MLS players booed for kneeling during the National Anthem

MLS players took a knee during the National Anthem Wednesday and were booed.

MLS were booed for taking a knee during the playing of the National Anthem on Wednesday.

With the MLS is Back tournament in the books with Portland Timbers defeating “hometown” Orlando City SC, the 2020 MLS season continues now back at team’s home stadiums rather than inside of the Orlando bubble. The two teams that were prevented from playing in the bubble due to coronavirus outbreaks in FC Dallas and Nashville SC made their return to the pitch Wednesday.

In front of a sparsely attended crowd at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, players took a knee during the playing of the United States’ National Anthem and were promptly booed. Some players like FC Dallas defender Reggie Cannon were upset by being booed. Then again, so were some of the fans in the stands who didn’t take kindly to the players taking a knee. It never ends, does it?

Will the booing continue at other MLS stadiums around the country in 2020?

“You can’t even have support from your own fans in your own stadium,” said Cannon. “It’s baffling to me. As a team we try to give the best possible product on the field, and these last six months have been absolute hell for us. Absolute hell.”

“We had someone chanting U.S.A., but they don’t understand what kneeling means. They don’t understand why we’re kneeling…They can’t see the reason. They think we’re the ignorant ones. It’s incredibly frustrating. I’m sorry to have this tone, but you have to call it for what it is.”

“It hurts me because I love our fans, I love this club, and I want to see the support that the league has given us, that everyone has given us, from our fans.”

While Cannon, any of his Dallas teammates and any player in the MLS has the right to take a knee during the playing of the National Anthem, the people who attend these matches have the right to boo players to take a knee as well. It’s an incredibly divisive issue in the United States and nobody should be surprised this happened at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas on Wednedsay night.

For the MLS to continue on, teams will have to play amongst themselves in similar geographical footprints. After playing FC Dallas for a home-and-home, Nashville SC will play fellow southeast clubs like Atlanta United FC, Orlando City SC and Inter Miami CF. FC Dallas will play the likes of Houston Dynamo, Colorado Rapids, Minnesota United FC and Sporting Kansas City here soon.

While it may break your heart that the players were booed in Frisco, Texas on Wednesday night, we can’t be all that shocked. Texas is a red state and that’s how kneeling during the playing of the National Anthem would typically land there. In some areas of the country, kneeling might land better if fans are in attendance at games, but we can’t be entirely sure of that. This will continue.

The MLS is back in Dallas, Nashville, etc., but so many problems remain in the United States.