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Orlando City’s Battle with Hamstring Injuries Represents a Common Plight Across Sports

Published

9 years ago

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A familiar feeling came over the crowd of 25,527 at Orlando City Stadium in the eighth minute of the Lions’ season opener as Kaká went to the ground amid a host of NYCFC defenders, his arm reaching back to clutch the back of his left leg. The superstar midfielder had cut inside after a run from the left and taken an awkward right-footed swipe at the ball as he reached the edge of the box, but his forward momentum after the shot took him off-balance and into defender Alexander Callens and, minutes later, out of the game entirely.

That familiar feeling for City fans, the sinking feeling in their stomachs as their captain hobbled off the pitch, was brought on by an all-too-familiar foe to the Lions: the pulled hamstring.

Hamstring injuries and other soft-tissue muscle ailments have been no stranger to Orlando City since the club’s 2015 debut in MLS. No Lions player has been more prominently affected by soft-tissue afflictions than Kaká, who has missed double-digit games over the past two seasons due to various leg muscle strains and now looks set to miss at least four games after being diagnosed with a Grade 1-2 hamstring strain last week.

Kaká isn’t alone, unfortunately. His was the fifth soft-tissue injury for the Lions since the beginning of preseason, the fourth of which involved a hamstring (or two) — Rafael Ramos, Kevin Alston, and Tony Rocha all sustained hamstring injuries during preseason, while Cristian Higuita went down with an adductor strain before returning for 16 minutes of action on opening day. A sixth report of such an injury emerged just this week, after Carlos Rivas suffered a hamstring strain in training on Tuesday.

Although it’s fair to wonder if the Lions could tweak their training and/or strength and conditioning approaches in some way due to the sheer number of injuries in this short period, hamstring injuries themselves aren’t an just Orlando City problem. Heading into Week 1 alone, there were 13 players (other than the aforementioned Lions) listed on the MLS injury report with soft-tissue injuries, four of which were hamstrings, from 12 different clubs. And it’s the same across other sports.

Across different sports, hamstrings are a source of annoyance for athletes; they plague football players to the extent that the New England Patriots have gone as far as instituting a hamstring injury prevention program that they regard as a “competitive advantage,” and the sight of a base-runner pulling up lame as he sprints to beat out a throw at first base is a common sight that illustrates the high incidence of hammy pulls in baseball.

It’s the most common non-contact injury in sports, and soccer is no different, with running, cutting, and decelerating putting the muscle at risk for 90 minutes or more.

* * *

The hamstring’s location and function put it at particular risk for injury during sprinting, a much more complex process than we usually realize. Sprinting requires harmonious teamwork between many muscle groups, but the fact that the hamstrings affect two joints so heavily — they’re responsible for knee flexion and hip extension, both of which propel you forward while running — means that they’re affected by a score of other muscles like the lower back and glutes, and the hip flexors and abs.

The interplay between so many muscles and joints is complicated enough, and when you add in the sudden changes of direction and kicking motions that happen on the pitch, the hamstring is highly susceptible to injury at any time.

“You are susceptible to hamstring issues doing just about anything, but I would agree: sprinting, jumping and deceleration into change of direction would definitely increase your odds,” Bradley Arnett, a Wisconsin-based Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, said to the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel in a 2013 interview related to Green Bay Packers’ hamstring struggles. “Hamstrings are a fast twitch muscle, meaning they contract and relax rapidly depending on the demand.”

Since the hamstring is a fast-twitch muscle, it becomes even more vulnerable when fatigued during sustained strenuous activity, such as a 90-minute soccer match. Injury can happen when a player rapidly accelerates or decelerates, but it also happens when the player is at or near full speed. The different ways and times and places at which a hamstring is put at risk of injury becomes a bit mind-boggling.

As if that weren’t enough, though, the angle of the hips can also do its part to put the hamstring at higher risk.

“When you are standing, your hamstring is at its shortest, and when your knee is flexed (during running or squatting) it is at its longest,” explained Arnett, who has previously worked with professional athletes such as J.J. Watt. “So when your hips are sloped forward, thus pre-stretching the hamstring, you have limited room, and when you are basically over-stretched, the hamstring will pull to prevent a tear.”

That bit about sloping the hips forward could explain what ultimately caused Kaká’s hamstring to give early in that match against NYC. After he struck the ball with his right foot, his upper body leaned forward. According to Arnett, this forward position forced Kaká’s left hamstring into an over-stretched position, and as he leaned while simultaneously decelerating, the muscle was stretched to the point of pulling.

Another factor that can put the hamstring further into harm’s way is the strength and mobility of other muscles used for running — weak glutes, tight hip flexors, or muscle imbalances between the quadriceps and hamstrings can all lead to functional injury.

The fact that these injuries — like similar ones in the past two seasons — have happened toward the beginning of the season or in preseason training makes sense when considering the above factors. With players not quite in peak condition, fatigue combined with muscle imbalances and intensive running lead to a higher rate of injury. Given how many factors seem to stack up against the hamstring, it’s no wonder the injury plagues athletes the way it does.

* * *

As you could probably guess after that rundown of risks, recovery from a hamstring injury can be a bitch, to put it bluntly. Hamstring injuries tend to linger, and there is a high rate of reoccurrence after initial injury.

According to a study from the National Strength and Conditioning Association, 50% of soccer players suffer a reoccurrence of muscle strain injury within 12 months, with hamstring injuries reoccurring most commonly. A 2007 study found that 20 to 55% of moderate hamstring strains in sprinters hadn’t healed completely after six weeks. You may recall that six weeks was the original timetable given for Kaká’s potential return, and if his history of slow-playing injuries wasn’t enough, this shows further that we should take that as an optimistic estimate.

Players like Ramos, who dealt with a hamstring injury and missed 21 games in 2016 before injuring both in preseason, are familiar with the difficulty reoccurrence of injury can pose. A hamstring injury, which is actually the tearing of muscle fibers, creates a functional deficit in the muscle that can last months or even years.

Given the risk of re-injury that soft-tissue strains carry, these early injuries could mean the Lions will be battling all season to get their players back to full health and to maintain that status when — or if — it’s achieved. Kaká, Ramos, Alston, and Rocha will all be at risk of a reoccurrence once they rejoin Higuita and company on the pitch, and Kaká’s advanced age relative to his profession won’t make the recovery process any easier.

The rehabilitation process is a tedious one that can often last longer than the athlete thinks, but if rushed it can lead to a cycle of reoccurrence of the injury. Ramos being placed on the disabled list shows that the Orlando City training staff doesn’t expect the recovery to be an especially swift one.

In terms of preventing hamstring injuries before they happen, Arnett explains that it all starts with the hips — in terms of both strength and mobility — and then with hamstring strength itself.

“Prevention of hamstring issues starts with first and foremost hip mobility, particularly the external hip and the front musculature of the hip (flexors and quad musculature),” he said. “To just stretch your hamstrings, when the hips are aligned this way, you are just stretching an already stretched muscle. […] You must consistently address anterior or frontal hip musculature to lengthen and allow hips to sit back to create space for hamstrings to articulate.”

Arnett added that this strengthening process isn’t something that can happen overnight, so like everything else hamstring-related, it takes a whole lot of work to “prehab” the muscle and get it into the best condition for injury prevention. But even then, given all of the different tweaks and motions in a game like soccer that can happen in an instant, a player’s hamstrings will always be at risk of injury — that’s just the nature of it.

The hamstring and soft-tissue strains have gotten the best of Orlando City in the early season, but hopefully with smart recovery work and preventative measures, the Lions will swing back and keep them from being issues that severely hamper their third MLS campaign.

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Orlando City

Orlando City vs. San Jose Earthquakes: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More

Orlando City restarts its 2026 MLS campaign late tonight out west at San Jose.

Published

3 weeks ago

on

July 22, 2026

By

Image of Braian Ojeda taking a shot in a friendly against FC Dallas.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Justin Glatt

Welcome to your match thread for a late night midweek matchup tonight between Orlando City (4-9-2, 14 points) and the San Jose Earthquakes (10-3-2, 32 points) at PayPal Park (10:30 p.m., Apple TV). This is the only scheduled meeting between the teams in 2026 and the first time the teams have met since 2024.

Here’s what you need to know ahead of tonight’s match.

History

Orlando City is 3-1-3 in the previous seven MLS meetings with the Quakes since the club joined Major League Soccer in 2015. The Lions got their only away win in the series in the last meeting and enter tonight 1-1-2 on the road against San Jose.

The teams last met on May 18, 2024, with Jack Lynn coming off the bench to score the game’s only goal. Lynn’s strike in the 89th minute broke the scoreless deadlock and lifted the Lions to a 1-0 victory.

The teams met in Orlando most recently way back on June 22, 2021, with the Lions beating the Quakes down, 5-0. Orlando got things started with an early penalty kick goal by Nani, followed by braces from Benji Michel and Daryl Dike to easily put the game away. The lasting memory from the game is Michel’s celebratory dance wearing a cowboy hat that came out of the stands.

Prior to that Orlando City romp, the last time the teams met was on Aug. 31, 2019 when the Lions got freight trained 3-0 at Avaya Stadium, giving the Quakes their first win in the series. San Jose’s offense came via a Chris Wondolowski brace and an early opening goal by Magnus Eriksson. Orlando looked flat and weary out of the gate.

The Lions were victorious in Exploria Stadium in the 2018 meeting on April 21, a 3-2 Orlando win. It was the first win in the series for either side after three straight draws. Chris Mueller, Sacha Kljestan, and Dom Dwyer gave the Lions a 3-0 lead before Florian Jungwirth pulled two back in the game’s late stages.

The Lions led all of the first three matches in the second half only to see San Jose pull level, with two of those tying goals coming late. In the 2017 meeting, Carlos Rivas finally broke the scoreless tie and gave Orlando City the lead in the 81st minute, but Wondolowski spoiled the Lions’ night with an equalizer two minutes later as the teams drew at Avaya Stadium, 1-1.

In 2016, the Lions were gut-punched in the 94th minute in an emotional match that ended in a 2-2 draw. It was the first home match following the Pulse nightclub tragedy and what appeared to be a storybook ending to a cathartic win turned sour on a last-gasp equalizer by Shea Salinas. Seb Hines — now the Orlando Pride’s head coach — opened the scoring for Orlando, only to see Chad Barrett tie it up. Julio Baptista restored the lead in stoppage time, but Salinas ruined everything.

The two teams also drew in the first meeting, a 1-1 affair at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, with the Lions down to 10 men after Brek Shea was sent off in the first half. Kaká and Wondolowski each scored from the penalty spot four minutes apart in that initial meeting.

Overview

The teams meet tonight to get their post-World Cup portion of the season started. Orlando City has been terrible on the road all season long, keeping only one MLS opponent under two goals all year away from home and allowing five goals twice (at New York City FC and Nashville) and six goals twice (at LAFC and in the team’s most recent match away at FC Cincinnati just before the break).

Orlando City is a putrid 1-6-1 on the road this season, and now the Lions must face the Western Conference co-leaders tonight before coming home to face Supporters’ Shield-leading Nashville SC at home on Saturday. They’ll have to play at least tonight’s game without Martin Ojeda, who is out with a thigh injury sustained some time between his first-half goal a week ago in a friendly against FC Dallas and the time the availability report dropped on Tuesday.

But it isn’t all bad news for the Lions, who should have both Antoine Griezmann and Dike in the lineup. Griezmann was the club’s highly prized and widely publicized summer Designated Player signing, while Dike’s return to Orlando came together more recently, following his departure from West Bromwich Albion. They’ll help the club’s offense, but the attack hasn’t been the issue in 2026 — it’s been the historically porous defense, which is on pace to shatter the MLS record for goals conceded.

Meanwhile, San Jose is one of the first half of the season’s biggest surprises, as the Quakes have been outstanding in 2026. Scoring 34 goals while conceding just 15, San Jose is among the league leaders in goals scored (tied for third), goals conceded (third), and goal differential (+19, third).

The Earthquakes are 4-2-1 at home and are coming off a 3-1 road win at Portland in their last game prior to the World Cup break. San Jose boasts Golden Boot challenger Preston Judd, who leads the Quakes with 11 goals, adding two assists in his 15 appearances. Ousseni Bouda has chipped in five goals and three assists. Niko Tsakiris leads the team with seven assists to go along with his two goals, but he’s still recovering from a lower body injury and is not available tonight. However, the arrival of Timo Werner (four goals and five assists in just seven games) has truly elevated Bruce Arena’s Quakes, and he’ll need to be one of the main focal points for the Orlando defense.

To have any shot at taking something from this game, the Lions will need to play better road defense than they have all season. Orlando can score goals, but with Ojeda out, Griezmann will need to adapt quickly, and someone other than the team’s leading scorer will need to find the net.

The Lions will play without Ojeda (thigh), Joran Gerbet (knee), Nolan Miller (knee), Colin Guske (international duty), and Clovis Archage (international duty). In addition, Marco Pasalic may or may not have returned to the team after the World Cup. He was not in training Monday, although interim head coach Martin Perelman said he expected the Croatian back soon. The Earthquakes will be without Nonso Adimabua (lower body), former Lion Earl Edwards Jr. (lower body), DeJuan Jones (lower body), and Tsakiris (you guessed it, lower body…come on, San Jose).

Match Content

Official Lineups:

Orlando City (4-4-2)

Goalkeeper: Maxime Crepeau.

Defenders: Adrian Marin, David Brekalo, Robin Jansson, Griffin Dorsey.

Midfielders: Ivan Angulo, Braian Ojeda, Eduard Atuesta, Tiago.

Forwards: Justin Ellis, Antoine Griezmann.

Bench: Javier Otero, Bernardo Rhein, Tahir Reid-Brown, Zakaria Taifi, Iago, Wilder Cartagena, Luis Otavio, Harvey Sarajian, Tyrese Spicer

San Jose Earthquakes (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Angus Gunn.

Defenders: Jamar Ricketts, Reid Roberts, Daniel Munie, Benjamin Kikanovic.

Defensive Midfielders: Beau Lerouox, Ronaldo Vieira.

Attacking Midfielders: Timo Werner, Nick Fernandez, Ousseni Bouda.

Forwards: Preston Judd.

Bench: Jonathan Gonzalez, Dave Romney, Paul Marie, Jack Skahan, Jack Jasinski, Ian Harkes, Francesco Montali, Max Floriani, Darius Johnson.

Referees

REF: Elijio Arreguin.
AR1: Adam Wienckowski.
AR2: Mike Nickerson.
4TH: Timothy Ford.
VAR: Jose Carlos Rivero.
AVAR: TJ Zablocki.

How to Watch

Match Time: 10:30 p.m.

Venue: PayPal Park — San Jose, CA.

TV/Live Stream: Apple TV.

Radio: AM 810 FOX Sports Radio Orlando (English), Mega 97.1 FM (Spanish), Nossa Rádio 1160 AM-WRLZ (Portuguese).

Social Media: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow us on Bluesky Social at @themaneland.bsky.social or follow Orlando City’s official Twitter (@OrlandoCitySC) or Bluesky (@OrlandoCitySC) feed.

Enjoy the match. Go City!

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Podcasts

PawedCast Episode 542: Tampa Bay Friendly, McGuire Traded, OCB Beats Cincinnati, and More

Lions maul the Rowdies in friendly action, OCB wins on the road, and it’s transfer season.

Published

4 weeks ago

on

July 14, 2026

By

Image of Antoine Griezmann and Ivan Angulo celebrating a goal in a friendly against the Tampa Bay Rowdies.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Orlando City welcomed I-4 Derby rival Tampa Bay to Inter&Co Stadium for a friendly match on Wednesday and then proceeded to bludgeon the Rowdies with a couple of hammers named Antoine Griezmann and Justin Ellis. The two attackers combined for a goal and four assists in a 6-0 beatdown of the team from the Gulf Coast, with five different Lions scoring and Griffin Dorsey forcing an own goal. We discuss Griezmann’s first minutes with Orlando City, what the team showed in its formation, and how good Justin Ellis’ vision is.

Oh, and it’s also transfer season now. Duncan McGuire is on his way out and Marco Pasalic reportedly will follow soon, while a new left back may be headed from Spain to Orlando.

Following all of that, we discuss Maxime Crepeau being added to the MLS All-Star Team and the announcement that he’ll participate in the 2026 MLS All-Star Skills Challenge.

Our mailbagbox asked us about which World Cup semifinalist players we’d want to join Orlando this season (if we could only pick one), and more. Remember, if there’s anything — and we do mean anything — you want us to address on the show, just ask us by tweeting it to us at @TheManeLand with the hashtag #AskTMLPC, or hitting us up on Bluesky Social with that same hashtag.

After the mailbagbox, we dive into OCB’s 2-1 road win at FC Cincinnati 2. It wasn’t the prettiest game by the Young Lions, but they managed to do enough to earn three points on the road, where they’ll stay to face Chattanooga on Saturday. We briefly preview that game.

Finally, Orlando City will be in Dallas Wednesday for the second of two friendlies leading up to the restart of the MLS season. It’s unlikely we’ll get a lot of details about that one, but we’ll see what happens. Maybe the FC Dallas folks will help us out.

Be sure to rate and review our show wherever you get your podcasts. Remember, we’ll read any five-star reviews we get on Apple Podcasts on the next show.

If you’d like to support our independent writing and podcasting efforts, we’d love to have you as a subscriber or donor over at our Buy Me a Coffee site.

Here’s how No. 542 went down:

0:15 – Orlando City crushed the Rowdies, the transfer season is in full swing, plus: hey now, Crepeau’s an all-star.

28:50 – The mailbagbox is always good for a hypothetical scenario.

36:54 – The Young Lions slipped past Cincy and head to Chattanooga, while the senior Lions head to Dallas.

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Podcasts

SkoPurp Soccer Episode 119: International Break, USWNT, Louisville Preview, and More

The Pride return from a long international break looking to get their first-ever road win against Racing Louisville.

Published

4 months ago

on

April 22, 2026

By

Image of Haley McCutcheon scoring the opening goal in Orlando's home playoff win over Seattle.
Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Jeremy Reper

It feels like months since the Orlando Pride last took the field, but the calendar says otherwise. If you believe calendars, it’s only been a little less than three weeks, but time moves strangely in the post-pandemic apocalyptic world.

Anyway, we don’t have a match to recap, so we touched on a couple of Pride players putting the ball in the net during the international break and chat a bit about the United States Women’s National Team’s three-game friendly series against Japan. Emma Hayes used a lot of players, and the team looked solid for two of the three matches, but the rotated middle game seemed a bit disjointed. Hayes has greatly expanded the player pool and will have plenty of options when the World Cup approaches.

Our mailbagbox had questions about a potential change in the NWSL schedule, as the league explores adopting the fall-to-spring slate, and opposition own goals. Remember, you can ask us anything by hitting us up on Twitter at either @TheManeLand or @SkoPurpSoccer and using the hashtag #AskSkoPurp. You can use that same hashtag and hit @TheManeLand.bsky.social up on Bluesky. Or you can visit our show page, scroll down, and fill out the handy form. We’d also appreciate any ratings or reviews you can leave wherever you get your podcasts, and if you do that on Apple Podcasts, we’ll find them easily and read them on the show.

After the mailbagbox, we turned our attention toward Friday’s late afternoon tussle with Racing Louisville in Kentucky. The Pride have never won on the road against Louisville, and it’s about high time they did. This match begins a congested push to the June World Cup break, and although Friday’s hosts aren’t high in the table, the Pride must be at their best to get a road result in this fixture. We look back at the series history, compare the two sides, provide our key matchups in the game, and make our final score predictions.

If you’d like to support our independent writing and podcasting efforts, we’d love to have you as a subscriber or donor over at our Buy Me a Coffee site.

Here’s how Episode 119 went down:

0:15 – We open the show with a little banter about the Pride in the international break and the USWNT’s series vs. Japan.

9:03 – The mailbagbox features questions via both eletronic mail and social media. We welcome all modes of delivery.

19:59 – The Pride travel to Louisville to face Racing. They’ve never won in Kentucky, but we inform them how to do so.

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