Nacional defender Rodriguez dies after car crash
Reuters - Saturday 11 September 2010, 15:33
MONTEVIDEO - Defender Diego Rodriguez of
Uruguayan side Nacional died on Saturday aged 22 after suffering
head injuries in a car crash.
The Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) suspended football matches at all levels.
"The fixtures of both professional football and juniors has
been suspended," AUF president Sebastian Bauza told Reuters.
Nacional, one of Uruguay's two bigs clubs with champions
Penarol, had already postponed Sunday's league match against
Bella Vista so they could support Rodriguez's family.
Rodriguez suffered a fractured skull, brain damage,
punctured liver, broken ribs and other injuries in the crash
with a truck on Montevideo's seafront boulevard on Thursday.
The player's father, Juan Jacinto Rodriguez, arrived in
Montevideo on Friday from the United Arab Emirates where he
works as an assistant to former Uruguay coach Jorge Fossati at
al-Shabab.
Rodriguez, a left back who emerged from the Nacional junior
ranks, made his first team debut in February 2009. He had
started all three of Nacional's matches so far this seasn in the
Apertura championship.
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