What happened to Kaka's career?

[Iran_19]

It is the case of many Brazilian stars, they kind of slow down at late 20s, with few exception of course(Cafu, Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, etc).

[DR Strangemoosh]

Sly, if anything, I am generalising less than others by putting different categories "injuries", "hamburgers", "night clubs" to help identify the specific class of reason for each player's shorter-than-expected career span.

Compare with this article:


Talented and Troubled – The Boys from Brazil by Kieran Quinn

“The game changer for me was Nike,” said Tim Vickery of the BBC and South American football expert, “in the old days, Brazil was something which only ever figured once every four years, during a World Cup. Nike got involved in 1996 and 1997. Suddenly the profile of the national team went right through the roof.”

All of the Brazil team were suddenly known back in England, helped by some superb adverts including this one in an airport ahead of the 1998 World Cup. There was such an increase in interest and the team were able to ride that wave.

A team of global superstars, who made it to 3 World Cup finals in a row between 1994 and 2002, winning twice. But the story of the individual is somewhat different. The premature decline of careers is an odd but recurring theme. For the majority, their path leads home—their peak years in Europe all too often ending abruptly. But why?

There is no doubt that Brazil has had some of the greatest individual talents on the planet in recent memory. Between 1994-2007, the Ballon D’or went to a Brazilian 8 times – from Romario to Kaka via Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho. But for many, their ability to stay at the top level can be questioned. There are extenuating circumstances of course, particularly for Ronaldo and the ACL injuries he suffered to both knees. But for Ronaldinho and Kaka their careers begin to decline at 27 and 28 respectively, a time when players are meant to be at their peak. Robinho was once the most sought after player in Europe but tailed off as early as 25. The examples are plentiful – an abundance of talent that was either never fulfilled or ended up being short lived. Diego Ribas, Denilson, Adriano, Elano – they all fall into that category. The less said about Alex Pato’s career post Milan the better – including his current farcical spell at Chelsea, which smacks of nothing more than a gentleman’s agreement between club and agent. He’s a world away from the player that scored this goal in the Camp Nou.

There are anomalies of course. Cafu and Roberto Carlos, Brazil’s two buccaneering full backs had long and distinguished careers – both playing at Europe’s top table into their late 30s. But the general trend for Brazil’s superstars is that they haven’t stayed the course, certainly not in Europe, all too often. What role does Brazilian culture play in this?

Socrates, Brazilian demi-god, midfield star of the 1982 World Cup side and two-pack-a-day-man was once quoted as saying, “I found Europe very regimented. Everything is so correct and organised. But there’s more to life than football, and sometimes I didn’t want to train, but to hang out with friends, party or have a smoke. They didn’t appreciate that.”

“Every case is different, but there could well be a common denominator here,” Vickery has said. “The idea in Brazilian society of consuming is very strong. This idea of what you are is what you have—you show off your material possessions. These players grew up in a time before the expansion of credit and mass consumption. So they’re spending their youth as a kid outside the sweet shop—looking at it and not able to get in. Once they started earning large sums of money they could consume whatever they liked. So after a certain amount of time, some players simply don’t want to make the sacrifices necessary to be a top professional footballer anymore.”

It is likely that outlook has contributed to the early downturn in many of the Selecao stars careers. It may also go some way to explain their substantial mercenary contingent. Hulk is a primary example, and Willian was at both Shakhtar Donetsk and Anzhi Makhachkala before arriving in West London. Jo, Ramires and Alex Teixeira are all earning mega bucks playing for the same team in China, and by the looks of his debut Teixeira is not going to struggle for goals in the Super League.


Romario has been part of some of the best strike partnerships in recent memory – with Stoichkov at Barcelona and both Bebeto and R9 for the Selecao. But his partnership with Edmundo aka “The Animal” is the most intriguing. The self-proclaimed ‘Bad Boys of Brazilian Football’, a combination of egotistical men with explosive tempers battling for supremacy could be compared to a Shakespearean plot – but this was real life – and whilst on-field the pair’s lethal goal scoring made them near-undroppable, away from match days, the men were unprofessional, unbalanced and often inebriated. They could be harmonious both on and off the pitch, whether it be dismantling Manchester United at the World Club Championships in 2000 (with a helping hand from Gary Neville) or releasing their own rap duet. But trouble was never far away.

It didn’t last at Vasco. Romario was in electric form scoring 41 times in 46 games, and with Edmundo not keen on playing second fiddle, it was Romario who moved on. Following his exit, Romario said: “They say his dream is to play alongside me in the national team. My dream is to never play with him again.”

Romario was a goal scoring machine; a square meter was like an acre to him. This goal against Real Madrid for Barcelona is extraordinary. Known as Baixinho, or “Shorty” in Brazil, he would often stay out all night womanizing and turn up to training having not slept. He claims to have bedded over 1000 women and scored over 1,000 goals. Quite the double. His love for night-time, women and parties stirred many problems from the early stages of his career, when he was kicked off the national U-20 team in 1985 after he was caught running around naked in the corridors and urinating off the balcony in the hotel where the team was staying.

By 2004, the pair joined forces once more at Fluminense, the third Rio de Janeiro based club to bring the duo together. After signing, Romario had declared: “When I was born, God pointed at me and said “That’s the man”. Age was clearly not dampening his confidence. Older? Certainly. Greyer? Definitely. Wiser? Questionably. The club fired him after he had a fight with the coach, and attacked a fan who had thrown six live chickens at him during training. He went back to Vasco, and scored 30 goals, winning the golden boot. By this point he was 39 years old.

Romario getting into the party spirit after a victory
Edmundo was no shrinking violet. He changed club 17 times in an 18 year career due to his inability to get on with anyone around him, including opponents, but he had considerable ability. Vasco’s 3rd goal against United shows that much. A brief spell in Europe came at Fiorentina in the late 90s, forming a mercurial attacking trio with Rui Costa and Gabriel Batistuta. With the club top of the Scudetto in February, and as the club’s only fit striker with Batigol sidelined, Edmundo couldn’t resist the lure of the Rio Carnival and flew home mid-season, missing 4 games – none of which Fiorentina won.

In an attempt to change his image, Edmundo held a party for his one year old son and invited the press. He hired a circus and to impress photographers he posed for pictures while giving a chimpanzee named Pedrinho beer. Global outrage ensued along with a fine from the government’s environmental agency.

Joga Bonito

The care-free and relaxed approach to the game of several Selecao stars was a huge factor in the popularity of the national team and its leading lights. This advert from 2006 encapsulates that perfectly. They expressed themselves on the pitch, showboating, playing with a smile, indicative of the Brazilian way. They were global icons, every young player wanted to be like them.

There is no disputing Ronaldinho’s achievements as a player having won a world cup and joining an elite group of players such as Cafu to have won both the Champions League and Copa Libertadores. At one point Ronaldinho was the greatest player in the world and one of the best ever to watch. But his time at Barca was cut short by his lifestyle, the club didn’t want him to lead the young prodigy Messi astray, and he left at the age of 28. He was only on the Milan party circuit for a few years before moving on from there looking less and less the player he was. It was then back in the freedom of his home country at Flamengo the club set up a hotline called Disque-Dentuco (Dial Toothy), designed for fans to let the club know which nightclub he was in that evening, presumably to lure him back home to bed.

With more than 350 career goals in club football, mostly at the very top level, and a return of 62 goals in 97 appearances for Brazil, Ronaldo’s place in the pantheon of modern greats is secure. He won his first Fifa World Player of the Year award at the tender age of 20 in 1996, honoured three times in total, won the Ballon d’Or twice, and has 15 World Cup Finals goals.

But Il Fenomeno always struggled with the balance of his commitment to the game and his lifestyle outside of it. There is a fabulous rumour that whilst at Real Madrid, they had to put a lock on the freezer at the training ground as Ronaldo kept eating all of the Magnum ice-creams.

Adriano was another who battled with his weight, his lack of work ethic ending an enormously promising career in Serie A by 26. At Parma, he struck up a fearsome partnership with Adrian Mutu, presumably not a good influence off the field, which took him to Inter Milan. From July 2004 to June 2005 Adriano scored 40 goals for club and country. He was unplayable, unstoppable and utterly irrepressible. He was also not one to mess with.

After his father died, his commitment to football wavered and it was that troublesome combination that was the downfall of a player who to this day should have been leading the Brazilian line alongside Neymar at the World Cup in his homeland. Alcohol and depression played a large part. He has even been linked in the media to funding a well-known drug cartel. Allegedly on Christmas Eve 2011 at 6am after leaving a club, Adriano accidentally shot a woman in the hand whilst playing around with his bodyguard’s pistol. He hasn’t officially retired, and is on the books at Miami United but has only played once in the past 4 years. He is still only 34 years old.

There are many more examples. Take Denilson, who was hailed as potentially Brazil’s best winger since Garrincha when he broke the world transfer record in 1998 with a £21.5m move to Real Betis. But in seven years, he scored 13 goals in 186 appearances and went out on loan following Betis’ relegation to the Spanish Segunda Division in 1999/00. His time at the top was over by 29, and the rest of his career was spent in the US, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam.

And what of the Santos contingent of Diego, Robinho and Elano. Diego, a player of precocious talent and capable of the improbable – ultimately failed to fulfil his potential, particularly at Juventus where he moved to for big money and was expected to replace Alessandro Del Piero. He lasted only a season, before moving to Wolfsburg, where he was fined over €600,000 for disciplinary issues. Robinho’s career was effectively finished after one good season at Man City. He’s played 99 times for Brazil but his club journey has been marked by inconsistency and a lack of discipline. Elano was last spotted in India, arrested for allegedly assualting the owner of FC Goa after the 2015 Indian Super League Final.

As for the Selecao’s current crop. The flair and flamboyance remains through Neymar, Douglas Costa and Felipe Anderson. But their World Cup side was littered with functional players – Oscar, Fred, Ramires and so on. With Dunga back in charge, the chances of seeing a free-flowing and exuberant Brazil team in the near future seems unlikely. As for Neymar, with a frankly ridiculous 46 goals for his country already at 24, can he stay the course unlike so many others? Let’s hope so.

[DR Strangemoosh]

Ronaldinho in his prime > Messi + Ronaldo

(presuming you mean CR rather than phenomonon ronaldo)?

Ronaldinho had three absolutely sensational years at Barca, then for some odd reason put on a bunch of body fat and underperformed before eventually being sold..... he did reach his peak and was absolutely outstanding at it, but he declined well before he turned 30.

It's like if Messi declined 4 years ago, or CR declined 7 years ago and put on a stone or two of fat; you'd be mystified.

[Sly]

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

I'm not so keen on arguing for the Brazilians. Of course most of them come from a poor background and for them it may be enough to gain enough money to be able to live like kings the rest of theirs and their family's lives. I am just saying you can find players from many other countries who once had big hype around them but then either failed to live up to the expectations or lost form quite early in their careers. That is not only exclusive for the Brazilians. Just a few names I can think of off the top of my head are Jancker, Gilardino, Miccoli, Ariel Ortega and not the least Saviola who was supposed to become the next Maradona (what a hype there was around this guy at first, à la Robinho).

[Sly]

then i got too busy with life to follow big leagues international football and mainly focused on TM with my limited time

That is the problem. You really missed something. The guy was outstanding! Extremely smart and fast. You don't win the Ballon D'or ahead of both C Ronaldo and Messi for nothing. You should really have a look at some of the videos in which he played for AC Milan before he moved to Real Madrid. At times he carried the whole team on his shoulders. You can see some of his fast, smart moves in the above video too.

[sirvan]

Kaka in his prime was world class! One of my favorite players of all time

[persiangodfather]

https://youtu.be/Ld8WEiEgvuE

Divine. Magical. Killer

Youll never see a goal like this again

[BacheLot]

meh, granted i didnt follow his career close and long enough to have fair and valid assessment of his career .... still, if i dont see anything that wows me(it doesnt even have to be a score ..!) in the little bit that i see of a player then i have a hard time rating and getting too excited about a footballer..! sometimes certain, not so elite footballers find themselves in a good team set up so they over-perform and then never able to match the same hype afterwards..! the true elite players do it multiple times , in different teams and settings and most often stand out like sore thumb amongst 20 others running on the pitch..!! kaka certainly never struck me as such..!

My favorite brizilian player ever is and probably always will be Romario..! now he was an under-rated, bad mofo..! after Michael Jordan, he has been my second most admired athlete of all times..!! i emulated his style and hair cuts throughout my late teens and early 20s..! i still have the closed-up hole in my left ear to remind of how stupidly far i took my idolization of the two players ..!!

rivaldo and roberto carlos were also bad mofos too...!! Ronaldinho was brilliant for few seasons and then his off pitch excesses caught up with him.!
whatever happened to Pato..? now that lil fker was the last brizilian to got me all excited about him at first glances then he just withered away into the football oblivion...!!

[EKBATAN]

There was a goal he scored for Brazil which He ran the whole field with the ball while Messi was chasing him and he scored. It was only a friendly i believe


He should have never left to Real Madrid like many other players like him made those mistakes. When something is good, just keep it going. To this day I dont get how these crazy money deals happen....maybe 20% work out, the rest flop and disappear or go back to their old teams or another lower level team or China/Middle East.

[Sly]

There was a goal he scored for Brazil which He ran the whole field with the ball while Messi was chasing him and he scored. It was only a friendly i believe

....

[DR Strangemoosh]

Was just listening to the Golazzo podcast and they made a very interesting point juxtaposing two players at Fiorentina at the same time:

Edmundo, who was benched in favour of Luis Oliveira.

Edmundo was talented at an unreal level, had a reputation throughout his career (I didn't like him at the time because my favourite player was Romario and they both fell out for comical reasons) and literally stipulated in his contract that he needed time off for the Brazilian carnival. He invited some other players and they just were amazed that he partied straight for 10 days. Trappatoni drove to the airport to beg him to stay, but had no power. The guy just did his own thing, partied, enjoyed life, and basically left football apart from a few cameos aged 27 (he just became a bit-part player after that).

He was benched for Luis Oliveira, Brazilian origin but moved to Belgium when he was just 15 and became a Belgian international player. Much less talented than Edmundo but replaced him there and picked up the Flemish work ethic, ended up playing at a good level up to his early 40s.

Edmundo - the Animal:

[westwien]

Was just listening to the Golazzo podcast and they made a very interesting point juxtaposing two players at Fiorentina at the same time:

Edmundo, who was benched in favour of Luis Oliveira.

Edmundo was talented at an unreal level, had a reputation throughout his career (I didn't like him at the time because my favourite player was Romario and they both fell out for comical reasons) and literally stipulated in his contract that he needed time off for the Brazilian carnival. He invited some other players and they just were amazed that he partied straight for 10 days. Trappatoni drove to the airport to beg him to stay, but had no power. The guy just did his own thing, partied, enjoyed life, and basically left football apart from a few cameos aged 27 (he just became a bit-part player after that).

He was benched for Luis Oliveira, Brazilian origin but moved to Belgium when he was just 15 and became a Belgian international player. Much less talented than Edmundo but replaced him there and picked up the Flemish work ethic, ended up playing at a good level up to his early 40s.

Edmundo - the Animal:

glad someone else listens to Golazzo. Actually the only Podcast I listen to right now, next to the FT's Alphachat.

[DR Strangemoosh]

glad someone else listens to Golazzo. Actually the only Podcast I listen to right now, next to the FT's Alphachat.

It's the only one I religiously listen to these days, and i never was a big Serie A fan.

Always a good listen. If they have a live show then we need to go!

[westwien]

It's the only one I religiously listen to these days, and i never was a big Serie A fan.

Always a good listen. If they have a live show then we need to go!

Yes, whenever they have a show in between Vienna and Albion, we will go!