Kaka, AC Milan’s brilliant Brazilian playmaker, was universally recognized as the best player in world soccer in 2007, winning FIFA’s World Player of the Year, France Football’s Ballon d’Or and “Player of the Year” honors from FIFPro (the international organization of professional soccer players), UEFA (the European soccer federation) and Italy’s Serie A. Paul Gardner, writing for the New York Sun, says that Kaka’s legacy is already under siege in 2008.
Kaka has ghosted through a series of ordinary performances so far this season, while Milan’s form has been indifferent at best. Meanwhile, Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo is absolutely dominating the English Premiership, with 19 goals in 20 starts for the Red Devils so far this season. “No one is playing any better at the moment,” Gardner proclaims, adding that the number of goals don’t do adequate justice to Ronaldo’s astounding play. “The goals have often been spectacular, have often been scored at crucial moments, and have been scored in a bewildering variety of ways, from open play with either left foot or right foot, from free kicks, and from powerful headers.”
After Ronaldo, Barcelona’s Leo Messi would be a close second. Messi’s numbers — 8 goals and 5 assists in 16 league starts — are less spectacular, though he’s been injured for large portions of the season. Like compatriot Diego Maradona, who’s declared the bewildering Argentine his heir, Messi is small, quick, and left-footed. Says Gardner: “I do not see another current player with the extraordinary moves — the feints, the changes in speed and direction, the close ball control — that Messi has.