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ESPN staff 7y

Kaka to be sidelined for six weeks for Orlando City with hamstring injury

Orlando City's Kaka will miss the next six weeks with a hamstring injury suffered in Sunday's season opener, a club spokesperson confirmed to ESPN FC.

The Mane Land earlier reported the extent of Kaka's injury, which Orlando coach Jason Kreis had said looked "pretty serious."

The Brazilian star, the highest-paid player in MLS, limped out of Orlando's game against New York City FC after just 11 minutes.

Kreis said after the game that he was not optimistic as the team awaited the 34-year-old's test results.

"We don't have an MRI back there in the locker room, but it looks like this could be a pretty serious injury," Kreis said after the game. "I am very, very disappointed for him. He's worked extremely hard in the offseason and hard in the preseason.

"This could've been a huge night for him. I think everyone could see the energy he was already putting into the game in those 11 minutes. I thought this was going to be a special night for him. Deeply disappointed for him but the team moved on, and that's a positive thing."

Kaka, a World Cup winner with Brazil in 2002, scored nine goals and provided a further 10 assists with Orlando last season.

Newly acquired Giles Barnes replaced the 2007 Ballon d'Or winner and three minutes later provided an assist for Cyle Larin to score the only goal of the game in Orlando's win.

"I knew I had to step on the pitch and be as prepared as possible," Barnes said. "Unfortunately, it came at the expense of someone as valuable as Kaka, but Kreis is very meticulous and strategic in everything he does, and he had explained what my role would be if I came on in any of the front four positions, so I knew exactly what I had to do."

Orlando defender Jonathan Spector, another new signing, said the Lions had the depth to deal with the loss of their biggest star.

"Kaka's a great player and he's a loss certainly, but Giles came in and did extremely well," Spector said. "That's one of the great things about this team -- we have so much strength in depth. So, when someone like Kaka goes down and someone like Giles comes in, in a league like this, I think we are in a really good position."

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