Paraguayan soccer star Salvador Cabanas recovering but has memory loss after being shot

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Salvador Cabanas, the goal-scoring forward on whom Paraguay has pinned its 2010 World Cup hopes, was continuing to recover in Mexico City’s Angeles del Pedregal Hospital on Monday, seven days after being shot in the head during a confrontation in a nightclub restroom.

According to the Associated Press, Cabanas, 29, was said to be conscious and could eat, talk and receive visitors, but was suffering from memory loss.

‘He could give testimony if investigators come to speak with him, but he is not going to recall what happened,’ the AP quoted Dr. Ernesto Martinez as saying. ‘He’s conscious, and he recognizes family members, but he doesn’t know what day it is, nor where he is. He knows it’s a hospital but not which one nor why. ... Nor has he asked.’

Cabanas was able to see his Mexican team, Club America, defeat Indios, 1-0, on Sunday in a game in which America started the game with 10 players instead of 11 as a tribute to the Paraguayan star.

Afterward, the Paraguayan newspaper Ultima Hora quoted Cabanas’ father as saying his son had told him he would return to play in the World Cup, even though he still has a small-caliber bullet lodged in his skull that surgeons have determined is too risky to remove at this time.

Meanwhile, the man police are seeking in connection with the shooting, Jose Jorge Balderas Garza, remained at large. Reports from Mexico indicated that the two had argued, possibly over whether Cabanas was scoring enough goals for Club America.

-- Grahame L. Jones