The final Major League Soccer game of the year at Orlando City Stadium just became a lot more meaningful.

The Lions are eliminated from playoff contention and facing a team that already clinched a postseason spot. The only thing left to play for was pride — before Kaká announced it will be his final MLS match.

Orlando City (10-13-9, 39 points) wants to honor its captain by sending him off with a victory against the Columbus Crew (15-12-5, 50 points) at 5 p.m. Sunday.

“It’s been an absolute pleasure and an honor for me to be playing alongside him, and I think everyone else [feels] the same,” Lions defender Scott Sutter said. “It’s definitely going to be a sad one to see him go. I sent him a personal message as well thanking him, and we just want finish it for him the right way, so he can go on his next adventure with the memory of getting his last home win.”

Attendance to the last couple of Orlando City home games was lower than normal. Orlando City CEO Alex Leitão and majority owner Flávio Augusto da Silva called for fans to pack the stadium to say good-bye to a legend.

Columbus could make it difficult for Orlando City to celebrate at the end of 90 minutes. The Lions have struggled in previous meetings, with the Crew accounting for their first loss of the season 2-0 in March and a 1-1 draw at home in August.

Midfielder Justin Meram can be a handful for Orlando City. He’s second in goals (13) and assists (7) for the Crew.

In addition to three points for Kaká, Lions coach Jason Kreis said the team needs three points to reach it new objective of finishing seventh in the Eastern Conference, the highest Orlando City can now climb.

“Of course we have [three] other teams with the exact same points in our conference, so we’ve got a little two-game mini tournament,” Kreis said.

The other teams with 39 points are the Montreal Impact, New England Revolution and Philadelphia Union, ranked seventh through ninth, respectively. Orlando City is in 10th place with one less win than the first two teams and the worst goal differential of the bunch at -13.

Kreis also said he’ll observe players’ mentality and effort during the match, and how they play when there is seemingly no competitive reward.

“I think it’s really interesting, just like when you’re playing in a game that’s 4-nil, to see your players’ reactions,” Kreis said. “To look around at the players, look around at the training mentality, look around at what they put into the matches and use that information because you have to make difficult decision coming up here very shortly.”

Kreis acknowledged a different “air” to the group this week since the team officially is out of the playoffs. Last week, there still was hope, optimism and joy, he said.

If playoff elimination is responsible for deflated energy, maybe playing for Kaká will bring it back.

“Right now we have two games left to show that we care, show that we want to be here, show that these games still mean a lot to us,” midfielder Servando Carrasco said. “We still want to win. We still want to spoil the party for Columbus and Philly. I think the game on Sunday will be a good one. It’s an opportunity for us to show our gratitude.”

ardelgallo@orlandosentinel.com