Oscar Rene Cardoso is a famous Paraguayan national team footballer playing forward. Notable for his small size, the footballer was noted by both fans and teammates, who eventually endowed him with the eloquent nickname Big Stick.
Oscar Cardozo, whose photo confirms the full compliance with the nickname received, regularly upsets the goalkeepers of the opponent with goals scored, not only his head, but also his legs. High growth does not interfere with this at all.
Club career
Oscar Cardozo, in comparison with other nuggets from South America, gained fame quite late. Until the football player reached the age of 23, his career proceeded at various clubs in Paraguay with different degrees of fame and success.
In 2006, for $ 1.2 million, Oscar transferred to the Argentinean club Newell's Old Boys, which marked the beginning of his legionary club career. In the first season, the team’s rookie scored 11 goals against opponents in 16 matches, making him the best football player in Paraguay.
Two impressive seasons in the Argentinean championship promised the football player further career growth and transition to one of the European championships. And so it happened, and in June 2007, Oscar Cardozo for 9.1 million euros became a player in the Portuguese “Benfica”.
Cardoso’s career in this country immediately took off, he became an iron base player and with 16 goals in all competitions he won the title of the best scorer of Benfica.
In the 2009/2010 season, Paraguayan Oscar Cardozo, an increasingly prominent figure on European football fields, was recognized as the top scorer of the Portuguese championship. The footballer in 29 matches for his club managed to hit the opponent’s goal 26 times in the championship, as well as 10 more times in the Europa League. The goals scored by the striker made a considerable contribution to the victory of Benfica in the Portuguese championship and quite a successful game in the Eurocup, in which Cardozo shared the first line with Claudio Pissarro in the list of the best scorers of the tournament.
Career Team Paraguay
Successful performances in the Argentinean championship for the Newell's Old Boys attracted the attention of the coaching staff of the Paraguayan national team, in which Oscar Cardozo debuted on March 5, 2007 against the national team of Mexico. The debut was more than successful, the striker managed to score a goal in the first match.
Since then, Cardoso began to be regularly called up under the banner of his team, and the first major tournament in which he took part was the 2007 America's Cup. Despite the unsuccessful outcome of the tournament for the national team of Paraguay, which in the quarterfinal suffered a crushing defeat from Mexico with a score of 0: 6, Oscar Cardozo spent 3 of 4 matches of his team, having managed to hit the net of the US team.
In 2010, Cardoso participated in the World Cup in South Africa and became the quarterfinal of the world championship.
Major career achievements
As a team achievement Cardozo should be noted that the player:
- Two-time winner of the Portuguese Cup in the Benfica 2010 and 2011.
- Champion of Portugal 2010.
Among the personal achievements of a football player, the following titles are distinguished:
- The best football player of Paraguay in 2006 and 2009.
- The best sniper of the championship of Portugal season 2009/2010.
- The best scorer of the Europa League season 2009/2010.
Here he is, Oscar Cardozo!