Tonight, when the Red Bulls take on Orlando City SC in Florida, you would think that central defenders Matt Miazga and Damien Perrinelle would have the biggest responsibility of marking Kaka, the former Brazilian star and Orlando City’s leading scorer with nine goals.
Well, that only part of the picture. With Kaka playing a deeper role you have to watch out for his runs into the box and his distribution throughout the field. So that means Dax McCarty and Felipe, the Red Bulls’ defensive midfielders, also have to be aware of what Kaka is doing.
Will that do it? Not quite.
“It’s going to require all four of them to keep track of where he is, and in a loud stadium still have the ability to communicate at times and to be alert,” Red Bulls coach Jesse Marsch said. “That’s why I say it’s done by committee, and even sometimes Kaka will rotate out into wide spots and that will require our outside backs and outside midfielders to know where he is and to make it hard on him. His ability to set a guy up, to meg him, to get around him, to see passes, it’s all pretty incredible to watch over the years. He’s been so good at all those things.”
That means outside midfielders Lloyd Sam and Mike Grella won’t have total freedom to move forward because they’ll have to watch the space behind them, and outside backs Connor Lade and Anthony Wallace will be involved as well.
That’s a lot of eyes on one player, but that one player is something special and he’s the cog that has made the expansion Orlando City (6-7-6) one of the surprise stories in the Eastern Conference.
“It’s a good team. For an expansion team they’ve done very well, and I’ve got a lot of respect for what they’ve accomplished so far because I know how hard it is,” said Marsch, whose team sits just two points ahead of Orlando. “A big key for them has been Kaka. To bring a big-name, big player like that in from the start has meant a lot to the organization and the fan base, but it’s meant even more to the team. He’s been very good, he’s helped their team be dangerous, he doesn’t get frustrated, he stays focused and he’s been fun to watch, so it will be a big task for us.
“You have to keep track of him even when you have the ball because he winds up putting himself in good spots to receive the first pass when they win it back. It’s not an easy one to deal with. It’s got to be done as a group because he can beat you on the dribble, he can finish balls from different spots, like he did (Wednesday) night (in a friendly against West Bromwich Albion). He’s good on the move, he’s a good passer, he’s good on one-twos. He’s got very few weaknesses to his game with the ball.”
But sitting back and marking players is not how the Red Bulls play. And despite the heat on the artificial surface, the legendary Kaka and a fan base that is averaging a little over 34,000 per game, the Red Bulls will look to take the game to their opponent in their first match in Florida since the 2001 season, the last year the Tampa Bay Mutiny and Miami Fusion were in Major League Soccer.
The Red Bulls (7-6-5) have scored 12 goals in the past four games, including the U.S. Open Cup, and it appears their offense, with all the new players, has found a rhythm. The passing game in the last match against the New England Revolution, a 4-1 victory that included a MLS-record three goals in the first 12 minutes, was superb. And while the quickness of the artificial surface may throw things off a bit, the cohesiveness is there.
“It was just a matter of time because we were doing well in the attacking third,” Marsch said. “We were controlling a lot of games, we were creating a lot of chances. You would be more worried if we were getting only one goal a game if the chances weren’t coming, but all along we’ve had chances, and I know the quality that we have on this team so I was never too concerned about it.”
Bradley Wright-Phillips, who was back on top as the lone striker against the Revs last week, scored two goals to raise his season total to a team-high eight. He also leads the club with six assists. Sam is not far behind, with five goals and four assists.
“It’s nice to see that we’ve been putting the goals in now because earlier in the season we weren’t getting enough,” Sam said. “We can’t complain about that. We’re still working on attacking things. Attacking wise, the movement’s been good.”
Unfortunately for the Red Bulls, Kaka isn’t the only threat on Orlando City. Canadian international Cyle Larin, the No. 1 overall pick in January’s SuperDraft who is just back from the CONCACAF Gold Cup, has six goals in 13 games. And there are others.
“(Larin’s) the beneficiary of a lot of Kaka’s movement and ideas, but he’s very athletic and he’s strong and in the box, he’s very dangerous and he’s good in the air,” Marsch said. “As the ball goes wide we’re going to have to identify where he’s at and take care of him. And then (Carlos) Rivas is explosive, (Eric) Avala’s tricky, (Lewis) Neal serves a great ball, their outside backs join in well. It’s not just Kaka, that’s for sure, but we do know that he’s still the focal point of the attack.”
Which brings us back to Miazga. He shut down New York City FC’s David Villa last month and is looking forward to playing against Kaka, Major League Soccer’s highest-paid player at a little over $7 million per season.
“Everyone knows that whenever he has the ball he’s very dangerous,” Miazga said. “He’s fast, quick, very clever, and you always have to know where he is because whenever he has the ball, he’s dangerous.
“This league’s getting better year by year so more and more experience and renowned players want to come and play in this league and challenge for titles and win titles. Every team has good players, every team has a system where they want to compete at the highest level here in MLS. It’s exciting with big-name players and we look forward to playing against them.”
Sam, who has been with the Red Bulls three-plus seasons, is getting used to new teams coming into the league, but it makes for a difficult scouting report.
“It’s difficult because it’s a new team. It’s hard to know what to expect,” he said. “Looking at them, it looks like they’ve done all right, but just like any away game in this league it’s going to be tough. It’s hard to know what to expect but you have to be at your best.”
Marsch agrees.
“It took a while for New York to get going but now they’ve had a good stretch in the last six games,” he said. “Orlando’s been steadier through the season, but there’s so many little things you need to iron out when you’re an expansion team. Both are still in that process, but they’re ahead of the ball game because they’ve managed to get a few more results early on, which means that there’s not as much stress to get results in the midpoint and toward the end of the year.
“Credit to both organizations and coaches and players in that they’ve known they’re up for a big challenge and that they’ve responded.”
