Football
Tom Marshall, Mexico correspondent 5y

Shooting victim Cabanas returns to coach in Mexico

Former Paraguay and Club America striker Salvador Cabanas has returned to Mexico with second division club Cafetaleros de Chiapas, nine-and-a-half years after being shot in the head in a Mexico City nightclub.

The 38-year-old will be an assistant coach in the southern city of Tuxtla Gutierrez, where Cabanas made his name in Mexico with the now defunct Jaguares de Chiapas, before he moved on to Liga MX giants Club America in 2006.

"I'm happy to be back at home, I'm happy to be here in a different capacity," said Cabanas on Thursday. "Before it was as a player and now as a coach and that makes me very happy, now [it's time] to lift this team to the limit, which is what I want to do."

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Cabanas is part of Argentine head coach Gabriel Pereyra's staff and his appointment comes after the club moved from Tapachula to the bigger Tuxtla Gutierrez, both in the state of Chiapas, ahead of the new season.

"When the coach called I said that I wanted to be here, we want to do as well as possible and why not become champion?" said Cabanas. "We are back in a country and a city that I love."

Cabanas was on the brink of a move to Europe and was set to lead Paraguay at the 2010 World Cup before his life was turned upside down after the altercation in a nightclub ended his competitive playing career.

The former striker has had financial problems and legal issues in recent years and was living with his parents in the rural Paraguayan town of Itaugua late last year, although he was working as an assistant at Paraguayan first division club Deportivo Capiata.

"Chava" Cabanas told ESPN in November that his long-term goal was to develop his coaching career.

"I dream about a lot of things, and hopefully, at some point, I can become a head coach, become a great coach, and why not make the [Paraguayan] national team," Cabanas said. "That's what I most want."

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