Kaka spent a lot of the 2002 World Cup watching everyone else. He was 20-years-old, just out of the Sao Paolo academy, and a year away from a move to Italy that would come to define his career.
But there, in South Korea and Japan, he was a student. Nearly a quarter of a century later, he is able to admit the teachers weren’t all that bad.
“It was Ronaldinho, Ronaldo Fenomeno, and Rivaldo. I watched them every day. I wanted to see them training, playing and behaving. They were my teachers,” Kaka told GOAL with a laugh.
It was, to say the least, quite a remarkable group to learn from: three Ballons d’Or, three of the game’s greats, and, of course, the 2002 World Cup. Kaka spent 50 days, effectively, in their shadow, learning, taking it all in. He played just 25 minutes in that tournament. But he remembers what it felt like to lift that trophy. In a word?
“Incredible.”
Brazilian football has changed rather significantly since then. And Kaka was, for better or worse, there for the evolution. He is, these days, regarded as one of the greats of modern football. But his Selecao career peaked early. He never reached those same heights. Now, 24 years on from lifting the trophy himself, Kaka looks at a much changed team - but one that still shoulders the same burden he felt.
“The pressure is… It's incredible. It's hard to explain. There is nothing that I can say that is equal to the pressure that we have. It’s something really special,” he said.
