This Saturday’s match between the MLS points leaders and reigning champions should be the marquee event of the weekend and create the type of buzz the league craves for a regular season affair. Instead, the FC Dallas-Portland Timbers showdown has lost much of its luster because MLS continues to insist on scheduling games during the FIFA calendar.
Dallas has lost four potential starters to international duty. Portland will travel without three. The show will go on, reserves will fill voids and plenty of gifted players will take their usual places.
But at this pivotal point of the season — when the Supporters’ Shield and playoff races are at a fevered pitch, critical matches promise to sway the course of the campaign and some teams aim to maintain quality form while others are desperate to find it — MLS has again let down its clubs and supporters by stubbornly defying the sport’s annual agenda.