Tally Hall Meeting ACL Recovery Head On

Goalkeeper Talmon Henry "Tally" Hall may be out for a while longer while he recovers and rehabs from an ACL injury, but he's facing the challenge of coming back the way he deals with oncoming shots from opposing strikers – straight on.

“I look at my recover now as an opportunity now to make me stronger so I’m not trying to come back the same ability, the same speed, the same strength, same explosiveness that I was pre-injury,” said Hall at the recent Orlando City SC Media Day.

Having a better-than-ever-before Hall in the lineup certainly sounds like something the Lions could use. But when will that happen? Hall doesn't want to talk about timetables.

"I see this as an opportunity for me to be the best I've ever been and where that is on the timetable I don't know. I'm not focused on timetable right now, I'm focused on me being my very best," said the SeaTac, WA, native. "I would love to come back tomorrow but they're telling me I can't. So, for me, I'm a positive guy, so I look at it as an exciting opportunity to take advantage of a bad situation and make it a good one."

As the Orlando City player rep for the ongoing Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) negotiations, Hall was predictably asked more about labor talks than stopping shots. It's easy to talk about the big issues, but, assuming the games are played as scheduled in MLS this season, the availability of the 6-foot-4 Hall is a rather important issue for the Lions.

On Friday, he was all smiles and glad to get started on the 2015 season.

"It has been a long time since I've been this excited about coming together out of the offseason" Hall said. "So it's fun to meet these guys, to get on the field — unfortunately still watching them play — but I've had a smile since I woke up at 6:30 to take care of my three-and-a-half-month-old son. So I couldn't stop smiling then and I can't stop smiling now."