As restrictions begin to ease around the world and as sports leagues begin to plot their return from the pandemic pause, Major League Soccer appears to be on the verge of shooting itself in the foot. Or tripping over both feet. Or scoring an own goal. Pick your idiom for a self-inflicted wound.
A negotiation originally centered on staging a behind-closed-doors tournament that nobody asked for has devolved into a standoff over an agreed-to-but-unratified collective bargaining agreement, leaving MLS players on the verge of a lockout that could cripple the league and wreck any chance of salvaging the 2020 season.