MLS

World Cup winners Kaka and Fabio Cannavaro will be among the former players to take control of FIFA's Twitter account over the next few weeks as the global soccer body seeks to reach out to fans stuck at home because of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Like most of the global sporting calendar, soccer has ground to a halt as countries battle to contain the virus and FIFA said in a statement that it would launch a series of live chats with former players at 18:00 GMT on Thursday. 

With the World Health Organization declaring a pandemic and the United States confirming more than 1,000 cases of infection, Major League Soccer is set to announce a suspension of play until further notice to combat the spread of the coronavirus.

President Donald Trump has also announced that the U.S. is temporarily suspending most travel from Europe, including 26 different countries for 30 days, in an effort to combat the virus. 

In Europe, various football leagues are either suspending play until further notice, playing in empty stadiums or banning pre-match handshakes because of the spread of the Coronavirus. Now it is MLS’s turn to take precautions.

The match between Seattle Sounders and FC Dallas at CenturyLink Field in Seattle on March 21 has been postponed. This comes after Washington governor Jay Inslee banned events with more than 250 people in three Washington counties, including Seattle.

For Philadelphia Union fans hoping to catch their club’s second match of the season, they had to stay up until 11:00 p.m. ET on Sunday night just to make it to kick off on FS1. But as the date changed from Sunday evening to Monday morning on the East Coast, those brave Union supporters at least got to witness one of the most spectacular contests in MLS history.

The 25th season of MLS began with a bang as both TV ratings and stadium attendance spiked for opening weekend. The highlight was all things Nashville, which saw a league-best attendance of 59,069 for the team’s inaugural game at Nissan Stadium.

Back in the days of the feared Atlanta United attacking partnership between Josef Martínez and Miguel Almirón, the Venezuelan and Paraguayan used to celebrate goals with a Dragon Ball Z-inspired “fusion” pose. It happened often as the duo combined for 71 goals over the course of two seasons.

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There’s a lot to like about Inter Miami with Rodolfo Pizarro, Matías Pellegrini, Jorge Figal and Wil Trapp featuring in the club’s MLS debut on Sunday, but they’re obviously nowhere near last season’s Supporters’ Shield winners Los Angeles FC for the time being.

The New York Red Bulls held their own in their season opener Sunday, displaying a strong performance against a solid FC Cincinnati. Although Cincinnati dominated possession, the Red Bulls came out on top 3-2 for a perfect start to the 2020 season.

In the 16th minute, 22-year-old Kyle Duncan opened the scoring with a goal from atop the six-yard box, striking the ball into the lower-left corner after a demonstrating his smarts by making a streaking run down the right flank and crashing the box unmarked.