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The Vancouver Whitecaps have the third longest odds to win the MLS is Back Tournament in 2020 at 66-1.
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The club will be without five of its players - including including forwards Lucas Cavallini, Fredy Montero and Tosaint Ricketts - during the Orlando bubble tournament.
The club said defender Andy Rose and defender/midfielder Georges Mukumbilwa are also sitting out the Florida tournament, which starts Wednesday and runs through Aug. 11.
The withdrawals leave Vancouver with just 23 players.
Vancouver opens its tournament July 15 against the San Jose Earthquakes at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in the Orlando area. A line on this game was not yet available.
Group B is down to three teams — Vancouver, Seattle and San Jose — with the withdrawal of FC Dallas due to 11 positive COVID-19 tests.
Ricketts has a medical issue while Mukumbilwa is not cleared to leave the country. Cavallini, Montero and Rose are not taking part for personal reasons, including Covid-19 concerns.
"There's no doubt that the players that are not present are very key players and players that help the team," coach Marc Dos Santos told a virtual conference call prior to training Tuesday night in Orlando.
"Now with that being said, it opens the door to other young players ... I don't have a doubt from what I've seen in training and what I've seen from them that we're still going to be a hard team to beat."
- Don Shapiro, Gambling911.com
