The only major star in Brazil’s current national team, Kaka wants to have “his” World Cup in South Africa.
In order to do that, however, he knows he has to get back the level of play that led Real Madrid to spend 60 million euros ($81 million) on him last summer.
“I am not worried. In football, things change very fast,” the playmaker said in an interview, with reference to his recent poor form.
Kaka was Brazil’s greatest asset when the South American giants won the 2009 Confederations Cup. He later joined Real Madrid from Milan, but his season has been far from brilliant.
Indeed, the midfielder has had so many problems that at times he even showed signs of irritability that are not very compatible with the image of permanent calm that has been his trademark.
Kaka’s main problem lay in a string of injuries, including a persistent hernia problem. The player himself denied versions that the injury might be a chronic problem requiring lifelong treatment.
The truth is that physical problems appear to have affected the performances of the talented footballer, who has been unable to play at Real Madrid with the brilliance that made him an icon in six seasons at Milan.
More than 190 million Brazilians cheering for the national team are concerned about Kaka’s crisis, and so is the “number one” fan of the “Selecao,” Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
“I think Kaka is essential for the Brazilian national team, I think he is still a great footballer, but he is going through a delicate time,” Lula said in March.
Lula blamed what he termed “probably the most difficult time” in Kaka’s career both on injuries and on the atmosphere of competition in Real Madrid’s star-studded squad.
Less worried and more optimistic, the veteran former Brazil coach Mario Lobo Zagallo said he was “sure” of Kaka’s recovery. “He pushes the team forward, and the national team needs him a lot,” the ‘Old Wolf’ said.
In South Korea/Japan 2002, when he was only 18, Kaka basically watched from the bench as Brazil won the fifth World Cup in its history. Four years later, he was one of the few players that managed to shine in a dismal tournament for Brazil, who were eliminated in the quarterfinals.
Now, aged 27, Kaka knows that South Africa will not necessarily be his last World Cup — but it might be, particularly if he does not manage to rise back up to the level that made him the Fifa Player of the Year 2007.
In order to shine again, Kaka is putting his faith in God — he is a loyal follower of the controversial Pentecostal church Rebirth in Christ, and he plans to become a preacher in the future — and in his own discipline and dedication.
Not by chance, Kaka’s great football idol is not his legendary compatriot Pele, or his Real Madrid teammate Cristiano Ronaldo, but former Italian defender Paolo Maldini, whom he calls “my captain” to this day.
“Maldini was an example: he won everything he could have won, but everyday he had the motivation to train, everyday he wanted to be better,” the Brazilian said.
Precisely that is Kaka’s recipe to become the unexpected great star of South Africa 2010, above favourites Cristiano Ronaldo, of Portugal, and Lionel Messi, of Brazil’s arch-rivals Argentina.