Salvador Cabanas, the top player on Paraguay's World Cup team, was shot in the head before dawn yesterday in the bathroom of a bar in an affluent neighborhood in Mexico City, authorities said.

The 29-year-old striker underwent surgery in which doctors failed to remove a bullet lodged in his skull. Dr. Ernesto Martinez, who was part of the surgical team, said, "We cannot guarantee that his life is out of danger." He called the player's condition stable.

Cabanas plays for the Mexico City-based Club America. Team president Michel Bauer said Cabanas was conscious when he arrived at the hospital and was speaking as he awaited surgery.

Bauer said Cabanas' wife told him the two were preparing to leave the popular nightspot Bar Bar when the shooting took place in a bathroom. His wife said she found him on the floor.