Iconic Colombian midfielder Roger Cañas has returned to the CPL. The bbabo.net correspondent talks about the career of the 31-year-old player and what difficulties accompanied it.
At the end of January, Cañas became a football player of Shakhtar Karaganda, a club with which the Colombian had some of the most glorious moments in his career.
Exactly ten years ago, in February 2012, Cañas signed a contract with the Pitmen. Prior to this, the South American, in addition to his native Colombia, played in the championships of Latvia, Poland and Russia. Shakhtar at that time was the reigning champion of Kazakhstan and set big goals for itself. As a result, in the 2012 season, the Pitmen repeated the achievement - Cañas made 26 league appearances and scored three goals.
In 2013, the Pitmen failed to win the championship, but the club won the Super Cup of Kazakhstan and won the Cup of the country. But the season was not remembered for this, but for Shakhtar's entry into the group stage of the Europa League. It was the first such success in the history of Kazakh clubs. Cañas played in all six Champions League qualifying matches.
But in them, the Colombian was not marked by effective actions. Although this is not his direct responsibility. But in the Europa League, the legionnaire has two goals. Including the debut in the group against PAOK.
In total, Cañas played 76 games for Shakhtar, scoring ten goals and making four assists.
Broken transfer
Cañas clearly impressed the bosses of Metallurg Donetsk with his performance, and at the end of 2013 it was announced that the Colombian was moving to the Ukrainian club.
However, after several friendly matches during a medical examination, it turned out that the player was missing a kidney. This was the reason for the return of the midfielder to Kazakhstan. Although the Colombian, who lost this organ due to an injury on the football field received in childhood, claimed that it was not a kidney at all and that he plays better without it than some with two.
Big story in "Astana" and its sunset in Cyprus
Kanyas' next club in Kazakhstan was Astana, where he moved in 2014. At the end of the season, for the first time in their history, the capitals became the champions of Kazakhstan and became the hegemons of the KPL for six long years.
Cañas played for the club until mid-2017. During this time, he won two more major trophies in Kazakh football and played for Astana in the Champions League. In 2017, the Colombian, who was out of shape, went on loan to APOEL in Cyprus for six months.
In total, the legionnaire played 127 matches for the capital, in which he scored 17 goals and made 11 assists.
Experience in "Ordabasy" and escape from Belarus
From the summer of 2017 to February 2018, Kanyas performed at Ordabasy. For the Shymkent club, he played 12 matches and went to the championship of Belarus, signing a contract with Soligorsk Shakhtar.
He performed there for a year. This resulted in 21 matches and three assists. Indicative for the leadership of Shakhtar was the legionnaire's departure to his homeland due to the death of his father, after which he did not return to Belarus.
An attempt at the Irtysh
In 2019, Kanyas returned to Kazakhstan. But in the Irtysh, the Colombian stayed only for six months. On account of Rocher 17 matches for Pavlodar, in which four goals were scored and one assist was made.
Fiasco in Chile
In April 2021, Roger ended up in the Chilean club Barnechea from the second division of Examples B. However, this stage of his career can hardly be called positive by the Colombian. The team scored 24 points in 30 rounds and was relegated from the last place to the first league. Cañas took part in only half of the matches, scoring one goal and earning six yellow cards.
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It is likely that a return to Shakhtar can restart the career of Cañas, who, although not performing at the same level as his best friend, Juventus midfielder Juan Cuadrado, can still give results and remain useful due to his abilities.
Photo: FC Shakhtar (Karaganda) (1), FC Astana (2), FC Shakhtar (Salihorsk) (3)
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