Saturday, March 7, 2009

Felipe: Kaka is going nowhere


There was a particularly poignant meeting at the Al Sadd stadium this week when three Brazilians were reunited after playing against each other at youth level in Brazil, and later donning the illustrious blue and yellow national team colours together.

Two of them have since become the best football players in the world, whilst the other - Felipe George, has become the best football player in Qatar.

"It was nice to meet Ronaldinho and Kaka again," Felipe told Al Jazeera with a smile.

"I know them very well from Brazil, where I played against them, and from playing together in the national team.

"They are happy to visit me here in Qatar, and to talk about life here and family ties."

With such a wide range of topics on the agenda in the Doha reunion, Felipe also revealed that Kaka was never seriously considering the astronomical offer from Manchester City’s UAE based owners in January.

'Milan boy'

"He likes Milan. It is his house, Kaka is a Milan boy," Felipe said, before adding that transfer rumours linking Kaka to Real Madrid in the summer were also wide of the mark.

"He wants to stay at Milan for his whole life if possible."

Felipe – widely touted as the best player to ply his trade in Qatar in a sparkling career for Al Sadd - said he would also catch up with the host of other Brazilian players in the Milan side.

"I also know the others, Emerson, Dida, Tiago, it's nice that they are here and very good for Qatar that a team like Milan comes here.

"The Qatari players can learn a lot from these stars and improve in the process."

The left-footed Brazilian was seen introducing Ronaldinho and Kaka to long serving Al Sadd captain Jaffal Rashid al-Kuwari, who is bidding farewell to football in spectacular style with the game against AC Milan.

Jaffal honoured

"Jaffal is a very good professional and a good person too," Felipe said.

"Unfortunately he is stopping now but I hope he continues with us outside of the pitch."

The Brazilian himself has been tipped to follow his playing career in Qatar with a coaching role, but said he still had a few years left before thinking about a switch to coaching.

Current Qatar coach Bruno Metsu told Al Jazeera that the visit of the Milan players would be "a beautiful present for Jaffal as well as the fans."

"He was a stellar player for Qatar and he deserves this moment against some of the best players in the world. This is a fantastic moment when Milan comes to Qatar."

For Felipe, that moment offered the chance to catch up with a whole host of compatriots.

"But I hope they don’t play at 100%," he added with a grin.

"And scoring against Dida, that will be especially difficult."

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