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PREPARING SOUTH AFRICA FOR THE WORLD |
Few people would dispute Kaka's enduring status as one of the leading players in the world. Club objectives aside, Ricardo Izecson Dos Santos Leite, to give him his full name, also has the national team very firmly in his thoughts. The on-field leader of the fearsome Seleção is gearing up for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™. And as he tells FIFA.com in an exclusive interview, the genial Kaka is aiming at nothing less than victory. Not surprisingly, the playmaker was one of the architects of Brazil's impressive qualification campaign, one that he believes contained many high points for the men in green and yellow.  On the challenges facing Brazil in South Africa It's a very difficult group, perhaps the hardest in the whole first round. Coming up against teams like Côte d'Ivoire, Portugal and Korea DPR is a great motivation for us because it means we have to go into the World Cup at our very best. We'll need to prepare really well because if we don't, we could be in for a nasty surprise. As Kaka acknowledges, coach Dunga is the reason why A Seleção are heading into the tournament in such fine fettle." He's a very serious, down-to-earth person who always does things the right way. He has a very coherent approach on and off the pitch and the results we've had could not be better. We won the Copa America and the Confederations Cup and we topped our qualification group. In doing so we overcame a lot of criticism and it was his serious attitude and calmness that helped us stay relaxed. The fact that he retired from the game fairly recently also means that he knows what players want and how to deal with them. So are Kaka and Co out to set the record straight after the failure of four years ago? I wouldn't put it that way, but it's definitely a great opportunity to erase memories of last time. We reached three finals in a row between 1994 and 2002, and in that respect 2006 was sort of understandable. It was the end of a cycle for us. Several players have moved on and we're all expecting a successful new phase to begin. Let's hope it starts now in 2010. more interviews...
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