By MIKE GRAMAJO
SANFORD, Fla. — After much anticipation, Orlando City SC’s first-ever designated player, Kaka, will make his unofficial debut for the club.
Orlando City are set to take on FC Dallas in a friendly match on Wednesday, which will see Brazilian star Kaka take the field for the very first time since signing with the Lions last summer.
“I think he’ll have some time tomorrow,” Heath told reporters after practice. “He’s still in that position of gradually picking his work up, but I would expect him to have some minutes tomorrow.”
The former AC Milan ace missed the first week of preseason camp after going back to his native Brazil to work on his Visa, but he was seen training with the club on Tuesday ahead of Orlando’s friendly matches to occur in the coming weeks.
Here are some more Orlando City notes from Tuesday practice:
RIVAS OUT 7-10 DAYS AFTER SUSTAINING SHOULDER KNOCK
With one international player making his way back to the club, another will make his way toward the sidelines in the meantime.
Colombian forward Carlos Rivas, 20, who scored Orlando City’s first-ever MLS preseason goal, is expected to be out of action for the next week and a half according to Heath.
“Carlos Rivas damaged his shoulder,” said Heath. “We’re going to have to see how that is over the next week – 10 days. He [Rivas] needs probably a weeks rest, and we’ll see how it is after that.”
Rivas officially joined Orlando City from Deportivo Cali last week after being heavily-linked with OCSC in the past several months. Along with 21-year-old Cristian Higuita, they make the Colombian duo that was brought over from Los Verdiblancos.
HEATH BALANCES DEPTH IN SQUAD WITH EXPERIENCED AND YOUTH
One question from preseason was whether Orlando City had enough depth to accommodate its large amount of youth players, but the latest acquisitions of Eric Avila and soon-to-be announced Paulo Andre may turn that question into a statement.
“It’s important to get a lot of depth,” said Heath. “We feel over a 10-month season, the way that this league is, and the U-20’s (World Cup) coming up, which we could have as many 6-7 players leaving as some stage for that, so we feel it’s important we get a lot of depth. The people we brought in are experienced in the league.”
Andre, who formerly won the Copa Libertadores with Corinthians in 2012, hasn’t been announced by the club, but general manager Paul McDonough said he passed his medical on Tuesday with an announcement expected in the coming days.
Man, I wish that OCSC would have made a run to get Anderson instead of letting him get back to Brazil! HGe would have been a hit and a great destroyer. Maybe they already have some one his equal or very close?
Doubtful anyone was going to match or even compete with the money he’d be making back home.
True and while in world soccer he is worth good money he isn’t DP quality. In terms of what a DP should bring to the table not his actual talent because that is DP worthy.