| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Salvador Cabañas Ortega | ||
| Date of birth | 5 August 1980 | ||
| Place of birth | Asunción, Paraguay | ||
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) | ||
| Playing position | Striker, Winger | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1998–2001 | 12 de Octubre | 28 | (14) |
| 1999 | → Guaraní (loan) | 20 | (6) |
| 2001–2003 | Audax Italiano | 53 | (29) |
| 2003–2006 | Jaguares de Chiapas | 103 | (59) |
| 2006–2010 | América | 115 | (66) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2004–2009 | Paraguay | 44 | (10) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 25 January 2010. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Salvador Cabañas Ortega (born 5 August 1980) is a Paraguayan football striker who plays for the Paraguayan national team. A prolific and natural goalscorer, he is known for his array of skills on the field such as excellent heading, accurate shooting with either foot, receptions in tight spaces, and a combination of technique, power and positional sense.[1] He was shot in the head in January 2010, but survived the attack. Sixteen months after the assault he returned to football and participated in a tribute match for him between Paraguay's national team and Club America.[2] Some doctors said that Salvador's survival is a miracle.[3]
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Cabañas started his career at club 12 de Octubre, where he was promoted to the first division by then coach Alicio Solalinde, scoring a hugely impressive 17 goals in his first season. He moved to a different team, Guaraní, where he had a brief stint before moving to Audax Italiano of Chile. In the 2003 Apertura tournament of the Chilean Primera División Cabañas netted an impressive 18 goals and was the top goalscorer.
Afterwards, he joined Jaguares of Mexico from Audax Italiano before the Mexican 2003 Apertura tournament. That season, Cabañas went on to play in 18 games for the team, scoring five goals. He came into his own in the 2004 Clausura however, as he scored 15 goals in 20 games for the club. He would lead the club in goals again in the 2004 Apertura, with eight in 16 matches.
Following the Clausura 2006 season in which Cabañas won his first goalscoring crown in the Mexican League, he attracted the attention of Club América, one of the most important clubs in the country, and was signed by the Mexico City squad prior to the Apertura 2006 season.
Cabañas became América's most prolific goalscorer for 2007, finishing up the first half of the year with an impressive 19 goals between 2007 Copa Libertadores (in which he became the top-scorer with 10 goals) and the Primera División de México. He started the second half of the year with a single goal in the North American SuperLiga, then scored 4 more goals in the 2007 Copa Sudamericana, and has scored 9 more in the Primera División de México, bringing his year's total with the club to 33 goals. His top form in 2007 earned him the Paraguayan Footballer of the Year and South American Footballer of the Year awards.
For 2008, Cabañas has started where he left off in 2007. He has scored 3 goals in the 2008 InterLiga, scored 8 in the 2008 Copa Libertadores (in which, for a consecutive second time, he became the top-scorer), and has scored 6 more goals in the Primera División de México. He started the second half of the year with 6 goals in the Primera División de México, bringing his year's total to 23 goals with the club.
Cabanas started 2009 by scoring his first goal in the 2009 InterLiga and scoring 13 more goals in the Primera División de México. He then finished the second half of the year with 12 goals in the Primera División de México. Taking his tally to 26 goals for the year. On January 18, against Santos Laguna, he scored two goals, taking his personal tally to 100 goals in the Primera División de México.[4]
In 2010, Cabañas again started the year scoring goals in the 2010 InterLiga, scoring four. In the two games he played in the 2010 Bicentenario, he scored two goals. His last game before being assaulted was on 24 January 2010 in a 2-0 loss against Morelia.[5]
Cabañas was shot in the head inside the "Bar Bar" night club in Mexico City early 25 January 2010 at 5:00 in the morning.[6] Cabañas received medical attention during the early hours of 25 January 2010.[7] Later on the day he was submitted to a craniotomy but doctors decided that it was too risky to proceed and the bullet was not extracted. According to his wife, he tried to react against a robbery,[8] although this account is disputed by reports that the assault was the result of a taunting incident in the bar's bathroom.[9] Mexican police confirmed that drug lord José Balderas Garza, alias JJ, was the man who shot him.[10]
Cabañas left intensive care in late February and was hoping to fully recover in time for the FIFA World Cup 2010 but was not selected for the final Paraguay squad.[11] Doctors dealing with Cabañas have described his recovery so far as "tremendous".[12] However, it is announced he does have short-term memory loss and may not recover for another one to three years. It is unknown if he will return to play because of the bullet that is still lodged in his brain.[13] He gave his first interview on 12 March 2010 in appreciation to all the people who prayed for him.
In June 2010 Cabañas's international team-mate Nelson Haedo Valdez stated in an interview with FourFourTwo.com that while Cabañas was in the bar he was stopping himself from getting robbed before he was shot.[14]
As of July 3, 2010[update][19]
| Goal | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 27 March 2005 | Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa, Quito, Ecuador | Ecuador | 2–0 | 2–5 | 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 2. | 28 June 2007 | Estadio José Pachencho Romero, Maracaibo, Venezuela | Colombia | 4–0 | 5–0 | 2007 Copa América |
| 3. | 28 June 2007 | Estadio José Pachencho Romero, Maracaibo, Venezuela | Colombia | 5–0 | 5–0 | 2007 Copa América |
| 4. | 2 July 2007 | Estadio Agustín Tovar, Barinas, Venezuela | United States | 3–1 | 3–1 | 2007 Copa América |
| 5. | 21 November 2007 | Estadio Nacional de Chile, Santiago, Chile | Chile | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 6. | 15 June 2008 | Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción, Paraguay | Brazil | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 7. | 11 October 2008 | Estadio El Campín, Bogotá, Colombia | Colombia | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 8. | 10 June 2009 | Estádio do Arruda, Recife, Brazil | Brazil | 1–0 | 1–2 | 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 9. | 5 September 2009 | Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción, Paraguay | Bolivia | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 10. | 10 October 2009 | Puerto Ordaz, Polideportivo Cachamay, Venezuela | Venezuela | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification |
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