Football Player profile: Ricardo Kaka
Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite, more commonly known as Kaka, was born in Brazil on the twenty second of April, 1982. Kaka was unlike most Brazilian greats before him who spent their youth playing in the streets with balls made from rags. He belonged to a cultured family that did not have to face many difficulties.
Kaka’s talent was first recognized by a professor at his school, who urged his family to have him enrolled into a football school. At the age of eight, Kaka started playing with ‘Sao Paulo FC’. He made his debut for the first team in January 2001. He scored twelve goals in twenty seven appearances for the team in his first season and led to ‘Sao Paulo’ winning their first and only ‘Torneio Rio-Sao Paulo Championship’. In his following season for the club he scored ten goals in twenty two matches, but now he had started to attract the eyes of the top European clubs.
The European interest soon materialized as ‘Ac Milan’ signed Kaka in 2003. Within a month of joining the club, he broke into the starting lineup. In his first season with ‘Milan’ he scored ten goals in thirty appearances and won the ‘Scudetto’ and ‘UEFA Super Cup’. Kaka became the main attacking threat for ‘Milan’ when Shevchenko left for ‘Chelsea’ in the 2006-2007 seasons. He was now playing as midfielder and striker. ‘Milan’ won the ‘UEFA Champions League’ that season. Kaka single handedly led his team to doing so, by creating both the goals for Inzaghi to score. He was named the ‘UEFA Club Footballer of the Year’ for his outstanding performances that season. But it didn’t stop there, he went on to win the ‘FIFPro World Player of the Year’ and became the eighth player from club team ‘Ac Milan’ to win the Ballon d’Or. Due to his contributions on and off the pitch, Kaka was also named in the ‘Time 100’ magazines 100 most influential people.
In June 2009 foot-balling giants, ‘Real Madrid’ made an offer worth sixty eight and a half million Euros for Kaka which ‘Milan’ accepted. ‘Milan’s’ vice president Gailliani gave the reason for accepting the transfer as purely, economical. Kaka joined ‘Madrid’ on a six year deal. He made his debut for the team in a pre season friendly against ‘Toronto FC’.
Kaka made his international debut for Brazil in 2002. Brazil also happened to win the FIFA World Cup that year. Kaka only played twenty five minutes that tournament, in a first round group game against Costa Rica. He captained the under 23 side in the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2003 where they finished up as runner’s up to Mexico. Kaka was included in the Brazilian squad for the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2005; he participated in every match and even scored a goal in the finals, against arch rivals Argentina. Brazil beat the Argentineans four goals to one. The 2006 World Cup wasn’t nearly as good for Kaka or Brazil since they were eliminated by France in the quarter finals. Kaka next participated in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, which Brazil won beating U.S.A three goals to two in the final’s, Kaka was named man of the match in that game and was player of the tournament.
Kaka has managed to score an astounding 133 goals in 372 club appearances over the years while picking up 55 assists, in addition to this he has also scored 27 goals for the national squad. However Kaka still has a lot more to offer and all we can do is sit back and watch as he continues to mesmerize and dazzle us with tantalizing performances week in and week out.
Tags: