A quick run through of my favourite five highlights in Paraguayan football this year. Leave your favourites in the comments section below.
5. Maurito Caballero announces arrival vs Alianza Lima
In 2011 it was Juan Iturbe for Cerro vs Colo Colo but this year we saw an amazing display from then 17-year-old Maurito Caballero in Libertad’s Libertadores opener against Alianza Lima. The Paraguayans were trailing when Caballero came on as a subsitute and he tormented the Peruvians, his shot forcing the equaliser before winning a penalty and scoring a goal himself in what turned into a 4-1 rout. Let’s hope he can finalize his move to Porto in 2013.
4. Rodolfo Gamarra’s winner in the rain
Gamarra’s epic late winner – Photo: abc.com.py
The best league game of the year in my opinion, Cerro Porteño were at the very top of the game as they looked to take the Apertura title while Burruchaga’ s Libertad had all his stars rested following their Copa Libertadores defeat. The game was played at a tremendous pace not usually attributed to Paraguayan football and with the game locked at 1-1 and about 15 minutes to go the heavens opened and a storm began. The dramatic weather was matched by the finale, almost the last kick of the game and winger Rodolfo Gamarra raced through to net the winner for Libertad before whipping his shirt off and aquiring an umbrella for his celebration.
3. Cabañas’ comeback
On April 14th the only man to finish topscorer in two consecutive Copa Libertadores, the man who took Paraguay to South Africa with his goals, finally returned to football 27 months after being shot in the head and left for dead in a Mexico City bar. Salvador Cabañas came on for the final minutes of 12 de Octubre’s first game of the season and would make several cameo apperances as they won the Paraguayan third division. Unfortunately he isn’t at the same level as before and we are yet to see a Cabañas goal, something for 2013?
2. Olimpia’s 12 minutes of madness in Rio
With 75 minutes on the clock Olimpia were trailing 3-0 to Flamengo in Rio de Janeiro, Ronaldinho was strutting his stuff as if he was still in the blue and red of Barcelona. A Pablo Zeballos freekick was the flicker of hope that sparked into life eight minutes later as his strike partner Luis Nery Caballero drilled in a left foot shot. Yet another memorable Libertadores night for El Decano was completed just two minutes from time when the Colombian Vladimir Marin equalised. It was vintage Olimpia and although they didn’t get out of the group stages, those 12 minutes evoked memories of 1979, 1990 and 2002.
1. Jonathan Fabbro’s freekick vs Olimpia to seal Apertura title
Admittedly this won’t please everybody but the poignancy of the moment can’t be overstated. The best player in the league scores a trademark freekick to win the league for his club in their centenary year. The goal put Cerro Porteño 2-0 up in the superclásico which was also the final match of the Apertura season, it ended in the team’s 9th victory in the final 11 games a run which saw them overhaul Olimpia at the top of the table.
Diego Gavilán is a Paraguayan pioneer, aged 19 he became the first player from the landlocked nation to play football in England when he joined Sir Bobby Robson’s Newcastle side in 2000. He can remember his only goal, the first by a Paraguayan in the Premier League, as if it was yesterday.
“It was a corner to Coventry” he begins “Gary Speed won the header and the ball rebounded then fell to Alan [Shearer], he played a pass into the space in front of me seeing that I had made a run down the right and I picked up the pass hit it across the goalkeeper and Gracias a Dios it was a goal”
That historic goal against Coventry – Photo: Courtesy of Diego Gavilán
Diego was more than happy to talk about his experiences with the Magpies and his successful football career on a balmy Friday evening in Asunción at the San Ignacio de Loyola school where he is currently training 4-8 year olds as he continues to study for his coaching exams. Diego explained that he was surprised to be sold ”directly from Paraguay to England at such a young age.” and also because he had been expecting to turn out for another team in black in white “at the time I was linked heavily with Juventus. But their scout, Gordon Milner came from Newcastle and did everything practically overnight and so I went there”. He mentioned that the Juventus official was in Paraguay with a contract but got there too late.
Diego said England was “very end-to-end, very physical, the person who wins the most 50/50 balls is the most loved in the stadium” a contrast to what he had experienced in Paraguay. In only his second game for the club they faced treble-winners Manchester United and as El Pampero raced for a pass over the top he was greeted by a stiff challenge from Jaap Stam “He [Stam] left his leg out for me and said ‘Welcome to the Premier League’” laughs Gavilán as he recounts that match. “They weren’t happy, we won 3-0!”
Gavilan at Newcastle
Adaptation was the key word on the Guaraní midfielder’s arrival in Tyneside “it was a totally different world, not just for me but for my family…as Bobby [Robson] told me you need at least six months to adapt yourself” before heaping praise on the former England manager. “It was a privilege to have him as a coach and the way he looked after me and at my young age” explained Diego before adding ”he was like my father”. The former Barcelona coach even racked his brain for Spanish phrases to make things easier in training for his Paraguayan player “if things got too complicated in Spanish he would look to [Nolberto] Solano to act as interpreter”.
The instructions from Alan Shearer were simple ““He just said to me ‘cross me the ball, cross me the ball and cross me the ball’” says Gavilán with a smile. He only had good things to say about Shearer who he considered “A top professional” and dismissed any thoughts that the geordie idol acted like a superstar “he is very humble, very easygoing even though he might have been a God to the fans”
L-R: Diego’s son, Diego, Ralph – Photo: Andy Ramirez
It was impossible to conduct the interview without asking Diego about his former teammate Gary Speed who he considered “one of the pillars” of that talented Newcastle side along with Alan Shearer. “I was on holiday, I found out on Twitter…it was such a shock” laments Diego “I’ll never forget that when I was called up to the 2002 World Cup… he [Speed] came up to me and said ‘Congratulations because you are one of three players to represent us at the World Cup with Shay Given and Kieron Dyer’” Diego explains. “At that time I wasn’t used that much in the first team and that gesture by him to get up and go out of his way to congratulate me is something I’ll remember…he was an example as a professional, a person and a father”
In the end, maybe for his own youthful impatience to want to play, Diego didn’t stay on at Newcastle and after a brief spell with Udinese he returned to South America where he enjoyed plenty of highs. One of the difficulties was being a substitute at Newcastle but a regular starter for the national team and ultimately he felt he needed games to ensure he kept his place with the albirroja.
Gavilan with the national team
In Brazil he won the Gaucho state championship three times with Inter and was narrowly denied a Brazilian championship medal in the controversial 2005 campaign which Diego still calls “The robbery of Kia [Joorabchian]”. The midfielder was Gaucho champion again with Gremio under current Brazil boss Mano Menezes but also suffered his biggest heartache in the 2007 Copa Libertadores losing in the final to a Juan Román Riquelme-inspired Boca Juniors just the day after his son was born.
Diego Gavilán finishes the chat saying he is thankful to football for “the friendships” he made and to have been able “to live his dream of going to a World Cup, two times”. It was a very genuine statement from a down-to-earth guy who seems to have enjoyed every minute he spent at training, on a pitch and can look back on some wonderful memories.
By Ralph Hannah
Big thank you to Andy Ramirez who set up the interview and invited me along, he runs the excellent Fanaticos Fútbol magazine which you can give a ‘me gusta’ on facebook
You probably all know who Salvador Cabañas is but he isn’t the first albirroja legend to bear that surname, back in the 1980s there was another striker with the same name on all the Paraguayan’s lips. Welcome to the Paraguay Football Blog Hall of Fame (still under construction) Roberto Cabañas.
Name: Roberto Cabañas
D.o.B: 11th April 1961
Height: 1.80 metres
Position: Striker
Domestic Clubs: Cerro Porteño, Club Libertad
Foreign Clubs: New York Cosmos, América de Cali, Brest, Lyon, Boca Juniors, Barcelona (ECU), Independiente Medellín, Real Cartagena
Honours: 2 x NASL championships, 2 x Colombian championships, Argentine championship, Copa América
The Pilar-born striker was just 18 years old when he got his first taste of glory, the 1979 Copa América was won by Paraguay for only the second time in their history. Far from the star, Cabañas was limited to the bench and appeared for just 10 minutes in the 2nd of the three finals against Chile. Julio César Romero or “Romerito” as he is better known was the teenager that made the headlines, the 18-year-old scoring three times and was one of the best player’s of that tournament. So in 1980 Romerito made his way to the NASL with Cabañas, both were signed by New York Cosmos looking for a new star after the retirment of Pelé.
A young Roberto Cabañas at Cosmos – Photo: albirroja.com
With ‘El Mago’ playing a key role alongside players such as Franz Beckenbauer and Johan Neeskens the East Coast side were dominant in his first three years, winning the trophy in 1980 and 1982, finishing runner-up in 1981. But the striker’s best season individually was in 1983 when the forward notched 25 goals in 28 games and was named MVP. That year he also scored one of the league’s most memorable goals, a stunning acrobatic strike that was voted goal of the year.
In 1985, with New York Cosmos and the NASL no more, Cabañas found himself in Cali, Colombia with América who had enjoyed sustained success the local league (winning the previous three titles) but were unable to make an impact in continental competition. The arrival of the Guaraní goalscorer continued the domestic domination and was desperately close to making América de Cali the first Colombian Copa Libertadores champions on three separate occassions. In 1985 the club won their fourth title and reached the Copa Libertadores final where they faced Argentinos Juniors inspired by midfielders Sergio Batista and Emilio Commisso. With either side winning their home leg by the single goal the final went to a third game at a neutral venue which coincidentally was Asunción, Paraguay. Once again the teams couldn’t be separated and the game went to penalties, Cabañas scored his but the Colombians lost 5-4 when Antony de Avila saw his shot saved. 1986 was a serious case of Dejá Vú as América were crowned ‘Pentacampeón’ thanks to a 3-1 win over bitter rivals Deportivo Cali in the ‘clásico vallecaucano’ with Cabañas opening the scoring. But once again they fell at the final hurdle in the Libertadores this time to River Plate, losing 2-1 in Cali and 1-0 in Buenos Aires, with El Paraguayogetting the only goal for the Los Diablos Rojos.
Switching briefly to international football and Roberto Cabañas was part of the Paraguay 1986 World Cup squad that made history by reaching the knockout stages for the first time. The achievement owed a lot to a brace the striker bagged against Belgium to secure second place in the group.
The 1987 Copa Libertadores final witnessed América’s third successive final and their third successive defeat with Cabañas playing a crucial role in all three games. In the first leg he smashed home the second goal in the 2-0 victory after his compatriot Juan Manuel Battaglia opened the scored. Peñarol were winners of their home leg 2-1, Cabañas got the consolation. In those days the finals weren’t decided on aggregate so like 1985 they went to a neutral city, this time Santiago de Chile, to decide the championship. América would lose 1-0 with a goal in the final minute of extra time but Cabañas’ final ended after 74 minutes when he was sent off for brawling with José Herrera.
Having enjoyed success in North and South America it was now time for Cabañas to try his luck in Europe and he relocated to France for several years playing for Brest and later Lyon. In the 1988/89 season Brest, who included a teenage Stephane Guivarc’h and former Rangers and Lyon manager Paul Le Guen in their side, finished second in the second division and were promoted. Cabañas played 38 games that season and scored 26 goals in all competitions. The next season was tougher for both the team, who finished tenth, and the striker who saw less game time with Gerard Buscher and Ronan Salaün the favoured forwards. However, with almost a goal every other game, 9 goals in 20 matches, the Paraguayan caught the eye of Lyon who had been taken over by Jean-Michel Aulas in 1987 (the businessman is still at the helm today). At Lyon Cabañas moved from playing 4-4-2 to being the central striker in a 4-3-3 formation. He played 24 games, scoring 9 goals with current Lyon manager Remi Garde also in the side as the Rhône outfit finished in fifth place.
Unable to win the favour of new manager Raymond Domenech, Cabañas returned to South America in 1991 with Boca Juniors where he won the Apertura title in 1992 to add to his trophy cabinet. While not prolific in Argentina the striker is fondly remembered by fans for a series of superclásico goals against River Plate, like this screamer in 1992 or this wonderful header a year later.
His final years were spent in Ecuador and Colombia with a brief trip back to Paraguay and Libertad in 1995. Incredibly the player can have claimed to have played in four decades, despite retiring in 1996 her returned to Colombian football at the turn of the century. Aged 39 he scored the Real Cartagena’s 100th goal in the top division in a game against Deportivo Pasto on 19 August 2000 lending weight to the old adage about class being permanent. Roberto Cabañas was indeed a class act.
