Diego Sebastián Cagna (born 19 April 1970) is an Argentine
football coach and former player who played as
midfielder
A midfielder is an outfield position in association football.
Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...
.
Club career
Cagna was born in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
. His first professional first division match was in December 1988, with
Argentinos Juniors
Asociación Atlética Argentinos Juniors is an Argentine sports club based in La Paternal, Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its football team, which currently plays in the Argentine Primera División, and was recognized as one of the ...
. He transferred to
Independiente at the beginning of 1992, where he played for four years.
Cagna then went on to join
Boca Juniors from the
Apertura
The ' and ' tournaments is a split season format for Spanish-speaking sports leagues. It is a relatively recent innovation for many Latin American football leagues in which the traditional association football season from August to May is divi ...
1996 until the end of 1999 when, at 29 years of age and after finished the Apertura 1999, he moved to
La Liga
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...
side
Villarreal CF
Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Vila-real Club de Futbol, S.A.D.), usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF or simply Villarreal, is a professional football club based in Villarreal, in the Castellón province of eastern Spain, ...
. He played two seasons with the ''Yellow Submarine'', and after playing the Apertura 2002 with
Primera División de México club
Atlético Celaya
The Club Atlético Celaya was a Mexican football club from Celaya, Guanajuato. The club was formed in 1994 when the two second-division clubs Atletico Cuernavaca (Morelos) and Escuadra Celeste de Celaya (Guanajuato) merged. Another team, Atlét ...
, he returned to Boca Juniors in 2003.
Diego Cagna, who was team captain with Independiente, Boca Juniors and Villarreal, eventually becoming a reserve player behind Boca Juniors' promising youngsters, and retired in 2005. All in all, he played a total of 255 games for Boca, scoring 21 goals.
International career
With the
Argentina national team Cagna won the
Confederations Cup
The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships (AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, ...
1992, and participated in the
Copa América 1999
Copa or COPA may refer to:
COPA
COPA may refer to:
* Computer Operator Programming Assistant. trade of ITI
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* Canadian Owners and Pilots Ass ...
. His only goal for the national team was on 15 April 1998 friendly match against
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, which Argentina lost 2–1.
Managerial career
In December 2006, he became
Tigre's manager, taking the club to the first division in only one season. Tigre's first year in the major division was successful with Tigre finishing in 2nd place in the
Apertura 2007 championship. This was Tigre's highest ever finish in the top division, gaining Cagna notoriety from fans and the sports press.
In the
Apertura 2008 championship Tigre finished joint top of the
Primera División with Boca Juniors and San Lorenzo. Tigre had the best head-to-head record, San Lorenzo the best goal difference but Boca Juniors won the
3 way championship playoff on goal difference after the three teams once again finished level on points.
Cagna then guided Tigre to qualification to an international club competition for the first time in their history at the end of the 2008–09 season. Tigre appeared in the
2009 Copa Sudamericana
The 2009 Copa Sudamericana de Clubes (officially the 2009 Copa Nissan Sudamericana de Clubes for sponsorship reasons) is the 8th edition of the CONMEBOL's secondary international club tournament. Internacional were the defending champions, having ...
, where they were eliminated in the first round by San Lorenzo.
Having taken Tigre into the last game of two championship seasons with the possibility of winning the championship and led them to international qualification for the first time in their history, his fortunes turned in the
Apertura 2009 where Tigre finished bottom of the table with only 8 points from 19 games prompting his resignation on 14 December 2009 after over 3 years with the club. The former Chacarita coach replaces on 20 April 2010
Hugo Tocalli
Hugo Daniel Tocalli (born 21 January 1948) is an Argentine former professional football player and coach. He played over 400 games as a goalkeeper, and went on to coach a number of clubs as well as the Argentina under-20 team.
Playing career
To ...
as Head Coach by
Colo-Colo
Club Social y Deportivo Colo-Colo () is a Chilean professional football club based in Macul, Santiago. Founded in 1925 by David Arellano they play in the Chilean Primera División, from which they have never been relegated. The team has pla ...
.
Unfortunately, Cagna's results with the twenty-nine time Chilean champions have been disappointing, losing a 7-point advantage through several games until the end of the 2010 season, finishing runners-up of that tournament (Universidad Católica became finally champions). Moreover, his international appearance in Copa Sudamericana meant another disappointment since "Los Albos" were kicked out in first round home/away leg versus Universitario de Sucre.
Even though fans' patience is running really thin from 2010 – and even more after a non-convincing start of 2011 season – Cagna is still having a place as Colo Colo's manager. Fans currently call him "Despreocupado" (unworried, carefree) because of his negligent attitude before, during and after every match. This nickname is closely linked to a very popular TV commercial from an international financial group in Chile.
Presidente viajó a Buenos Aires para reunirse con Diego Cagna
Career statistics
Honours
Independiente
* Argentine Primera División: Clausura 1994
* Recopa Sudamericana: 1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...
Boca Juniors
* Argentine Primera División: Apertura 1998, Clausura 1999, Apertura 2003, Apertura 2005
* Copa Libertadores: 2003
* Copa Sudamericana: 2004, 2005
* Recopa Sudamericana: 2005
* Intercontinental Cup: 2003
Argentina
* FIFA Confederations Cup: 1992
References
External links
*
*
*
Managerial career in the Argentine Primera at Fútbol XXI
Argentine Primera statistics (incomplete) at Fútbol XXI
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cagna, Diego
1970 births
Living people
Footballers from Buenos Aires
Argentine people of Italian descent
Argentine footballers
Argentinos Juniors footballers
Club Atlético Independiente footballers
Boca Juniors footballers
La Liga players
Villarreal CF players
Atlético Celaya footballers
Argentina international footballers
1992 King Fahd Cup players
1999 Copa América players
Copa Libertadores-winning players
FIFA Confederations Cup-winning players
Argentine football managers
Club Atlético Tigre managers
Colo-Colo managers
Estudiantes de La Plata managers
C.D. Jorge Wilstermann managers
Argentine Primera División players
Argentine expatriate footballers
Expatriate football managers in Chile
Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain
Expatriate footballers in Spain
Pan American Games gold medalists for Argentina
Association football midfielders
Pan American Games medalists in football
Footballers at the 1995 Pan American Games
Medalists at the 1995 Pan American Games