KAKÁ BIDS A SAD FAREWELL
Final match ends, predictably, in loss
Two kids jumped over the wall near the end of Sunday’s farewell match, ran toward Kaká, fell to their knees and bowed at the soccer legend’s feet.
Kaká, a polite and gentle role model until the very end, wrapped his arms around the two trespassers, tousled their hair and shepherded them off the field.
“They told me they were going to miss me,” Kaká said after his final MLS game in an Orlando City uniform, “and I told them I was going to miss them.”
It was one of many emotional moments for Kaká , whose tearful departure leaves soccer fans in this city conflicted and confounded. Sadly, his final home MLS match ended like too many other MLS matches during his three seasons in Orlando. The disappointing 1-0 defeat to Columbus came on a night when everybody — his fans, his coaches and his teammates — desperately wanted to send
Kaká out a winner.
“I asked our players for a little extra; I asked them for a favor,” Orlando City coach Jason Kreis said. “We all wanted to send [Kaká] out the right way. This was just another piece of disappointment.”
In many ways, Kaká’s final MLS home match symbolized Orlando City’s evolution as an MLS franchise. In Kaká’s first official game in Central Florida three years ago, more than 62,000 fans jubilantly piled into the Citrus Bowl to celebrate not only the arrival of one of the most revered athletes on the planet but Orlando City’s inaugural game in MLS.
When Kaká’s free kick in 91st minute of that match clinched a 1-1 draw with NYCFC, Kaká was suddenly the soccer version of Shaq – a transcendent athlete who had immediately put an Orlando sports franchise on the map.
Three years, multiple defeats, a slew of injuries and no playoff appearances later, Kaká played his final MLS match in Orlando on Sunday in front of less-than-capacity crowd at the Purple Palace. In some ways, Kaká had morphed into a soccer version of Grant Hill – an athlete who came to Orlando amid much hype and hoopla but leaves with little to show for it.
Of course, the minor injuries to his aging body weren’t his fault, nor were the major disappointments on the pitch, but in the eyes of many fans it was still Kaká who bore the brunt of the blame. When you’re the highest paid player in the league at $7 million a season and your team doesn’t make the playoffs, accusing fingers naturally point at the guy who made $1 million more than everybody else on the team combined.
When Kaká announced earlier this week that he would not renew his contract with Orlando City, team CEO Alex Leitão said he would be “shocked” if the stadium wasn’t packed for Sunday’s game. Of course, Leitão, forever the businessman, was trying to squeeze every last bit of revenue he could out of the Brazilian soccer legend and jersey salesman.
In hindsight, there’s no denying Kaká meant more to Orlando City as a marketing tool than he did as a player. His iconic name, his movie-star good looks and his international reputation created a buzz and a brand Orlando City would never otherwise have had back in the franchise’s expansion days. There’s a reason Orlando City’s inaugural match was televised live in America, Brazil, the United Kingdom and in more than 100 countries and 30 languages.
But now Orlando City needs victories more than they need marketing. And that’s likely why Leitão would not meet Kaká’s contract demands. Let’s be honest, shall we? One of the main reasons Kaká signed with Orlando City in the first place is because he was offered such a handsome contract. The likely reason he didn’t renew is because it wasn’t worth it to him to stay in Orlando at a drastically reduced salary.
And, so, the last vestige of what Orlando City once was is now gone. Kaká represented the final piece of the old regime that fans fell in love with in the early days of MLS. The team’s fanfriendly founder Phil Rawlins is no longer a visible part of the franchise and the team’s charismatic old coach Adrian Heath was fired in the middle of last season.
Now, the legendary, larger-than-life captain is gone, too, and Kreis says it’s the beginning of a new era.
“It’s time to take a big, big step forward,” the coach said. “It’s time for us to improve this team using the resources that will be available.”
He is talking, of course, about the resources that will be freed up with Kaká’s contract off the books. Although he was never able to lead the Lions to the playoffs, I still contend Kaká’s salary was the best money Orlando City has ever spent.
As Kaká circled the stadium for one final lap of honor after the game, tears ran down his own cheeks as he consoled his sobbing son, Luca.
Fans hugged him and high-fived him and thanked him for putting Orlando City on the map.
Now that he’s gone, the $7 million question is can they stay there?