been summoned for international duty with the United States men’s national team playing England (Nov. 15) and Italy (Nov. 20) in Europe during the upcoming FIFA window.
5️⃣0️⃣ players have earned at least one #USMNT cap in nine matches this year.#TheFutureIsUS // https://t.co/RpRxsXaXQG pic.twitter.com/gflJIuX3hn
— U.S. Soccer MNT (@ussoccer_mnt) November 6, 2018
If Atlanta prevails on Sunday and knocks NYCFC out, they would play the first leg of the Conference Finals on November 25, leaving just five days for players playing in these international games to travel back to the U.S. and get fit enough to play.
Obviously, there’s still work to be done for this to be an issue, but it’s not an ideal situation for any team looking to make a run at MLS Cup. Hopefully MLS can find a solution to this problem in the future to avoid these issues.