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Kaka offers tough but honest assessment of Brazil national team

Kaka offers tough but honest assessment of Brazil national team

SANFORD, Fla. – Kaka glides through difficult topics as easily as he glides past defenders.

When asked earlier this month at the Orlando City SC training complex about his country's impeachment process, he called the situation "very important for us," saying "we need to change the corruption." But he stopped short of taking a firm stance on the push to remove President Dilma Rousseff from office.

When asked what he'd change about Major League Soccer, he said, "a lot of things need to change" but quickly provided context: "I don't have enough information. How you trade players, the salary cap, it's something that needs to be better. Today, it's working good, but in the future it needs to be better. The last CBA was good, but could be better. Probably the next CBA will be better and better until it's something really good for everybody."

On one difficult subject, though, there was no nuance: Brazil's soccer reputation.

"Brazil, at this moment, needs to get its credibility back," he told Yahoo Sports. "Copa [America Centenario] will be important, Olympics will be important. Brazil has never won [Olympic gold] and it's in our country. It's important for us to get our credibility back."

At the time of the interview, the 2007 Ballon d'Or winner had been left off Brazil's 23-man Copa America Centenario roster, a decision he said he accepted. But an injury to Bayern Munich's Douglas Costa changed all that, allowing Kaka to get called in and join the Selecao in Los Angeles. When Brazil arrives in Orlando to play Haiti on June 8, Kaka will be in his familiar MLS stadium wearing his familiar national team colors. It will now be partially on him to get Brazil's credibility back.

That credibility was lost two years ago when Brazil was obliterated 7-1 by Germany on its home turf in the World Cup semifinals. It was one of the most unsightly losses in soccer history. And while American fans would likely move on after an international embarrassment like that, the way they did when the U.S. basketball team lost at the 2004 Summer Olympics, Brazil has not moved on. Some even conflate the country's current economic downturn with the disastrous defeat to Germany, as the Brazilian stock market began to crater right around the time the World Cup ended.

Brazil has not been the same since a 7-1 World Cup semifinal loss to Germany. (Getty Images)
Brazil has not been the same since a 7-1 World Cup semifinal loss to Germany. (Getty Images)

"Yeah, we're still upset about that, we're never going to forget it," said Luis Machado, a 26-year-old Brazilian fan who showed up to the first day of the Olympic torch relay in Brasilia with a national team jersey on.

"We deserved to lose," he added.

So this year brings expectations that are nearing World Cup levels. It's hard to outdo the kind of catastrophe that befell Brazil in 2014, but losing these two summer tournaments – including the Olympics at home – would turn a dark period into a full-blown identity crisis.

Keep in mind: Brazil didn't even advance to the semifinals of the 2010 World Cup, falling to Netherlands 2-1 in the quarters after holding a halftime lead. And now the team's megastar, Neymar, has passed on the Copa America Centenario to focus on winning Olympic gold. That puts even more pressure on manager Dunga, who will face the kind of intense scrutiny that make Jurgen Klinsmann's oft-criticized decisions seem unmonitored.

Making matters worse, rival Argentina enters the Copa as the tournament favorite. The Albiceleste are as hungry as ever after losing in the finals in two straight tournaments, falling 1-0 in extra time to Germany at the 2014 World Cup and suffering a penalty shootout defeat to host Chile at the 2015 Copa America.

So Brazil, a record five-time World Cup champion, hasn't even been the best team on its own continent for quite some time.

"I was in Brazil as a supporter [in 2014]," Kaka said. "It was tough. It was tough seeing the team lose a game like that, in a semifinal, 7-1. It's not good."

At 34, Kaka won't be expected to change Brazil's fortunes by himself – he's only played 60 national team minutes in the last three years – but he's a veteran on a team that needs some ballast in a perfect storm of doubt. He's a reminder of an easier time, both on the pitch and in the nation's history.

Perhaps the Brazilians can navigate this year as effortlessly as Kaka seems to navigate everything else. It will start to seem like a lost decade if they don't.