Orlando City boss compelled to rest Kaka

Orlando City head coach Jason Kreis has insisted that he has had to take a tough decision to leave skipper Kaka owing to recent comeback from an injury.

The Lions played out a 1-1 draw against Seattle Sounders in the midweek Major League Soccer clash, where the field was made of artificial turf. The surface has not gone well with many players worldwide as they feel that there is more risk of getting injuries due to the changes in the flow of the game.

In spite of this, Kaka, now 35, played the full 90 minutes of the Wednesday clash despite struggling with constant injuries in recent years. Following the game, Kreis admitted that he has said ‘No’ to Kaka plenty of times before, and his recent absence was particularly due to the tight fixture schedule which required three games to be completed in a week.

He told the Orlando Sentinel: “No, plenty of times before.We’ve done it on multiple occasions this year, where he’s felt like he was ready and we’ve said, ‘No,’. When he first came back from his injury, I think it was the game at New York City where he felt like he was ready to go and we said, ‘No, we think we need a little bit more time here.Lots of times you have to deliver those difficult messages. I guess that's what you get paid for.”

Kreis added that his team is fighting hard to bag three points following a dip in form, and the staff has a lot of trust in the players to come up with the goods in the coming games.Kaka is currently the highest paid player in Major League Soccer with wages of around $7,000,000 paid annually. His team are currently placed fourth in the Eastern Conference, but they could be overtaken by the likes of Columbus, Atlanta United and New York Red Bulls, who are also vying for the playoff spots.