On July 1st, 2014, Orlando City announced that Kaka would join at the beginning of the 2015 MLS season. He was to go on loan to São Paulo for the rest of 2014, until Orlando's inaugural season in 2015. The legendary Brazilian attacking midfielder excelled at some of world football's biggest clubs, AC Milan and Real Madrid. He also had 92 caps for Brazil, scoring 29 goals. At the time of signing, Kaka became the highest paid MLS player with a base salary of $6.6m In Orlando's very first match as a club, they faced off with fellow 2015 expansion side, New York City FC. The match took place at the Citrus Bowl, Orlando's temporary home, with 62,510 fans in attendance. Mix Diskerud scored NYCFC's first ever MLS goal in minute 76. But in minute 91, with a free kick opportunity, Kaka responded. While not the prettiest free kick, Kaka was credited with the goal after a deflection, scoring Orlando City SC's first ever goal. Kaka said after the match, "I've scored a lot of goals in my career, I have to say this is one of the most emotional."
Orlando registered their first ever win in the next match against Houston. Kaka scored his next goal in Montreal later on in March, also adding an assist. Once he hit mid-May, Kaka truly started to round into form. Starting on May 17th against LA Galaxy, he scored in seven out of the next nine matches across all competitions. In a 2-0 home win against Colorado, Kaka set up on the right foot and smashed one into the bottom left corner. On Independence Day, Orlando visited Real Salt Lake and grabbed a point thanks to a cool finish from their main man. Funnily enough, Kaka was actually red carded in that same match after fouling and stepping on Javier Morales. He was then named to the 2015 MLS All-Star Team as the captain later in July. Kaka scored a penalty in the game, then assisted David Villa on the match-winner. Kaka was named MVP of the match, a 2-1 win against Tottenham. Orlando City's inaugural season ended with a record of 12-14-8, five points short of the playoffs. The Lions' captain scored 9 goals and assisted 7.
In the first match of 2016, Kaka showed up in a big way. He placed a perfect low strike in the back of the net and assisted two other goals in a 4-1 win against Portland. On June 25th, he destroyed his penalty kick off the underside of the crossbar and in to defeat Toronto FC in minute 100. In another edition of the matchup with Orlando's fellow 2015 expansion side NYCFC, Kaka notched a brace. His first goal snuck into the near post, while the second was a match-winning penalty kick. In the following match, Kaka scored another brace against Didier Drogba's Montreal Impact. He scored in minute 36 to take the lead, then again in the 54th. Kaka tied his 2015 goal tally of 9, but upped his assist count to 10. He was also named a 2016 MLS All-Star. Orlando's final record was 9-11-14, which was one single point too few to qualify for the playoffs. They fell very short for the second consecutive year.
In the opening match of the 2017 MLS campaign, Kaka had an injury scare. Orlando City opened Exploria Stadium on March 5th for their home opener against NYCFC. Just over seven minutes in, he went to ground. He played just 11 minutes in the first match at the new stadium, leaving the game and missing 6 weeks due to a hamstring strain. When he returned against Colorado on April 29th, he of course was welcomed back with a 90th minute goal. He scored in the next match too, smashing a shot into the roof of the net against Toronto. In his next start, it was another goal. Kaka brought a cross down softly with his chest, then put a slight curl on a ball destined for the bottom corner. In July, Kaka was named to the 2017 MLS All-Star Team for the third year running. In September, he lit up the New England Revolution for two goals. After losing 4-0 to the Revs three weeks earlier, Orlando got revenge with a 6-1 victory. Right before halftime, Kaka surged into the attacking third and confidently slammed a shot into the upper 90 from outside the box. The latter half of his brace was smoked into the netting to make it 4-1. Despite the big win, it was already decided that Orlando had not done enough to qualify for the playoffs. Kaka scored 6 goals and assisted 5 on the season.
The first three years of Orlando City SC had some real great points of entertainment, mostly thanks to their captain, Kaka. The iconic Brazilian midfielder ran the show, but it still wasn't enough to bring his squad to the playoffs. You can only imagine where they would have been without him. His last official professional soccer match took place on October 15th, when his team fell 1-0 to the Columbus Crew. He played once more in November, in a 6-1 friendly win against Puerto Rico to raise money for relief from the Category 5 Hurricane Maria. On December 17th, 2017, Kaka retired from the sport he had dominated for decades. He rejected offers to rejoin São Paulo and AC Milan as well. Kaka was the starting point of Orlando City, a club that has become a successful one in the modern day Major League Soccer. Kaka still lives in Orlando, making appearances at several OCSC games since his retirement. His impactful three-year span with Orlando earns him the #84 ranking.
YEAR | CLUB | MINUTES | GOALS | ASSISTS |
2017 | ORL | 1,564 | 6 | 5 |
2016 | ORL | 1,955 | 9 | 10 |
2015 | ORL | 2,440 | 9 | 7 |
Comments