Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, Loons set to head off to work in Orlando

Minnesota United leaves Sunday by chartered flight to Orlando on a business trip that could last six weeks.

Turns out, Loons midfielder Robin Lod is going to Disney World, but his 11-month-old daughter, Louisa, is not.

"I'm supposed to be taking her," Lod said, "but not this time."

The Loons will become Minnesota's first pro sports team to resume its coronavirus-suspended season when it plays its first "MLS is Back" game July 12 at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at the Walt Disney World Resort.

The first of all 26 MLS teams that will be quarantined there — each on its own secured hotel floor — began arriving Thursday.

Loons chief soccer officer Manny Lagos calls it a "pretty innovative bubble" for his team's 42-person traveling party, which will be allowed "extracurricular activities" such as golf, hiking and dining while still respecting the bubble. Players, coaches and staff will be tested for the virus every other day.

Minnesota United will play a July 5 friendly against Columbus during the two weeks it will spend training before its first game in the league's monthlong, World Cup-style tournament. League play shut down in the second week of March after each team had played two games.

MLS owners originally sought a tournament that could last as long as 68 days. Players haggled its length down to 46 days, which Loons veteran and union executive-board member Ethan Finlay calls a "huge difference" for players and the interruption caused in their lives.

"It's a little concerning because nobody wants to stay away from family for so long a time," Lod said.

"In the end, it was almost the only option to get back to play. Everybody is here to play soccer. You just have to live with it."

Each Loons player lives with it in his own way, in what second-year defender Chase Gasper says "all comes down to circumstance, everyone's in a different situation."

Some players, such as Gasper and 29-year-old Jan Gregus, are single and consider such time away anything but a sacrifice.

Other players are married with young children, about whom Lod says, "You can't go to the shower without taking them with you."

Finlay and his wife, Hayley, have an adorable dog, but no children.

"Guys that have families, I definitely understand that," Finlay said. "They have an obligation to their family."

Every last one of them is eager to do what they do again — or what Gasper called "get the normalcy back."

To do that, Lod's daughter and wife, Janni, last week returned home to Finland and their Helsinki apartment. That's where they'll remain, close to Louisa's grandparents, until MLS decides what comes next with its 2020 season after the tournament's Aug. 11 final.

"It's a big relief," Lod said.

All the precautions and considerations are intended to get revenue flowing again in a league that MLS Commissioner Don Garber said has taken a $1 billion hit because of the virus pandemic.

Lagos calls the tournament "so special" because it's leading U.S. pro sports back after they were shuttered 3½ months.

It also offers hope the Loons will be back playing at Allianz Field, almost certainly without fans, by fall.

The team is expected to arrive in Florida with its roster set until tournament's end. After that, Lagos said, the club is poised to add two players during an international transfer window revised by the pandemic.