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Mexican soccer star in critical condition after being shot in the head

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Salvador Cabanas, a high-scoring striker for one of Mexico’s most popular soccer teams, is in critical condition in a Mexico City hospital after being shot in the head in a pre-dawn attack at a bar.

Cabanas, who had played for Club America in a 2-0 loss to Morelia over the weekend, was preparing to leave a Mexico City bar with his wife early Monday when he stopped to use the restroom. His wife later found him on the floor of the bathroom with what Mexico City Atty. Gen. Miguel Angel Mancera said were ‘life-threatening’ injuries. Mancera said it was not clear if the assault was a robbery gone bad.

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Cabanas, who is also the top player on Paraguay’s World Cup team, was conscious when he arrived at the hospital, where he was scheduled for surgery to remove a bullet from the front part of his skull.

‘He was conscious when we entered the hospital,’ the website goal.com quoted his wife, Maria Alonso Mena, as telling Radio Nanduti. ‘He was talking to me to know where I was. He knew what day was his birthday.

‘He was always very positive and said ‘I will get through this.’’

Cabanas, 29, has played in Mexico since 2003, scoring 125 goals in 218 matches. In 2007, he was named South America’s player of the year by Uruguay’s El Pais newspaper.

Mancera said four people were being questioned in the shooting, including two security guards and a manager at the bar.

‘Club America is deeply sorry for what happened to our beloved Salvador Cabanas and shows its total support for his family and loved ones,’ the Mexico City team, which played in Mexico’s Interliga tournament at the Home Deport Center earlier this month, said in a statement.

Added Juan Angel Napout, president of Paraguay’s soccer association: ‘We are praying for him.’

-- Kevin Baxter

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