José
Saturnino Cardozo Otazu (born March 19, 1971 in Nueva Italia,
Paraguay) is a Paraguayan football striker, who currently plays
for San Lorenzo de Almagro of the Primera División Argentina.
Cardozo is the all-time leading scorer for the Paraguayan
national team with 24 goals. He played for his country at the
1998 and 2002 World Cups. Cardozo was also an overage player at
the 2004 Summer Olympics, when Paraguay finished second.
Cardozo began his professional career as a 15-year old in 1986,
making his debut for River Plate de Paraguay. After four years
there, he moved to Swiss club FC St. Gallen, where he played
from 1990 to 1992. He returned to South America in 1993, joining
Universidad Católica de Chile. The following year he played for
Club Olimpia of Paraguay , from which he moved to Club Toluca of
Mexico. Cardozo made his debut for Toluca in the 1995 season,
but only appeared in three games, scoring no goals. However, in
the subsequent Invierno season, he scored 7 goals in 13 games.
In his eight years with the team, he has scored a record 241
goals for the club, including 14 in the 2004 Apertura. Due to
his work at Toluca, Cardozo was elected as the Paraguayan
Footballer of the Year in the years 2000, 2002 and 2003; and the
South American Footballer of the Year in 2002. Cardozo was
transferred to Argentine team San Lorenzo de Almagro in June,
2005 and finished the season with only 4 goals due to injuries
that kept him away from playing several games. |
