Pipino Moves His Goals to Brazil and Nacional Lose Their Heart.

By: Mauro | July 17th, 2008

Nelson “Pipino” Cuevas has left Club Libertad in his native Paraguay to join his new team Santos of Brazil. Cuevas, who, in my opinion, had the best years of his career back at River Plate and had a good performance with his national team Paraguay in the 2002 World Cup. Still, he has flashes of brilliance now and again that make one believe that he’s finally arrived but he never fully reaches the peak of what his potential suggests he is capable of.

At 28 years old, the player is said to be happy playing “where greats like Robinho and Pelé once played.” Cuevas is a left footed striker of small stature but has great ability with the ball at his feet and prefers to play around the edges of the penalty area feeding the center forward or taking advantage of space created in the penalty area. He also has a great outside shot but can mix it up with a nice subtle touch when needed.

Cuevas will be replacing Chilean Sebastián Pinto, formerly of Universidad de Chile and Argentine, Mariano Tripodi, who scored a game winning goal for Santos off the bench late in a group six match in this year’s Libertadores, were both let go by the club, but Tripodi was let go after only just under six months of service to the club since he was signed only in February of this year.

For a player who is an underachiever he has sure won plenty of titles. Most of them with River Plate however. An interesting side note, his mother is his agent and according to reports most clubs say she’s a real hard ass.

Richard “el Chengue” Morales has announced that he is leaving Nacional de Montevideo, because he’s not up to par physically. This news came just a few days after his team lost the Uruguayan derby to rivals Peñarol. He stated that he “is no longer has the strength nor the willingness to be the spiritual leader of the team.” At 33 years old and a fan favorite at Nacional, Morales has had various injuries in the last few weeks.

His teammates have tried to convince him otherwise but have not been successful. And they should keep trying. Without him, they lose their main offensive threat in the penalty area. But on the other hand, this might be a good thing. It might actually force the players to learn to play without him or fore the club directors to pick up another tall striker.

In the Copa Libertadores, he was the heart and soul of the team. And when he wasn’t finishing off his own opportunities, he was creating spaces by keeping defenders’ attention. Check out this performance from him and his team (as an added bonus the video still works). And here he is scoring two goals on the team that’s currently leading the Brasileirao.