Fox Sports looked to have picked the perfect game for their MLS coverage this coming weekend, with Columbus entertaining Dallas in the prime-time 7pm slot on Sunday. It pits two in-form teams with serious title ambitions and plenty of firepower – including the league’s top scorer and one of the leaders for assists – in what should be a treat for the TV audience.

Except that no fewer than 13 players will be missing on national team duty, including those top individual performers, as the league maintains its awkward stance of scheduling fixtures during international weeks.

It has been a small but growing problem for the US league in recent years with the steady influx of genuine international talent, but it has come to a head this week with the record level of call-ups for games involving teams from both North and South America, Europe, Africa and even Asia.

In all, some 24 countries have issued 52 summonses for MLS talent, with an additional nine players called up for the US Under-23 Olympic team and a further eight for the Under-20s. Columbus are the worst hit, losing eight players in all, including leading marksman Kei Kamara, newly-signed Ghanaian Harrison Afful and fellow defender Waylon Francis of Costa Rica, while Montreal are missing six and Dallas will be without five regulars, notably Colombian winger Fabian Castillo.

In league terms, it could have been worse, though. Philadelphia’s recent Swiss import Tranquillo Barnetta has not been called up for his country’s Euro 2016 qualifiers, while Colombia declined to cap promising Orlando youngster Cristian Higuita, USA coach Jürgen Klinsmann somehow overlooked Kansas City playmaker Benny Feilhaber for his squad and Toronto midfielder Jonathan Osorio was a surprise omission by Canada head coach Benito Floro.

If it wasn’t for a handful of injuries, notably to Toronto’s Italian playmaker Sebastian Giovinco and US stalwarts DaMarcus Beasley and Brek Shea, plus Michael Bradley and Clint Dempsey begging out of the first of USA’s two friendlies in the coming week so they can still play for their clubs at the weekend, the full tally of those on international duty could easily have exceeded 70.

As it is, each of Columbus, Orlando, Dallas and Chicago will be without their leading scorer. In this instance, there is some salvation for MLS in that only 10 teams will be in action while the other 10 have the weekend off, but it still leaves 34 influential players missing from five games, plus another four in the 9 September clash between Vancouver and Colorado.

The league is not oblivious to the problem, of course, and has tried to alleviate the effects of all the call-ups by scheduling fewer games on the biggest international weeks, but its unique calendar, running from March to October – at odds with all the major European leagues – is in danger of becoming a serious millstone for a 34-game season, with the added burden of playoffs to follow.

In many ways, MLS has become a victim of its own success. In the past, there were only a handful of international players still active for national teams other than the USA and Canada. Now, with more European players with ongoing international careers opting to make the move to MLS, absences are becoming more of a problem.

Then there is the fact the league is now drawing its talent from countries away from the traditional powerhouses. The contingent includes players from Sierra Leone, Gambia, Finland, Hungary, Iraq, Jamaica, Uruguay and even little Guam. It’s hard to think of another league that has players from so many different corners of the planet. Philadelphia, on the road at San Jose, and Seattle, at home to Toronto, are the only other teams with just one international absentee.

Some head coaches remain cautious of speaking about the situation as it is out of their control. Chicago’s Frank Yallop said: “We are obviously missing some key players but we are hoping the momentum we have had from recent games can carry us through. I have actually stopped Matt Polster going to the last two Olympic team get-togethers so at some stage I have to abide by the rules. David Accam is an important player for us at the moment, though.”

Montreal’s interim coach Mauro Biello was more forthright when asked about the problem this week. He said: “In this league, the quality of players is increasing more and more and you’re going to see a lot more international players. At some point, a decision will have to be made, because other teams are going to lose four, five, six players. And it’s even more of a problem now, with teams fighting for playoff spots. It definitely complicates matters.”

At league headquarters in New York, they prefer to highlight the positive side of the problem at the moment. Spokesman Dan Courtemanche said: “The fact we have more than 60 players being called up further illustrates the increasing quality of play in MLS.

“We also have 56 players in the league now who have been members of World Cup teams, so players competing in MLS are showcasing their skills and national team managers are noticing. The greatest example is Sebastian Giovinco and his progress in Toronto, which has clearly made an impact with the manager of the Italian national team. That’s not something we have seen in the past.”

Courtemanche is also quick to point out the restrictions facing the league in trying to push the scheduling calendar beyond its current boundaries. He explained: “Historically, in our first season we started on 6 April and ended on 20 October, so our season is now 75 days longer than it was originally. Clearly we have made significant progress in stretching out the season, which now goes from early March to December, with the playoffs and the MLS Cup Final, and we have been able to take off some of the international dates. This weekend we only have five games scheduled.

“In 2010, we took a league break for the first time during the qualifying stages of the World Cup, and continued that in 2014. I’m sure we’ll do the same in 2018, so we are pro-active where possible.”

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Courtemanche also highlights the potential fixture congestion around the Gold Cup, which is held every two years, unlike the European Championships, which come round every four years. The cumbersome Concacaf Champions League has also added to the scheduling headaches since it was reinvented in a league format for the 2008-09 season.

This year, Montreal were given special dispensation to postpone several league games to focus on the Champions League, in which they became only the second MLS team to reach the final. The knock-on effect, however, put them four games behind many of their Eastern Conference rivals, with the upshot they have to cram 11 games into the final seven weeks of the season, including four successive away games in October.

It emphasises the peculiarities MLS faces in arranging a season within the calendar year, when most northern teams cannot play in the depths of winter because of the severity of the weather. Including the playoffs, it is already one of the longest of any global league at almost 10 months, hence finding more time within that framework to provide full international-week breaks is problematic. To a large extent, the league shies away from too many midweek games, as these typically see a disproportionate drop in attendance from those at the weekend.

But Courtemanche also hinted that nothing is set in stone. “We continue to evaluate our schedule on an annual basis, from the highest level down, from the Commissioner to our owners, and we have a strong input from our technical staff,” he said. “The issue has been raised in the past and every year in the past five. I’m sure it will be raised again.”

Meanwhile, back on the front line, Adrian Heath of Orlando will have to make do without three of his team’s most influential players for the crunch trip to New England on Saturday, including two who have scored 21 of the team’s 33 goals to date. As a newcomer to the league this year, he has voiced his thoughts on the subject several times. This week, he said: “I think every manager in America at this moment is feeling the same and I think it is something we’re going to have to address now we are getting younger and better in player terms.

“There is going to have to be a changing point somewhere in the near future and I think there is an opportunity here to sort the calendar out. It is going to take someone smarter than me to figure it out, but I’m sure it can be done.”

From what I hear, those ‘smarter’ people are definitely at work on the problem, not only in the league’s competition department but also at ownership level. The issue is sure to be raised at the next full board meeting in December, although that may not be in time to come up with a solution for the 2016 season. The fact it is on the agenda at all, though, should give Yallop, Heath and Co some measure of reassurance that their concerns have been heard.

The current regular season is 34 weeks long and there are usually five full international weeks, where most major leagues take the week off, so the next step for MLS will be to figure out if 34 (games) into 29 (weeks) will actually go. Let the number-crunching commence.



