Toward the Goal

8/13/2019 Toward the Goal

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For Mom and Dad

For the orange slices, clean jerseys, bug repellent, registrationfees, practice transportations, and encouragement during myown days on the field. Thank you for introducing me to the

beautiful gameand most of all for your unwavering supportthrough all the game of life.

JVJ


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A Champion Among Champion

It was the biggest game of the year. The winner would

be the champion of all of Europes mighty professionalleagues and teams. Soccer clubs across the continent hadplayed each other all season long in the ongoing UEFAChampions League tournament. Now, on May 23, 2007in approximately ninety minutes of soccer, Italys ACMilan or Englands Liverpool would be crowned the

best of the best.Police in riot gear ringed the outside of Olympic

Stadium in Athens, Greece. At one point fans withouttickets tried to break down a closed gate to storm theirway, and the police fired tear gas to repel them.

But the true battle was taking place on the bril-liant green grass rectangle at the center of the stadium.


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Toward the Goal

the action unfolded in red and white before them. Milanwore white; Liverpool red.

Liverpool took control of the action early, and the RedsJermaine Pennant got the first shot on goal eight minutesin. But Milans goalkeeper, Dida, made the diving save.

Once Milan settled down, the game was evenlymatched, and neither side could break through the oth-ers tough defense. It seemed as if the two coaches hadprepared their teams so well that the defenses could an-

ticipate every attack.The Milan team was filled with veteran World Cup

winners and European Champions such as Paolo Maldiniand Clarence Seedorf, but its superstar was young num-

ber twenty-two: Kak. It was his heroic play in the semi-final game that had secured the victory over Manchester

United and propelled the Rossoneri (Milans nickname, re-ferring to their red and black uniforms) to this final game.Liverpool was well aware of the threat Kak posed and

used its defensive midfielder Javier Mascherano to dogMilans most creative playmaker and pressure him con-stantly. The tactic seemed to work. Kak and his wholeteam mustered only one shot on goal during the first half,and it was easily saved by Liverpools keeper Pepe Reina.

A minute before halftime, Kak was fouled just out-side of Liverpools penalty area, giving a free kick toMilan. Their free kick specialist Andrea Pirlo placedthe silver and blue-starred game ball on the turf twenty-three yards from the goal in the center of the field. Tenyards back, Liverpool lined up eight men in a wall to


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A Champion Among Champions

set plays like this were always dangerous opportunitiesfor a team to score a goal. Would this one put Milanahead at halftime? Would the Milan shooter go straightfor the goal, looking for a way around Liverpools wall?Or would he pass to a teammate who could take a quickshot from another angle?

Milans striker Filippo Inzaghi had lined up on theedge of Liverpools wall. As soon as Pirlo struck the ball,he turned and sprinted toward the goal. The shot bent

around the inside edge of the wall, curling toward theleft side of the goal. Goalkeeper Reina dove to his leftand looked like he would cover the shot. But as Inzaghiturned to look back, the ball struck him on the shoulderand deflected back toward the other side of the goal, be-hind Reina. Goal Milan!

The goal gave Milan momentum that they carriedinto the second half, pressing their attack as Liverpoolsdefense began to weaken. The score remained 1 0, how-ever, until the final ten minutes.

In an effort to come from behind as the end of the gameapproached, Liverpool substituted in another attackerto try to come up with an equalizing goal. LiverpoolsMascherano went out, and Kak quickly made the mostof the opportunity. Shaking Mascheranos shadow, Kakquickly found some freedom and space on the field. Rightaway he chipped a pass to Inzaghi in front of the opengoal, but the striker couldnt get the shot on goal.

A few minutes later, Kak received a pass and drib- bled the ball with lots of open space toward Liverpools


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a crisp through-ball between three defenders. Inzaghirushed through from across the center and had only thegoalie between him and net. With one touch he pushedthe ball toward the baseline to avoid the charging Reina.Then, from a difficult angle, he sent the ball rolling be-neath the goalies dive, across the goal mouth, and intothe opposite side net. Goal!

Inzaghi ran to the corner and grabbed the corner flag.He fell to his knees pumping his fists and shouting, then

lowered his face to the ground. Kak was the first team-mate to run and embrace him. Milan had a 2 0 lead.

Liverpool attacked desperately and received a cornerkick in the eighty-ninth minute. The ball sailed in to thenear corner of the goal box. It was headed across the goaltoward Dirk Kuyt near the far post, and Kuyt headed the

ball into the back of the net to cut the lead in half.Two years ago these very same teams had faced offin the 2005 Champions League final. AC Milan tooka 3 0 lead into halftime, only to see the Liverpool un-

believably fight back to send the game into a shootouttiebreaker, then win on penalty kicks. Could the Redsfind another miracle comeback?

But time was on Milans side in this game, and thereferee blew his final whistle three minutes later. TheRossoneri were the champions of Europe and arguablyof the whole world.

The Italian fans went wild, and Liverpool fans cried.Kak and his teammates celebrated joyously, and fanscheered and sang in the stands as confetti rained onto the


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A Champion Among Champions

Kak celebrates after beating Liverpool 21 to win the Champions A s s o c

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Toward the Goal

with big black lettering that said I belong to Jesus inEnglish. The Brazilian star ran a victory lap around thefield cheering and waving both arms to the fans as a clus-ter of cameramen and photographers tried to keep up.Finally, Milan was presented with the huge silver cup.

The victory completed an amazing year for Kak, butthere were even more accolades to come. Many sportsmagazines had been calling Kak the best player in theworld. In October he was officially named the Federation

Internationale des Associations de FootballeursProfessionnels (FIFPro) 2007 World Player of the Year,voted on by more than forty-five thousand soccer profes-sionals around the world.

In December he received the prestigious Ballon dOr,or Golden Ball, for the best player in the world by France

Football magazine. And later that month, Kak wasvoted the FIFA World Player of the Year by the worldsnational team coaches and captains.

Its really special for me it was a dream for me justto play for So Paulo and one game for Brazil, Kaksaid when he accepted the golden trophy. But the Biblesays God can give you more than you even ask for, andthat is what has happened in my life.

Kak had been dreaming big since he was a boy, andhis faith had carried him even when the odds seemedlong that he would ever become a soccer player. But withhard work, determination, and humility he had reachedgreat heights. This is the story of how it all happened and how he continues to persevere to stay at the top of


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A Boy in Brazil

Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite was known as

Ricardinho, which means Little Richard or Ricky,for the earliest years of his life. But when his younger brother, Digo, began learning to speak, he couldnt pro-nounce his brothers name. Kak (pronounced ka-KA)was the best he could do, and the name stuck.

The boys were both born in Braslia, the capitalof Brazil. The city had only been built in 1960, whenPresident Juscelino Kubitschek ordered the capital to bemoved from the Atlantic coast to the countrys interiorsavanna region. The nations constitution had called forthe capital to be moved closer to the nations center asearly as 1891. But the world-famous city Rio de Janeirohad remained the seat of the government. City plannerslaid out Braslia carefully, and from high up in the sky the


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Kak and Digo knew the place simply as home.Their father, Bosca Izecson Pereira Leite, was a civil en-gineer, and their mother, Simone Cristina Santos Leite,a teacher. Both parents loved them very much and tookgood care of their sons.

Mr. Leites job brought a move to Cuiab, a city aboutsix hundred miles west of Braslia, when Kak was four.The family moved to So Paulo when Kak was sevenyears old, and this city became their permanent home.

Kak began attending school at the Colegio BaptistaBrasileiro, or Brazilian Baptist School. He was a calm,shy kid in school. He was an excellent student whoearned good grades, and his teachers hoped that hemight grow up one day to be a doctor or engineer.

Like most boys his age, he also enjoyed sports. Heloved bodyboarding and trying to surf when his familyvacationed at the beach. At home, tennis was his favoritefor a while, and he dreamed of winning professional ten-nis tournaments one day. That was before he got seriousabout soccer, or futebol as its called in Brazil.

Kaks first memory of soccer is of going with hisfather to watch So Paulo play when he was eight. Atschool he began playing futsal , a Brazilian version of in-door soccer played with a smaller ball. That same yeara P.E. teacher named Enio told Mr. and Mrs. Leite thatthey should enroll their son in a special soccer academy.They took his advice and signed Kak up for a soccerclub. In a Brazilian TV story years later, Enio remem-


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A Boy in Brazil

most of the kids, but still being patient with those whowerent as talented as he was.

Mr. Leite also paid for a membership to train atthe So Paulo Football Clubs facilities. Like teams inEurope, professional soccer teams in Brazil have theirown academies. They even have youth teams so theycan coach and develop childrens soccer talents. As com-petition gets tougher as age groups rise, the clubs watchfor special talent and hope to find their future profes-sional players.

Founded in 1935, So Paulo FC had a long, rich his-tory. It is the most successful club in Brazil, according

G l o b

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I m a g e s

Kak started playing soccer at a young age. Here he plays with aball in his house in Brazil.


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and is considered the third most popular club behindFlamengo and Corinthians.

The club takes its name from the city where its lo-cated. So Paulo is Brazils largest metropolis. In fact,it has one of the largest populations in the entire world,with about 20 million people in its metropolitan area.The differences between So Paulo and Rio de Janeirohave been compared to the rivalry between Americancities Los Angeles and New York City. Like Los Angeles,

Rio is set in a beautiful coastal and natural setting; itis famous for its flamboyant Carnaval celebrations, bigglitzy parties, and parades. So Paulo is more like NewYork, and is known for its art, culture, and sophistica-tion. It is often described as having a European flavor.

Brazil itself is the fifth-largest nation in the world,

with nearly 200 million people. Like many SouthAmerican countries there is a great deal of poverty.Living conditions for working class citizens are consid-ered impoverished by Western standards. Most peoplefall into either the poor or wealthy classes, with a verysmall middle class in between.

So Paulo is a wealthier city in general, and SoPaulo FC was traditionally known as the team of theupper classes. By comparison, Corinthians was founded

by members of So Paulos working class and has main-tained strong support from that sector of the population.

Kaks family was financially comfortable because both of his parents were well-educated professionals.They were able to pay for Kaks soccer academy tuition


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A Boy in Brazil

skills, but he would still have to prove himself on thefield if he wanted to progress.

Besides, at the time, Kak was unaware of the socialstructures around him. He was simply a young boy play-ing a fun game.

One Name Wonders

Kak, Ronaldo, Pel, Ronaldinho, Dida, Lucio, Fred . . . thelist of Brazilian players who go by only one name goes on andon. So whats with the one name? Its not only a tradition ofBrazilian soccer players; many people in Brazil go by only onename. Its so common that some phone books in Brazil evenlist them that way rather than by their full names. The onename can be the persons first name, last name, a contraction

of the two, or a completely unrelated nickname. Referring tosomeone by their first name or nickname is a sign of closefriendship. In Brazil, calling someone by his nickname showsboth care and respect for the person.

There is no definitive answer for where the traditionbegan. Some say it could have roots in a traditional highilliteracy rate people went by one shorter name to avoidspelling and writing the full name. Others say the traditionmay date back to the time of slavery, when slaves were oftenrecorded and called by only one name. Whats certain is thatthe tradition today is all about personality and individuality.And Brazils fans love the closeness they feel with playersthey call by one name.

While Brazil is best known for the tradition, other countrieswith a large number of one-name players include Portugal,


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Brazil

Brazil, or Brasil as its spelled in Portuguese, is the largest

country in South America, covering nearly half of the continentand bordering all South American countries except Chile andEcuador. Its neighbors to the north are Venezuela, Guyana,Suriname, and French Guiana. Its bordered to the northeast,east, and southeast by the Atlantic Ocean. To the south isUruguay, and to the southwest are Argentina and Paraguay.It borders Bolivia and Peru on the west, and Columbia tothe northwest. Its the fifth-largest country in the world afterRussia, Canada, China, and the United States (when Hawaii,Alaska, and the territories are included).

Prior to the arrival of European explorers, the area thatis now Brazil was populated by indigenous groups. Explorersfrom Portugal arrived in the 1500s and named their new land

Brazil after the pau-brasil wood from which they made reddye. Brazil was settled by the Portuguese and remains theonly Portuguese-speaking country in South America as aresult of its colonial history.

The majority of Brazils 197 million people live in Brazilscapital city of Braslia or in its largest cities, So Paulo andRio de Janeiro. So Paulo is one of the worlds most populouscities with a population of around 19 million people. But whilemost of the population is concentrated near the coast, theland of Brazil is incredibly diverse. Brazil is framed by two ofthe worlds largest river systems: the Amazon in the north,and the Paran River in the south. It has the worlds largestrain forest but also includes savannah, wetlands, highlands,and the coastal areas.

And Brazil is rich with natural resources. It has the


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biodiversity. In fact, enough water flows out of the Amazoneach day to keep New York City supplied for 10 years!Historically much of the land has been exploited, but there

have been increased efforts in recent years to preserve andutilize the countrys natural resources. While the country stillstruggles with high crime in areas and unequal distribution ofwealth, it is progressing as a nation. By utilizing its vast naturalresources and a large labor pool, it has become a regionaleconomic power and leader in South America.


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