Good wishes to Salvador Cabanas Ortega

I don’t know how many of you will have heard of Salvador Cabanas Ortega. The twenty-nine year old Paraguay international striker plays his football for Club America in the Mexican Primera Division.

Prolific

He is a prolific goal-scorer who is a well respected player and was expected to represent Paraguay at the recent World Cup.

Cabanas has scored sixty-six goals in one hundred and fifteen games for Club America having scored one hundred and four goals in two hundred and one games for various teams before that. He has found the net ten times in forty-four international games for Paraguay.

Scorer

In 2003 Cabanas was the top scorer in the Chilean football league. In 2006 he was top scorer in the Mexican Primera Division. In 2007 he was the top scorer in the Copa Libertadores, Paraguayan footballer of the year, South American footballer of the year, selected in the ‘ideal team for South America and the second top goal-scorer in the world. In 2008 he was top scorer in the Copa Libertadores and voted the best player in the Clausura tournament. He is the all time top scorer for any Mexican teams in the Copa Libertadores.

Feature

That is not a bad record, so you may well be wondering why he didn’t feature in the South African World Cup.

The answer is simple. Six months ago, whilst enjoying a drink in a Mexico City bar he was shot in the head from close range. He survived the attack, but it is not known if he will play again.

Bullet

The bullet that nearly killed him is still lodged in his skull as doctors say it is too dangerous to remove it. He spent over a month in hospital and is still undergoing rehabilitation in Argentina but he has regained much of his mobility and was well enough to give evidence at a hearing in Paraguay about his case earlier this week.

The hearing heard that Cabanas and his wife were in Bar Bar which is in an up-market part of Mexico City when he was shot at close range. A motive for the attack has not been identified.

Judge

The Paraguayan judge who took the hearing in Asuncion in Paraguay said of Cabanas,

“He only mentions vague memories that he’s been having of that moment. He cannot remember the faces of those who attacked him.”

The suspected attacker, Jose Balderas Garza, has not been caught but in June, police arrested an alleged accomplice, Francisco Barreto Garcia.

Obviously

Obviously we do not know the ins and outs of what went on or why anyone felt the need to take the terrible actions they took in that bar in Mexico, but I am sure that you would all like to join me in wishing Cabanas a full and speedy recovery and hope that we will get the chance to see him again on the football field.