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‘Ted Lasso’ tackles women’s soccer’s worst nightmare: Knee injuries
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- ‘Ted Lasso’ tackles women’s soccer’s worst nightmare: Knee injuries
‘Ted Lasso’ tackles women’s soccer’s worst nightmare: Knee injuries
Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers for this week's episode of Ted Lasso.
There are few scenes in soccer more frightening than watching a player fall to the ground clutching her knee.
Sometimes there is contact. Often there isn't.
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In this week's episode of Apple TV's "Ted Lasso", striker Gemma Jay (Abbie Hern) scores her second goal against Charlton to put the fictional women's team, AFC Richmond, up 3-0. Her team-mates surround her in celebration. When play restarts, a routine run turns into disaster.
Waiting for the ball, Gemma accelerates, cuts in front of an opponent and plants her foot to change direction. She loses her balance, collapsing to the pitch clutching her knee.
The stadium goes silent, sharing the thoughts of women's soccer fans across the world who have witnessed similar scenarios. The faces of her coaches and teammates mirror her own worries.
"Bye bye promotion, hello Higgins-report multiverse," eccentric team investor Zelda Southport (Tracey Ullman) says as she sums up the worst-case scenario shortly after the match.
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For a series that has spent much of its fourth season exploring the realities of women's soccer, this is another unfortunate truth. However, the show gets to the heart of the emotion behind these injuries.
"The most challenging part emotionally was the uncertainty about what lay ahead," former U.S. and Angel City forward Christen Press told The Athletic , remembering when she tore her ACL in a 2022 match against Racing Louisville. The injury and subsequent surgeries ultimately kept her off the pitch for two seasons.
"Being an older player at the time of my injury and undergoing four knee surgeries to recover from a torn ACL, I couldn't be sure if I'd ever make it back," Press said. "As athletes, we strive to control every aspect within our power but injury is an unpredictable force that left me feeling deeply anxious about the future."
That's why the financial and emotional support players receive from their clubs are so important for their recovery.
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"Angel City were incredibly supportive throughout my recovery," Press said. "They let me choose my surgeon and provided private rehabilitation close to my home, sparing me from a grueling two-hour commute to observe practice every day. If I had been sidelined for two years, enduring that commute while watching training sessions without being able to participate, I doubt I would have ever made it back."
Knee injuries are an all-too-common occurrence in women's soccer. As of the NWSL's Sept. 19 availability report, Jun Endo , Emily Sonnett , Cat Macario , Dudinha, Alana Cook , Kayla Duran, Bella Bixby , Julie Dufour, Trinity Armstrong and Olivia Moultrie are among the list of players on the season-ending injury list due to knee injuries.
"Unfortunately, injuries are a natural part of football," Macario wrote in a social media post announcing an injury in 2022. She tore her ACL playing for Lyon in June 2022 and didn't return to the field until March 2024, more than 600 days later. She missed the 2023 World Cup during that recovery.
"Tearing an ACL is never easy and although I am devastated to be away from the field and my teammates for a few months, I could not be more proud of my first year as a professional footballer, and to have helped the team reconquer two big titles this season," she wrote.
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Macario is now dealing with another knee problem and was placed on the season-ending injury list on Sept. 14 as she continues rehabilitation with her new club, the San Diego Wave. The club emphasized that "while they are disappointed that she will not be available this season, they are focused on her health and on supporting her throughout this process".
The Hollywood moment is the injury: the collapse, the pain, teammates gathering around, but the harder story begins afterward. A cute, if slightly poisonous gift basket from AFC Richmond owner Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham) makes for good television, but what an injured player really needs is much less cinematic: medical care, job security, patience and emotional support.
Portland Thorns forward Morgan Weaver , 28, suffered a bucket-handle meniscus tear in her right knee in 2024, then re-injured it during the 2025 preseason, ultimately missing the entire NWSL season that year. Her recovery required three major surgeries, including a cadaver meniscus transplant, a cadaver cartilage transplant and the repair of a fractured femur with a plate and seven screws.
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The hardest part for Weaver was not being able to do anything by herself for the first eight weeks when she wasn't able to walk. She had to rely on everyone for everything.
"The Thorns really made everything easy," she said. They helped Morgan get rides home from training. They provided meals delivered to her house, making sure she had lunch. "And, emotionally, they had someone available if I needed to talk to anyone there for me, no matter what it was. Each staff member last year was always there for me, which really helped."
She credited sibling owners, Lisa Bhathal Merage and her brother Alex, for their support.
"They were always checking in on me," Weaver said. "Right before I had surgery, my teammates came over and Soph (Wilson) brought me a cute little gift basket, with some candles in a blanket. A lot of the girls did a lot of things for me."
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Helping Morgan through one of the toughest moments of her life paid off on the field, too. After two seasons, she finally rejoined Portland on July 23, 2026. Last week against the Orlando Pride, she scored her first goal in two years in the Thorns' 4-1 win.
The frequency of knee injuries has also prompted the NWSL and NWSL Players Association to create Project ACL this year, expanding an initiative that began in England with the Women's Super League, FIFPRO, the PFA (the Professional Footballers Association), Nike and Leeds Beckett University.
For professional players, an ACL tear isn't simply nine months without soccer.
Sam Kerr tore her ACL in January 2024 and did not return until September 2025. More complicated injuries can consume multiple seasons. Weaver missed 621 days. Macario has been out for 288 days, her last appearance was against Roma in the UEFA Women's Champions League.
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The question is not only who pays for the surgery and rehabilitation, but whether a player can afford not to work for months and focus on getting healthy without worrying about losing her job.
In the U.S., the NWSL's collective bargaining agreement provides rare protection. All player contracts are guaranteed, meaning clubs cannot terminate a player's deal before it expires simply because she is injured. When a player suffers a season-ending injury though, the club can receive roster and salary-cap relief, and sign a replacement player. The mechanism is designed to give the team relief without making the injured player disposable.
"When you get injured as a player, it's hard. It's terrifying actually," AFC Richmond assistant coach Alice Chilton (Tanya Reynolds) tells owner Rebecca after visiting Gemma. "And in the moments immediately after, you're surrounded by concerned faces of your teammates and your coaches and your managers. And then that concern starts to fade, until eventually, there's silence while everyone figures out how to move on without you.
"I know you have a business to run, and I respect that, but Gemma, she needs to know that she isn't disappearing in real time. She needs to know that she still matters. Not just as a player, but as a person."
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In England's Women's Super League, an injured player is entitled to her full base salary for the first 18 months of an injury and half of it after for as long as the injury continues, according to reforms negotiated by the PFA and FA in 2022 . A club can begin the process of terminating a contract after a player has been incapacitated for 18 months within a consecutive 20-month period but must provide 12 months' notice. Before 2022, the notice period was three months.
Women's soccer has improved its protections for injured players. Clubs have larger medical and performance staff, while contracts provide greater employment security. What the sport has not managed to do is make serious knee injuries disappear, which is why support matters so much.
And it looks different for each individual. For some players, time away from the team is what they need. Others need to be around their teammates, with regular check-ins, how-are-yous and hugs.
And yes, sometimes it is a gift -basket full of chocolate truffles. Preferably one that simply says: "Your sport will be here when you get back."
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This article originally appeared in The Athletic .
US Women's national team, Portland Thorns, Angel City, San Diego Wave, NWSL, Sports Business, Women's Soccer, Culture, Women's Super League
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