What happened to Kaka's career?

[Sly]

What a fantastic player he was! Too bad, he had a short career under the spotlights.

[KC McElroy]

He did fine.

[Karimi 8]

He did fine overall. However usually brazilian stars slow down quickly

[RoyalIran]

I remember he got injured and slowed down considerably. Soccer is so competitive that losing a step will really mess with your game. Ultimately, he might have lacked the drive to continue.

[Azeem98]

Already been said Brazilian stars have a short life span

Ronaldinho in his prime > Messi + Ronaldo

[persiangodfather]

Same as shevchenko and anybody else whi ever left ac milan thinking the grass was greener. Inter napoli roma juve all fail in champions league but when milan gets back that club plays their heart out for that tournament. We will be back with a vengeance

[perspolis#1]

Do you guys think the same will happen to Neymar?

[persiangodfather]

Do you guys think the same will happen to Neymar?

Neymar cannot be used inbthe same sentence as kaka

[RoyalIran]

Talking of injuries, nothing is as crazy as gattusso playing a whole game on a torn ACL!!

[Sly]

He did fine overall. However usually brazilian stars slow down quickly

Already been said Brazilian stars have a short life span

That is such a huge generalization! Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Cafu, Roberto Carlos, etc. had all a long career on top of their form, despite bad injuries in case of Ronaldo. Cafu is among the few players who've played in 4 WCs.

I think the guy is right in saying that Jose Mourinho messed Kaka's career up! A more considerable coach would have helped him to get back on his form instead of letting him rot on the bench.

[DR Strangemoosh]

Already been said Brazilian stars have a short life span

Apart from their full-backs: Dani Alves, Cafu - and to a lesser extent Roberto Carlos (who began to deteriorate early 30s).

But apart from that they really peak early for different reasons, it is shocking when you compare them with other big countries as a whole though:

Injuries: Ronaldo O Fenômeno and Kaka due to injuries. Pato isn't in the same league as them, but really had so many injuries
Hamburgers: Adriano due to hamburgers
Overhype; Robinho due to the pressure of way too much hype (one of the contributors of this thread said, initially, that he was better than Messi when they were both starlets). Anderson was hyped so much on joining Man United
Night clubs: Anderson was hyped so much on joining Man United after being the best young player in the world and peaked really at 19-20. Just went out clubbing non-stop, had 5 kids from different wives. Ronaldinho was only 28 when he left Barcelona... - night clubs really took it out of him and he just lost his hunger and motivation
Poor fit for club: Rivaldo at age 29 joining Milan was just not a fit for them, and not being able to play the right way made him rapidly deteriorate in form (and clubs)
Lure of money over playing football: For a lot of these guys, they come from a different background to european players, and financial security is important. Oscar was 25 when he went to China where he is now (age 27), stopping his development as a footballer.

Even the "stalwart" type of player like Ramires really deteriorates younger than expected - at age 31. You just don't get players who get better with age like Di Natale, Luca Toni Matrix etc... in Italy.

[Sly]

Apart from their full-backs: Dani Alves, Cafu - and to a lesser extent Roberto Carlos (who began to deteriorate early 30s).
But apart from that they really peak early for different reasons, it is shocking when you compare them with other big countries as a whole though:
Injuries: Ronaldo O Fenômeno and Kaka due to injuries. Pato isn't in the same league as them, but really had so many injuries
Hamburgers: Adriano due to hamburgers
Overhype; Robinho due to the pressure of way too much hype (one of the contributors of this thread said, initially, that he was better than Messi when they were both starlets). Anderson was hyped so much on joining Man United
Night clubs: Anderson was hyped so much on joining Man United after being the best young player in the world and peaked really at 19-20. Just went out clubbing non-stop, had 5 kids from different wives. Ronaldinho was only 28 when he left Barcelona... - night clubs really took it out of him and he just lost his hunger and motivation
Poor fit for club: Rivaldo at age 29 joining Milan was just not a fit for them, and not being able to play the right way made him rapidly deteriorate in form (and clubs)
Lure of money over playing football: For a lot of these guys, they come from a different background to european players, and financial security is important. Oscar was 25 when he went to China where he is now (age 27), stopping his development as a footballer.
Even the "stalwart" type of player like Ramires really deteriorates younger than expected - at age 31. You just don't get players who get better with age like Di Natale, Luca Toni Matrix etc... in Italy.

It's funny you bring up what happened to only a few Brazilian players and you generalize it for all Brazilians. First you say "apart from" and then you name a few players, then you have categories where you name 1 example. I mean Rivaldo being a poor fit for Milan is a general example for Brazilians? Ronaldo shouldn't even be in the Injury category as he was a beast even when he came back. Not the least, I'm sure all these categories are valid for many players from other countries as well. I can name at least a few Argentinian, Italian and German players who would fit into those categories. Using a generalization term for Brazilians, is just wrong in this context.

[perspolis#1]

Neymar cannot be used inbthe same sentence as kaka

Which is why I didnt put him in the same sentence

Just hoping Neymar deteriorates so Ali Daei keeps his record.

[BacheLot]

i remember thinking that this guy is so damn Overrated ....!! that is when there were a ton of hype surrounding him..! i still dont see what was so special about him and his game..!?
then i got too busy with life to follow big leagues international football and mainly focused on TM with my limited time and just the other day i happened to come across a headline of an article that said how he was dumped out of his MLS Team..! lol
i guess you can only go so far with bunch of hot air hype ...! to make comparisons to and to even put him in the same breath as other Brizilian legendary footballer mentioned in this thread is a travesty..!!

seems to be the same shittt with Neymar..? (although i havent seen him play since even for Brazil since 2014 debacle, the last time i heard something positive about him was the news surrounding the ridiculous 200mil new contract with psg..! lmao..!!
i guess, his real overrated quality as a footballer is beginning to become more evident nowadays..??
still from overall quality footballer perspective, i'd even rate Neymar ahead of Kaka in his prime hype days..!

Kaka was shittt always compared to the hype surrounding his game .... lived up to his name all right..

[DR Strangemoosh]

It's funny you bring up what happened to only a few Brazilian players and you generalize it for all Brazilians. First you say "apart from" and then you name a few players, then you have categories where you name 1 example. I mean Rivaldo being a poor fit for Milan is a general example for Brazilians? Ronaldo shouldn't even be in the Injury category as he was a beast even when he came back. Not the least, I'm sure all these categories are valid for many players from other countries as well. I can name at least a few Argentinian, Italian and German players who would fit into those categories. Using a generalization term for Brazilians, is just wrong in this context.

I was just giving examples within each category but it's not exactly controversial what I'm saying. i mean just google "peaking early" "brazilian footballers" - it's known worldwide that it's difficult for brazilians to endure the longetivity that Cafu and Dani Alves have obtained.

Off the top of my head I can think of others like Diego, both Denilsons, Hulk, Ganso. These are the ones who peaked in their very early 20s. Then there are the others as I mentioned
who peaked for other reasons in their mid 20s. Finally you might get some who are at their best in their latter 20s (Juninho Per, Romario)

Even Brazilians in Brazil are aware of this, I don't know why you are so keen to argue against a well known, and easily explainable, phenomenon. The key point is this one - Brazilian footballers, so many of them, had difficult upbringings - more so than other nationalities. For them, security is more important than football development:

https://www.theguardian.com/football...china-shanghai