BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – On an afternoon when both coaches acknowledged a lack of energy and sharpness among their players, Brazilian legend Kaká showed the kind of form that once earned him a World Player of the Year award, turning in a vintage display to inspire Orlando City to a 2-2 tie in their visit to the Chicago Fire.
With temperatures in the high 80s and both sets of players making errors as fatigue set in, especially in the second half, Kaká earned high praise from his new head coach, Jason Kreis.
“He was really, really good,” Kreis told reporters. “Talking about energy levels, he worked extremely hard tonight on both sides of the ball, he got himself in good positions defensively, and obviously when he got the ball he was special.”
The 34-year-old Brazilian played Cyle Larin through for a ninth-minute equalizer after John Goossens had opened the scoring for the hosts three minutes earlier, and then he was on hand to prod home from close range following Larin’s header off the post in the 32nd minute to give the Lions the lead.
Kaká also gave second-year prospect Matt Polster a torrid time in the opening quarter before Fire head coach Veljko Paunovic reshuffled his pack and gave Johan Kappelhof the task of marshalling the former AC Milan and Real Madrid forward.
Playing mainly on the left wing, Kaká oozed confidence as he probed the Fire backline, orchestrating attack after attack and meshing well with Larin and new arrival Matias Perez Garcia, as both sides committed numbers to attack and contributed to an open and entertaining game.
“We will need him to continue those types of performances, and if he does, and if the guys continue to improve little bit by little bit, we’re going to be fine,” Kreis added..
Kaká was playing in his fourth game since returning from a hamstring injury, but his injury seemed to be well behind him as he produced a performance full of energy and creativity.
“I’m feeling good,” Kaka told MLSsoccer.com. “Every game every week I’m getting better and I’ll be back on the right fitness. After my last injury it took a little bit more because it was the fourth one so I took a bit more time to recover, because I don’t want to get injured again. Now I think I’m almost there.”
The visitors gave as good as they got despite falling behind so early, and Kreis admitted he was happy with the point especially given the amount of mistakes that went unpunished in the second half as the Fire pressed forward with more purpose.
“I know how difficult those games are to play in, you could see the energy levels was low for both teams,” Kreis acknowledged. “And when the players get fatigued you see the mistakes start to happen and for me at the end of the game, a lot of the mistakes that we’re talking about started showing themselves up again. And when those mistakes show up we have goal scoring chances against us. I think we earned the draw and I think we should be happy with the one point.”
