June 13.
Kaka and his personal assistant, Diogo Kotscho, stepped off the plane in Leverkusen, Germany, climbed into the car sent by the national team, and headed straight toward the BayArena.
The 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup was being held in Germany.
The tournament had only recently been restructured.
Previously, it had generally been staged every two years, with the participants made up of the champions of the major continental competitions, the reigning World Cup champions, and the host nation.
Starting from this edition, however, the Confederations Cup would be held once every four years and linked directly to the World Cup cycle.
It would take place in the future World Cup host nation one year before the tournament, essentially serving as a large-scale dress rehearsal.
Since every participating team was either a continental champion, the reigning world champion, or the host, the level of competition was naturally extremely high.
Even so, most teams treated the tournament more as preparation for the following year’s World Cup than as an event they absolutely had to win, so its prestige was still some distance below the truly major international tournaments.
Its most important role was still as a testing ground and warm-up event.
But that didn’t mean the Confederations Cup lacked attention.
Quite the opposite.
For football fans around the world, it was practically a giant carnival one year before the World Cup.
The opening ceremony was scheduled for June 15 at the Waldstadion in Frankfurt, home of Eintracht Frankfurt.
The opening match would see hosts Germany face Australia.
Brazil’s first match would be played on June 16 against Greece.
Kaka was among the last group of players to report.
The Brazil national team had already assembled several days earlier before moving to Leverkusen for pre-tournament training.
Of course, with a squad as star-studded as Brazil’s, there was no chance these players were going to report half a month in advance for some gruelling training camp.
Given the personalities of the stars in the team, getting everyone together even a few days early was already proof of head coach Carlos Alberto Parreira’s authority.
Sitting in the back seat of the car heading toward the BayArena, Kaka appeared to have his eyes closed in rest.
In reality, his attention was completely focused on the system.
The specialised dribbling enhancement had finally finished in the early hours of that morning.
Physically, the only obvious difference was that his legs felt noticeably lighter and stronger.
But the changes on his player panel were shocking.
[Player: Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite (Kaka)]
Nationality: Brazil
Age: 22 (Born 1982)
Preferred Foot: Right
Speed: 94
Shooting: 91
Passing: 91
Dribbling: 95
Defending: 67
Physical: 95
Football IQ: 90
Status: Healthy!!!
Available Points: 2
The biggest change was obvious.
His Dribbling rating had exploded from 86 all the way to an absurd 95.
Calling it a complete transformation wouldn’t even be an exaggeration.
Even better, as his dribbling ability improved, his Speed rating had risen from 93 to 94 as well.
A completely unexpected bonus.
After the system announced that the enhancement was complete, Kaka had gone to Milan’s training ground early that morning to test himself.
The difference was obvious almost immediately.
His ball carrying was much smoother than before.
But what surprised him most was the massive improvement in the speed of his footwork and his ability to adjust his centre of gravity.
Dribbling moves that had previously been unreliable because of his height and naturally high centre of gravity now felt almost effortless.
The moment he completed one movement, the next followed seamlessly.
There was no pause.
No conscious thought.
His body simply knew what to do.
Kaka estimated that a Dribbling rating of 95 was probably close to the absolute limit for someone with his physical build.
At around 1.86 metres tall, his centre of gravity was naturally much higher than players like Ronaldinho or Lionel Messi.
That made it much harder for him to twist, turn, and change direction with the same ridiculous agility.
A higher centre of gravity meant greater inertia.
Greater inertia meant more difficult adjustments.
And, naturally, far more stress on the knees.
For his particular physical frame, 95 was probably close to the ceiling.
Anything beyond that would barely qualify as human anymore.
Just imagine a Kaka nearly 1.9 metres tall dribbling through defenders with the same close control as Messi.
That would practically violate the laws of physics.
Someone would probably drag him into a laboratory and dissect him.
Still, a 95 Dribbling rating combined with 95 Physical and 94 Speed…
The result would surely be far greater than the sum of its parts.
Once he stepped onto the pitch, his logic would be simple.
If he couldn’t overpower someone, he’d beat them with technique.
If technique didn’t work, he’d overpower them.
There was always another option.
At the very least, Kaka couldn’t think of a single player in world football who could completely suppress him in both technique and physicality.
Withdrawing his attention from the system, Kaka turned his head and looked through the car window.
Pedestrians hurried along the streets of Leverkusen, and football seemed to be everywhere.
Posters.
Flags.
Shirts.
Tournament decorations.
The Confederations Cup was a festival for German supporters and football fans around the world.
But for Kaka…
It was also an excellent opportunity to announce himself to the world.
The group first arrived at the hotel where the Brazil national team was staying.
After dropping off their luggage, they headed straight for the stadium.
As a famously well-behaved professional, reporting later than most of the squad was already unusual enough for Kaka.
If he skipped training as well, the media might start writing stories about how Brazil’s golden boy had finally gone bad.
…
BayArena.
The stadium had been standing for decades and held a little over twenty thousand spectators.
As the home of Bayer Leverkusen, it was regularly packed on matchdays.
There was no match scheduled today.
But Brazil were training there.
So by the time Kaka’s car arrived, the area outside the BayArena was already surrounded by an enormous crowd of supporters.
Although Brazil’s open training session wasn’t until the next day, that didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the fans.
Large numbers of local supporters had gathered outside the stadium, hoping to catch a glimpse of one of the Brazilian stars.
So when Kaka’s car slowly made its way through the crowd and fans recognised him through the window, the scene briefly descended into chaos.
Fortunately, Kaka had contacted the national team staff before arriving, and Leverkusen had already arranged additional security.
Nothing serious happened.
Even so, it still took considerable effort for Kaka to make it inside the stadium under escort.
“Prince of the San Siro Arrives in Leverkusen!”
“Kaka Reports Late to Brazil Camp, Injury Concerns Raised!”
“God’s Chosen Son!”
The last headline was accompanied by a side-profile photograph of Kaka entering the stadium.
…
After his outstanding performance in the Champions League Final, even in a Brazil squad packed with stars, Kaka’s arrival caused a frenzy among fans and the media.
Especially with Ronaldo Nazário choosing not to take part in the tournament, only Ronaldinho, the reigning FIFA World Player of the Year, could really rival Kaka in popularity within the squad.
When Kaka entered the dressing room, head coach Carlos Alberto Parreira didn’t look particularly pleased, though he still forced a smile and welcomed him.
Ronaldinho, Adriano, Robinho, and several others came over to greet him.
With a smile at the corners of his mouth, Kaka suppressed the excitement in his heart and exchanged hugs and greetings with players he had once only been able to watch on television.
“Ricardo, are you feeling all right?”
After making the rounds, Kaka sat down at his locker.
Ronaldinho, flashing that unmistakable toothy grin, leaned over with genuine concern in his eyes.
Knowing that he was asking because of the delayed arrival, Kaka reached out and patted him on the shoulder.
“I’m fine, Ronnie.
There’s nothing wrong with me.”
The two had always been close.
Although Kaka and Ronaldinho had completely different personalities and lifestyles, that had never affected their friendship.
In his previous life, apart from Kaka himself, Ronaldinho had also been one of his favourite footballers.
So with both feelings overlapping, the current Kaka naturally felt exceptionally close to the grinning Brazilian beside him.
The two chatted casually for a while.
Before long, Adriano and Robinho joined them as well.
At least for now, the atmosphere inside the Brazil squad seemed extremely harmonious.
After everyone had finished catching up, Carlos Alberto Parreira pushed open the dressing-room door with the rest of the coaching staff behind him.
He clapped his hands.
“All right, everyone.
Training.”
Because the squad had only assembled recently, many of Brazil’s stars were clearly still some distance from peak condition.
The internal training match was played at almost no intensity.
Since Kaka had only just finished his enhancement, he had no intention of pushing himself too hard either.
Add in an absent-minded Ronaldinho, and although the team went through some tactical drills at Parreira’s request, the overall quality of the session was mediocre at best.
After training, everyone returned to the hotel.
With the tournament about to begin, the coaching staff strictly prohibited players from going out before matches, so the squad retired to their rooms early.
June 14 was the official open training and media day.
The BayArena was packed.
This time, Brazil took the session more seriously and played a proper training match.
Kaka’s overall performance was fairly ordinary, though he did score with a long-range strike.
Some sharp-eyed supporters even noticed that a few Bayer Leverkusen players appeared to have joined in Brazil’s training game.
On June 15, the FIFA Confederations Cup officially began.
The opening ceremony was held at the Waldstadion in Frankfurt, which also hosted the match between hosts Germany and Australia.
However, the tournament itself had technically started earlier that day, with Argentina facing Tunisia at the RheinEnergieStadion in Cologne.
Meanwhile, the entire Brazil squad packed their bags and travelled to Leipzig.
Their first group-stage match was approaching.
Opponent: Greece.