Cabanas set to make professional comeback
Reuters - Friday 20 January 2012, 15:17
Former Paraguay striker
Salvador Cabanas is set to make a professional comeback two
years after almost being killed when he was shot in the head in
a Mexico City bar in January 2010.
The 31-year-old will play for Paraguayan third division 12
de Octubre, the club where he began his career in 1997 in
Itagua, 30km from Asuncion.
"I'm really well... it's very nice to recall old times, when
I started out, very young at 15. I felt really proud [then],"
Cabanas said at his official unveiling on Friday.
"We'll be out on the pitch again at any moment," he added as
he sat beside team coach Rolando Chilavert, who said Cabanas
would have to earn a first team place.
Club president Luis Salinas, speaking to Reuters earlier on
Friday, said: "He always wanted to return to the club where he
was born [as a player] and where he feels at home.
"On Monday he will put on the [team's blue and white] gear
and start training."
Cabanas, who missed the 2010 World Cup in South Africa where
he was expected to shine, was shot in the head in the bathroom
of a Mexico City bar during an argument with an alleged drugs
dealer, who was arrested last year.
After weeks in a Mexico City hospital where doctors decided
against removing the bullet, which is still lodged in his head,
Cabanas continued his recovery in a clinic in Buenos Aires
before returning home to Paraguay.
"Salvador is well. He's lacking a few things like rhythm,
speed, but he'll still continue with his treatment at the same
time as he practices with his club," his father Dionisio said.
"This is something very emotional for the family because
we've suffered a lot," he said.
Part of Cabanas's recovery has included practising as a
guest with leading Paraguayan first division side Libertad since
February 2010.
Last August he took part in a friendly between Paraguay and
his former club America, playing a few minutes for each.
Cabanas first moved abroad in 2000 when he joined Chilean
first division side Audax Italiano after helping 12 de Octubre
win promotion to the first division.
From there he moved to Chiapas in Mexico in 2003 and was
transferred to the Azteca-based America in the Mexican capital
in 2006.