https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA5sW9_y1mQ
There was rightly much fanfare when Orlando City announced last summer the team would bring in former FIFA Ballon D’Or winner Kaka.
Even at Kaka’s age, nearing the end of his career, he is a game-changing player. He immediately draws defense’s respect and demands the ball to make his team better.
Kaka as a midfielder has set up countless goals with his ability to attack defenders as they retreat and has set up Cyle Larin and others plenty of times with his precise free kicks and crosses and the attention he receives.
The results when Orlando City has been without Kaka have been pretty bad, just from looking at the scoreline — a 2-0 home loss to FC Dallas and a 4-1 loss at Toronto FC. Things just get so much worse when you realize what an impact Kaka has on a game for the Lions.
Not getting him the ball just destroys the connection between the midfield and the offense. And even on offense, players defer to him too much at that critical moment. Kaka has to do a lot for Orlando City to be successful.
Kaka’s raw stats are pretty strong — nine goals and four assists in 23 games. He is not racking up a ton of the counting stats, but his impact is really undeniable when you dig a bit deeper.
According to American Soccer Analysis, Kaka has a touch percentage of 9.7 percent, meaning he possesses the ball for about 10 percent of the game. This is not amazing in itself. Several players are at 10 percent or better.
Where things get interesting is when looking at his expected goals, key passes (passes that lead directly to a shot) and expected assists (the sum of expected goals off shots taken from a key pass). Here, Kaka’s numbers start to look very very good.
While Kaka has scored nine goals, his expected goals are at 7.92. His expected assists are at 4.09. Roughly, Kaka is producing at about a level commensurate to his play.
Where things differ is in those key passes.
Kaka has racked up 45 key passes this season. Only Columbus’ Federico Higuain, Vancouver’s Pedro Morales, Real Salt Lake’s Javier Morales and Sporting Kansas City’s Benny Feilhaber have created more. In simpler terms, Kaka is one of the best playmakers at creating shots in the entire league.
When adding expected goals and expected assists, Kaka has 12.02. Only NYCFC’s David Villa and Toronto FC’s Sebastian Giovinco are better. Again, Kaka is leading the league in goal creation and shot creation.
So where is everyone else on Orlando in these categories?
Cyle Larin has 11 goals, but is outperforming his advanced stats with 7.43 expected goals. More alarmingly, he has only six key passes this year. The rookie is still learning to improve as a holding forward and creating plays and opportunities on offense as the attack catches up to him.
Brek Shea, currently out with an injury, has only 13 key passes this year. Luke Boden, who is mostly a defender but comes up on the attack from the left side, has 22 key passes in his short playing stint since Shea moved to the midfield more permanently. Christian Higuita has just 15 key passes and 1.29 expected assists. Darwin Ceren is on the ball for 12.4 percent of the team’s touches, but has just two goals and 20 key passes to his credit.
The list goes on and on. No one is making anywhere near a similar impact to the game as Kaka. He is doing everything but scoring the goals it seems (that job falls to Larin for the most part).
That likely explains much of the offensive bind Orlando City has found itself in of late. When teams can choke off Kaka, outmuscle him off the ball or take him out of his game, the Lions are going to struggle everywhere. They are not going to create shots without Kaka on the pitch.
So as the Lions prepare for some critical September games with Kaka out on international duty, they have to ask themselves how do they create goals?
Without Kaka, it has been extremely difficult for Orlando City in this inaugural season.
