In this
Spanish name, the first or paternal
surname is Cardozo and the second or maternal family name is Otazú.
José Saturnino Cardozo Otazú (locally[xoˈsesatuɾˈninokaɾˈðosootaˈsu]; born 19 March 1971) is a Paraguayan football
manager and former
footballer. He played as a
striker and spent 10 years of his career playing for
Toluca and is the club's all-time top goalscorer. He also managed
Toluca in 2013 up to 2016.
Cardozo earned 82 caps for
Paraguay between 1991 and 2006, putting him ninth in their most-capped players of all time, with his haul of 25 international goals the second most for the nation. He represented them at three
Copa América tournaments, two
FIFA World Cups, and the
2004 Olympic tournament, winning silver in the latter.
Cardozo, while on loan for the tournament, was also a main catalyst and goalscorer for runner-up Cruz Azul in the 2001 Copa Libertadores defeat to Buenos Aires club Boca Jr. After losing at home in Mexico's Azteca Stadium, Cruz Azul went into the Bombonera and won the match 1–0. In the penalty shootout, Boca Jr. converted more to outlast what would've been the first champion from outside of South America.
Cardozo made his debut for Toluca in the 1995 season, but only appeared in three games, scoring no goals. However, in the subsequent winter season, he scored 7 goals in 13 games. In his ten years with the team, he has scored a record 249 goals for the club, including 36 goals in 25 matches in the 2002 Apertura. Cardozo was top scorer of the league four times (Verano 1998, Verano 1999, Apertura 2002, and Clausura 2003). He moved to the 4th spot in the list of all-time top scorers in the Mexico Primera Division after Jared Borgetti scored his 250th goal with Monarcas Morelia.
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. Despite the fact that he was fiercely opposed to the move, 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. However, many critics lambasted Cardozo for refusing to play through the pain. While playing for Toluca, Cardozo struggled through the 1997 campaign with hamstring problems and then played through much of the 2001 season despite suffering a broken wrist in the season opener. Cardozo is the all-time leading scorer for Toluca, with 249 goals in 332 appearances.[1]
In July 2006, Cardozo attempted to return to
Club Olimpia to finish his career. He was unable to re-sign for the club because the Paraguayan league's transfer deadline had already passed. As a result of his inability to sign for Olimpia, he decided to retire from football. He scored 342 goals total in his career. In June 2008 a
farewell match was organized in the city of
Toluca to honor his career and contributions to football. Cardozo scored two goals in the match which had a sellout crowd.[3]
Paraguay national team
Cardozo was the all-time leading scorer for the
Paraguay national team, with 25 goals, until 2013, with the record being broken by
Roque Santa Cruz.[4] He played for his country at the
1998 and
2002 World Cups and was named in the original
2006 World Cup squad but he was injured during training sessions and replaced by
Dante López. Cardozo was also an over-age player at the
2004 Summer Olympics, when Paraguay finished second. On 4 August, before the Summer Olympics began, he played in a preparation game against the
Portugal of
Cristiano Ronaldo in the city of
Algarve, resulting in a 5–0 defeat.[5] He scored a hat-trick against
Uruguay in the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification, with the final result being 4–1.
International goals
Paraguay U23
Score and Result list Paraguay's goal tally first.
In November 2006, Club Olimpia's coach
Oscar Paulin was fired due to poor performances by the team and Cardozo was named as the interim coach of the Paraguayan club, this being his first experience as a coach. He coached for the remainder of the year and for the 2007 Apertura tournament.
Indios
In October 2009 he was hired to be an assistant coach for the team of Indios de Juarez for the Apertura 2009.[12]
Club Olimpia (Return)
Cardozo returned to Olimpia Asunción in November 2009 following coach Carlos Kiese's resignation.
Querétaro FC
In 2011, he was hired as coach
Querétaro FC where he led the team into their first liguilla and the team's all team highest place (8th) and points (26) in Primera División regular season. He managed to eliminate
Guadalajara in the Quarter Finals and advance to a surprising semi-final where they lost to champions
Tigres UANL 1–0. The following season however, Querétaro began the season with poor results, which once again emerged relegation problems against rivals
Atlas and
Estudiantes Tecos (relegated) which led to Cardozo's resignation.
Club Olimpia (Return)
After spending the 2011 and 2012 seasons at Querétaro, he was appointed to manage Olimpia once again on 25 September 2012 after the departure of Gregorio Perez.
Toluca
On 7 May 2013, Cardozo was announced as the new manager for Club Deportivo Toluca of Mexico where he played for 10 years (1995–2005). On 1 May 2016, during the
2016 Clausura, Cardozo confirmed that he would no longer coach Toluca beyond the end of the season despite still having a year left on his contract. He stated that since he did not meet his objective of reaching the Liga MX playoffs with the club, he had nothing more to do with the club, citing that Toluca was a big club with directors and fans that expected a lot more of the team than he could continue to offer. He stated that when a team can no longer accomplish what is asked of it, that the first change that must come is the manager, no questions about it.[13]
Chiapas
Cardozo had a turbulent season at Chiapas during the Apertura 2016, being sacked in September and then brought back due to the petition of the chiapas players.[14] He was ultimately sacked one week later after two more defeats.[15]
Puebla
Cardozo took over
Club Puebla early in the Clausura 2017 season.