AC Milan captain Paolo Maldini has decided to delay his retirement by a season, the Serie A club said on Friday.

"AC Milan communicate that captain Paolo Maldini's contract has been extended until June 30 2009," read a statement on the club's official website.

Maldini had planned to quit in May, but was expected to bow to pressure from club bosses and team mates to play another season.

Italian media reported in recent days that the defender was again thinking of quitting because of differences with Milan over his contract renewal, but officials' confidence that these could be smoothed over turned out to be justified.

The one-club player, who turns 40 later this month, has won five UEFA Champions League/European Cups and seven Serie A titles during his 23-year stint in Milan's first team.

Kaka has been ruled out of Brazil's 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ qualifiers against Paraguay and Argentina this month after undergoing surgery on his knee two weeks ago, the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) said Wednesday.

The AC Milan playmaker had the operation on his left knee on 23 May and coach Dunga has decided that it would be too soon for him to play in the two games, the CBF said.

Brazil visit Paraguay, leaders of the South American FIFA World Cup qualifying group, on 15 June and host arch-rivals Argentina three days later.

The CBF said that Milan had sent a document setting 10 June as the day the FIFA World Player of the Year could resume training.

"Due to the deadline established by Milan, we decided not to take any risks with the player, who is in a recovery phase," Dunga told the CBF website (www.cbf.com.br).

"His participation in these two games would be premature."

Brazil are in the United States, where they beat Canada 3-2 in a friendly last Saturday and face another game against Venezuela on Friday.