Cameroon boss 'wanted to bring Foe off'
Cameroon manager Winfried Schafer has revealed he tried to substitute Marc-Vivien Foe only minutes before the player collapsed on the field on Thursday.
Former Manchester City midfielder Foe died despite frantic efforts to revive him during the second half of Cameroon’s Confederations Cup semi-final against Colombia in Lyon.
Schafer noted that the player had been “slowing down” but insisted he was alright to continue playing.
“It was a couple of minutes later when he collapsed,” Schafer, quoted in The Guardian, said.
“Marco refused to come off – he said he felt OK and he wanted to stay on the pitch to make sure we got to the final.
“Both myself and the doctor thought he seemed to have run out of energy and was slowing down.
“We sent him a message that we wanted to bring him off and send on a substitute to give us some fresh legs because we were coming under increasing pressure, but he said no.”
The cause of Foe’s death is still not clear but the results of a post-mortem are expected within the next few days.
