Under-firing Brazilian forward Kaka’s already bad season took a turn for the worst last night when he was sent off during the Selecao’s 3-1 victory over the Ivory Coast. Kaka will now miss Brazil’s next two games including their highly anticipated fixture against Portugal on June the 25th.
This is not the first case of poor decisions made by referees that we are witnessing in this tournament, however, it ranks as one of the worst so far. French referee Stephany Lannoy is definitely the most hated man in Brazil at the moment. Kaka’s red card adds pressure to coach Dunga as he will now have to shuffle and come up with a worthy replacement for his star player.
If Dunga thought that France coach Raymond Domenech was having a hard time with the media, players, fans and even the president, he has not seen anything yet. Anything short of winning a record sixth title on the 11th of July and Brazillian fans would never forgive him.
After excluding the impressive Ronaldinho, Gaucho’s fans will be looking for the slightest reason to blame Dunga if the selecao succumb to an early exist. Now Back to Kaka’s red card. In my opinion Kaka did not deserve to be sent off, however, with tensions soaring and Keita’s oscar winning dive, Mr.Lannoy was left with no decision.
Truth be said, after watching the so called favourites England, Spain and Italy get less than impressive results from the unfancied sides, Brazil and Argentina stand a good chance of winning the title in July.
Kaka’s red card was very unfortunate, however, if you are a big believer in the law of averages then i guess it was payback for Fabiano’s blatant hand ball. Africa’s representation in the tournament has been very disappointing and with Ghana remaining as the continent’s only realistic hope, Cameroon, Nigeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and the remaining 48 nations must start preparing for Brazil 2014 now if they are dreaming of World Cup glory.
Its not that Ivory Coast played bad football, no, its just that like Cameroon, they failed to make the most of their chances. So where does last night’s match leave Brazil? In the Second Round of course. Kaka has been a pale shadow of himself anyway. Brazil should cope without him. I won’t be surprised if they play out a draw with Portugal. With or without Kaka, Brazil are still a formidable squad. It only remains to be seen if they will go all the way.
Photo credit: from Vovan2007