If this one sounds like a no-brainer, that’s probably because it is. It is high time for Major League Soccer to follow the lead of virtually every other professional league in the world and stop play for dates on the international soccer calendar.

International matchdays, for the uninitiated, are dates designated by FIFA and its regional confederations for national team play–usually for World Cup qualifiers and other tournaments, but often for friendly games as well. To avoid making national team players choose between club and country (and leaving one or the other short-handed) leagues simply decided to not schedule games on international match dates. This way, national teams could be assured they were getting their best players at full strength and clubs did not have to worry about fielding sides without some of their best players. It’s a win-win for everybody involved: fans can divert attention from their domestic leagues for a week or two, confident that national team are fielding their “A” sides. Clubs can take solace in the fact that their international stars will only raise the profile of their “brand” and national teams could continue to access their best “resources” (to put everything in economic terms).

For reasons yet obscure, MLS refuses to play along. It grants its national players leave from their clubs, but continues to play games like nothing ever happened. This leads to bizarre situations such as the one that unfolded last weekend when the U.S. Men’s National Team played Honduras at the exact time that MLS sides went into battle. Fans invariably have to choose one or the other, with MLS coming out as the loser nine times out of 10. Worse yet, teams are without their best players and most marketable stars when they play these games. This puts certain teams (usually bad ones, who don’t have many international players) at unfair advantages and sours the event for fans. All of which further undermines MLS as a league and an organization.

It gets worse, too. MLS does not even break for the World Cup, soccer’s signature event and the biggest sporting event on planet earth. How the league hopes to compete for eyeballs (and sponsorship dollars) during that time is beyond comprehension. It would be like a movie studio hosting an opening night during the Oscar’s. Of course the World Cup can result in increased interest in MLS, but the league needs to work with, not against the tournament.

We can understand playing through the Euro championship, which only very rarely involves MLS players. And of course a lot of this is driven by MLS wanting to take advantage of the summer months, where it only has baseball to compete with among major U.S. sports leagues. But that’s the wrong way to go about things. Soccer is entertaining enough to attract interest even during a crowded sports calendar. (If you don’t believe that just look at some of the television figures for the English Premier League, which runs from August to May). Besides, what use is playing games without your biggest stars, summer or not?

For these reasons, any tournaments and games involving the U.S. national team (including the Gold Cup) should result in MLS games being cleared off the schedule. Come on Mr. Garber, you owe us that much.