MLS relaunches its 25th season on July 8 with a tournament at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports at Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. The league will host its “MLS is Back Tournament” featuring all 26 clubs but they'll play without spectators.

SI's Luis Miguel Echegaray breaks down how the MLS will implement COVID-19 guidelines, MLS' World Cup-style format, and what matchups are a must-see. 

Read the full transcript below: 

Kaitlin O'Toole: MLS relaunches its 25th season on July 8th with a tournament at ESPN Wide World of Sports at Disney World Resort in Orlando. And here to talk about it and some of the things to watch out for is SI's Luis Miguel Echegaray. Luis, first off, talk to us about the tournament. How will it work?

Luis Miguel: Kaitlin, first of all, you said my name beautifully. It's a great chance to have you here again. Let's talk about MLS. MLS is back! It's now going to be the second pro sports league in the U.S. to return after NWSL, and as you mentioned, it's coming back with a World Cup-style tournament in Orlando on July 8th. What it is basically is 26 teams divided into six groups. Two of them have six teams and the rest have four. From there, it goes into the round of 16 all the way to the final on August 11th. It's just going to be a fun experiment of sorts and obviously a test due to the fact that COVID-19 had to suspend action earlier this year. It's going to be very interesting. Basically, what's going to happen is MLS teams will travel to Orlando at the end of June and they will prepare for that July 8th encounter. It's going to be super interesting to see, first of all, just how these teams react after such a long delay in action, but, most importantly, how ESPN Worldwide of Sports and Orlando will host this because we know that so many leagues and franchises are going to be using it as we continue with coronavirus. It's going to be very interesting. July 8th is when it all begins.

Kaitlin O'Toole: Thanks for breaking it down for us. What are some of the matches that we can look forward to?

Luis Miguel: So when you look at these teams, obviously, you know, some interesting because there are only six groups, you're bound to have some interesting outcomes. The first one is, is that Orlando, who plays the host, will host and will play Inter Miami, the brand new franchise to MLS. It's going to be an all Florida matchup, and that's gonna be the very first game that kicks off. So that's going to be an interesting one. The other one, Kaitlin, is El Traffico some people don't know they want to call it El Traffico because it's not necessarily a darby that's going to happen in Los Angeles, but this is LAFC against LA Galaxy. Both are in Group F, and that's always going to be a fun one to watch. You know, two of the most entertaining teams in the league. The other one I think is Atlanta United against New York Red Bulls in Group E. They have a rivalry that kind of started heating up since 2017, and that's going to be interesting to watch. So there's plenty of action they're going to look forward to. But you can't deny that El Traffico, LAFC, and LA Galaxy is the one to watch.

Kaitlin O'Toole: I'm getting so excited for these matchups. You touched on it before, obviously, MLS is playing there due to COVID-19. Let's talk about some of the steps the league is doing to ensure the safety and health of the players and coaches.

Luis Miguel: That's a good question. Listen, luckily for MLS, it's got sort of a blueprint to rely on based on what European leagues have already started doing, right? So, the Bundesliga in Germany has already started action. La Liga as well. NWSL will start at the end of the month in June. So MLS kind of has a real strict, directly aggressive protocol for players and staff. First of all, there's going to be a tremendous amount of testing. Players will be tested almost every day, every other day, right before the tournament, and if anybody finds to be positive with COVID-19, that will once again be an aggressive sort of trace to see who exactly has it and how teams can prevent from doing it. Social distancing guides will be provided, as well as masks, of course. So you're going to see a real tight protocol and medical guideline. So making sure that teams and staff are really safe. Of course, nothing is perfect, but I think one of the advantages is that this tournament is being held in one location so you don't have to travel that much. That is also a benefit. I think that's going to be a major thing to watch out for, especially as leagues like the NBA, for example, looks to start in the future at the end of July. MLS will be a good place to start and watch how they follow coronavirus guidelines.

Kaitlin O'Toole: Alright, we're looking forward to the return of MLS. Luis, thank you so much for your insight on this. I appreciate it.