Orlando City’s Knocks are Finally Healing

Before Orlando City’s season even started in March, they were in the midst of dealing with serious injuries to some of their better players. It feels like so long ago that the Lions were dealing with Tally Hall’s ACL tear, Martin Paterson’s hamstring, Carlos Rivas‘ hamstring and shoulder, Cristian Higuita’s groin strain, Kevin Molino‘s season-ending ACL tear, Pedro Ribeiro’s hamstring tear, Tony Cascio’s back and Lewis Neal’s neck seemingly all at the same time.

All of these injuries have in turn forced some of the younger Lions to step up and carry the team through tough times. Looking ahead to tomorrow's game, there are only six players that are currently on the injured sheet for Orlando and at least three of them look to be coming back into playing form as soon as next week.

Hall and Paterson, who have missed the most time for Orlando, finally saw their first action of the season last week against the LA Galaxy. Meanwhile, the Colombian duo of Rivas and Higuita have been in and out of the lineup, but look to be in good health as of this week.

As far as next week goes, Ribeiro looks to be ready to come back a bit ahead of schedule, with coach Adrian Heath saying that he will be available for selection for the game against Columbus. Meanwhile, AurelienCollin, who suffered a hamstring injury in the game at D.C. United, will be back in training next week, along with Lewis Neal, who has missed the last nine games with a neck injury.

This leaves only three players on the injured sheet: Molino, who won’t be back this year, Tommy Redding, who injured his knee a week or so back and Tony Cascio, who has a back issue and no one seems to know when he’ll return.

With everyone seemingly healing up nicely, it seems that Orlando could be turning a corner towards a healthy lineup that will have depth at almost every position. With the bulk of the season still ahead of the team, this is the perfect time for everyone to heal up and give Adrian Heath options going forward.