Few people in the world do not know who Kaka is. Now part of that might be because of the Brazilian’s wildly popular and smelly nickname among toddlers and part of it is likely because the man has been Brazilian’s best footballer ever since Ronaldo’s large belly was removed from the iconic yellow jersey.
And last summer Kaka enjoyed being the darling of the Confederations Cup and one of the most coveted transfers on the market with his huge deal that landed him at Real Madrid. And this summer the midfielder’s form was brought back down to Earth and just a week ago it was revealed that Kaka was forced to have knee surgery and will likely miss four or five months of next season due to the setback.
And, strangely, that is the best news the Brazilian midfielder could have heard.
Apparently Kaka played hurt this summer and in his side’s last few matches the pain became unbearable. Not wanting to be labeled a failure to his nation Kaka played though the pain and hoped that everything would be just fine.
It appears Kaka is lucky to still be playing football at all after his club’s diagnosis of the injury. Real Madrid’s specialist made this comment regarding Kaka’s current state:
As soon as I saw him I could tell it was serious. His career has come under serious danger. He started playing with some niggling injuries and ended up with unbearable pains. I understand that it’s a unique competition and that there was pressure, but he pushed himself much too hard against Holland and Chile. He admitted he was in a lot of pain. It could have finished his career because it’s a very serious injury – it could have destroyed him. But thank God he has had the operation at the crucial moment and everything has turned out wonderfully.
And it appears to be yet another club verse country row. Of course in last year’s qualifier we all remember a similar debate being formed in Portugal regarding Ronaldo’s knee injury and in Holland regarding Van Persie’s knee injury as well. The truth is that the knee is one of the most fragile parts of a footballers’ body and undergoing immediate evaluations should be mandatory by either medical staff.
But often front offices do not want too much of a public concern to be placed on their current staff and roster and many coaches believe that revealing such things can only play as a weakness to the team’s chances of winning the tournament. But perhaps the best thing that happened to Brazil this summer is that they lost when they did.
Because if Kaka was forced to continue playing it might have been his last minutes ever on the pitch. And that is a serious problem in the game of international football.
