This past weekend, football was secondary. Seeing 25 year-old Livorno midfielder Piermario
Morosini collapse on the pitch put everything in perspective once again for the football world just
weeks after Fabrice Muamba's similar heart attack on the field against Tottenham. Only on Saturday,
Morosini wasn't as lucky and died en route to the hospital.
It's only the Paraguayan third division, but any sort of professional football will be good for
the man with a bullet in his brain.
Salvador Cabanas, shot in the head in a Mexico City bar just over two years ago, recently played
a friendly with his former club side, Club America. Getting back to competitive football required
two notches, so he saddled up with his hometown club, 12 de Octubre of Itaugua.
Overcoming adversity: Three Extraordinary achievements by the modern football players -
originally posted on Soccerlens.com
Sports Illustrated and Gillette Odor Shield Sweat for Greatness contest is celebrating
extraordinary achievements of ordinary men and here on Soccerlens, we are going to look at
extraordinary achievements of modern day footballers.
There were lots of big friendlies this week with lots of big publicity Germany v Brazil and
Italy v Spain don't exactly happen every day. There was even a big friendly involving Mexico,
taking on their northern rivals, the US.
But perhaps the biggest was in Mexico City, where Salvador Cabanas, Paraguayan international,
enjoyed a friendly in his honor after being shot in the head in a bar some months back.
Paraguay staged a friendly against Mexican side America in Mexico City yesterday to honour
Salvador Cabanas, the striker who was shot in the head at close range in a Mexico
City bar back in late January 2010 and miraculously lived to tell the tale with the bullet still
lodged in his brain.
Copa America 2011: Paraguay and an inspirational secret weapon is a post from: Just Football
Favourites they may not be, but if it's a dark horse you're looking for at this year's Copa
America then Paraguay motivated by special and heartwarming circumstances might be the one. Ralph
Hannah reports from Asunción:
Paraguay will kick off their 2011 Copa America campaign in
Argentina on Sunday afternoon against Ecuador in Santa Fe.
Remember the desperate plight of Salvador Cabanas, the former Club America striker that was shot
in the head from close range in a Mexico City bar back in January of last year?
Almost an exact calendar year after the near-fatal shooting took place, Cabanas has miraculously
taken to the field again training with Paraguayan club Libertad with the bullet still lodged deep
in the back of his brain.
Paraguay is probably the least known team left in the World Cup, but the team has one of the
world's most passionate fans. In fact this fan is so important to the Paraguay national team that
they have dedicated their impressive Cup run to the man. Who is this avid fan?
The big picture is the final picture from four years in Germany: Fabio Cannavaro hoisting the
trophy above his head amidst the confetti as Marcello Lippi's men celebrated around him. Lippi's
back after a two year sabbatical and so too are the champions, in South Africa to defend their
trophy.
Slovakia often gets confused in the geographically and culturally challenged United States with
Slovenia. But the Repre unlike the Slovenes feature incredible quality and top flight talent up
and down the squad. Marek Hamsik of Napoli is the biggest name in the squad, but he is far from
alone in providing the potency Slovakia relies on going forward.
Paraguay's World Cup 2010 will be the story of three strikers: the perpetually injured golden
boy Roque Santa Cruz, the tragically absent Salvador Cabanas and his surprise replacement, Lucas
Barrios.
Cabanas was one of Paraguay's key players throughout qualifying, leading the team in scoring and
providing a fighting mentality atop the line.
There were plenty of players left out of preliminary World Cup squads yesterday. In fact, the
majority of people eligible to play were left out. For example, I can play right back as well as
center back, yet Fabio Capello didn't call me. Instead he called Jamie Carragher, who had declared
himself unavailable for international duty.
Our dear friend in futbol Andrew McDonald, who lives in Mexico City, gives us a series of photos of
tributes erected at Estadio Azteca to Club America forward Salvador Cabanas who was shot in the
head earlier this year.
(click on pictures to enlarge)
See many more of Andrew's great photos on his Flickr page.
Salvador Cabañas's recovery from the gun attack which left him with a bullet lodged in his brain
'could take years' according to doctors, and doubts persist over whether the Paraguay international
will ever play football again.
As we reported earlier this year, Club America striker Cabañas was assaulted and shot in the head
in a Mexico City bar on the 25th January, after a night out with friends and family turned sour.
Footballers overcoming adversity to play the beautiful game - originally posted on
Soccerlens.com
Despite the common trait of footballers being poor role models and lacking integrity, some
players and their backgrounds can inspire you. The majority of footballers have an enviable life
and everything they could ever imagine on a silver platter, but these combatants have had to
overcome adversity to play the beautiful game.
Victoria Beckham, sole provider of Harper Seven's ridiculous wardrobe, covers the March 2012
edition of Numero Tokyo in a to-die-for turquoise leather trench.
To put things into perspective, this was the "highlight" of our weekends.
Saturday
- Former Paraguay striker, Salvador Cabanas, made his triumphant return to professional
football, two years after nearly dying from a gun shot to the head that's fragments are still
partially lodged in his skull.
Il cammino dell'Italia nel mondiale sudafricano inizierà a Città del capo il
14 Giugno, avversario il Paraguay. La nazionale sudamericana, che può vantare nel
suo palmares due successi in Coppa America (53-79) e una medaglia d'argento alle
Olimpiadi di Atene nel 2004, è alla sua ottava partecipazione ad un mondiale, la
quarta consecutiva.
The Wayne Bridge-John Terry saga has reached new heights.
Bridge has taken himself out of national-team consideration for the World Cup, further depleting
England's options at left back and adding another chapter to an ugly story for the Three Lions.
Sky Sports reports that Bolton manager Owen Coyle "claims no decision has been taken as yet
regarding a permanent deal" for Sebastien Le Toux.
Jonathan Tannenwald tweets, "A Union source says the team 'would not use Tim Ream as a
benchmark' in any negotiations over Le Toux regarding transfer fee.
Due to a problem with our host's server, the Philly Soccer Page was offline for
approximately an hour and a half on Tuesday night. We apologize for the interruption.
Union
The Union will introduce "a new team member" at Fado's on Thursday. Doors open at 11:30am with
the introduction scheduled for noon.
Spain's second 1-0 victory allowed them to squeeze past Paraguay in the World Cup quarterfinal.
Once again, El Guaje pulled La Furia Roja through the finishing line. Also for the second match
running, Spain dominated possession (60%) over the opposition. They must be excited at the prospect
of an open semifinal encounter against the counter-attacking Germans.
>> Click Here To Watch Paraguay VsSpain Live Now <<
Paraguay Vs Spain Live Streaming & Match Preview
FIFA World Cup 2010 – Paraguay Vs Spain Live Online Click Here
Saturday, July 3rd 2010
Kick Off : 19:30 BST
Venue : Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg South Africa
The World Cup quarter-finals fixture between Paraguay and Spain will take place at the Ellis
Park Stadium on Saturday 3rd July 2010, kick-off set for 7:30 PM.
Yuichi Komano's penalty shot hits the crossbar and bounces out. Disaster for Japan. The
Paraguayans made all their spot kicks and bounced out Japan, 5-3.
Check out Keisuke Honda cool as a cucumber with his shot. But so was Oscar Cardozo.
The day is a little brighter, your step a little lighter, as the US tops Group C to face Ghana
in the Round of 16. Here's a quick roundup of how the victory is being reported:
CSN Washington wonders is the victory over Algeria the greatest moment is US Soccer history.
U.
The spirit of Salvador Cabanas is definitely on the Paraguayans in their match.
The Albiroja are looking awfully good, pressing up forward in numbers, hustling the
Slovaks off the ball.
The goal came from a delectable move by Lucas Barrios slipping past Skrtel and Durica and
finding Enrique Vera who kept his composure under pressure to toe poke the ball past Jan Mucha in
the 27th minute.
You won't hear any complaints coming out of the defending champs' camp, as the Italians have been
paired with unfancied New Zealand, Paraguay and Slovakia. While the Azzurri should advance, the
battle is on for the second sport in the round of 16. Here's my take on Group F.
Italy will look to recapture the magic of their 2006 title run quite literally, with a
roster heavy on World Cup veterans.
Today is the day aspiring World Cup players have been waiting for, and in some cases
dreading.
Today is the day the final 23-man rosters for all 32 World Cup teams are finalized, and while
the U.S. national team took away the suspense for American fans by naming its team last Wednesday,
there is still plenty of intrigue around the world.
Davy Arnaud and Ryan Smith in action against Chivas USA. Today, the Wizards take on the Los
Angeles Galaxy at 5 p.m. CT (4 p.m. Arizona time) in another preseason friendly. We'll have
semi-live updates here and on Twitter. Don't forget that President Robb Heineman is down there and
will likely be tweeting.
The last thing most people were thinking about after Salvador Cabanas was shot in the head last
week was whether he could still play in the World Cup. For Cabanas, who is recovering and in stable
condition, the World Cup is a dream he is still holding on to.
Cabanas has regained consciousness and is movig his limbs and is expected to leave intensive
care soon, and reports out of Mexico have revealed that the Paraguayan striker told his father he
plans on playing in the World Cup.
Denmark faced an uphill climb to advance from a group billed by many as the "Group of Depth",
that task just got more difficult as star striker Nicklas Bendtner looks set to miss their opening
clash against the Netherlands. The striker has been suffering with a nagging groin injury that
looks set to knock him out of the Danes' first match of the World Cup.
Denmark faced an uphill climb to advance from a group billed by many as the "Group of Depth",
that task just got more difficult as star striker Nicklas Bendtner looks set to miss their opening
clash against the Netherlands. The striker has been suffering with a nagging groin injury that
looks set to knock him out of the Danes' first match of the World Cup.
In case you hadn't heard, the Mexican club had a second player shot. Fortunately, it doesn't appear
to be life-threatening, but you have to think they are full in the karma bank right now.
For a Salvador Cabanas update, he could be talking to police soon about the attack and his doctor
said he could even by available for the World Cup.
The Glasgow Daily Record reports that DaMarcus Beasley has had his car deliberately set on fire and
destroyed Monday night.
dN
Oh fine! Add Ricardo Clark to your Team USA injury list. German newspaper Hessischer Rundfunk
says:
"Ricardo Clark has a right calf strain," said Eintracht spokesman Carsten Knoop on Tuesday evening.
U.S. men's national team striker DaMarcus Beasley's very expensive BMW was fire-bombed yesterday in
Glasgow, Scotland. Beasley, of course, is a first-team regular with SPL leaders Rangers.
Sounds like Beasley was targeted in the attacks. The Sun reports that Beasley heard tires
screeching outside his home and then he saw his car ablaze.
