Friends and teammates

Mettomo overcome by grief following Foe's death

PARIS (Reuters) -- Cameroon's big central defender Lucien Mettomo was reduced to tears as he talked about the death of his former Manchester City teammate and friend Marc-Vivien Foe.

"I try to be strong, It's terrible. Thursday's events pass again and again through my head," Mettomo told reporters as Cameroon prepared for Sunday's Confederations Cup final against hosts France in Paris.

Foe collapsed during Cameroon's 1-0 semifinal victory over Colombia in Lyon and died shortly afterwards.

"The only way to comfort her (Foe's wife) is to bring him back," Mettomo, Foe's roommate, said Saturday as he tried to hold back the tears.

As for going ahead with Sunday's final, Mettomo said: "After having fought so hard to get there, Marco wouldn't have wanted us not to go through with it.

"In our room he never stopped saying 'we have to win this competition'."

Mettomo, who said he regarded Foe as "a big brother who was an integral part of my life," went through the routine that he and Foe followed Thursday before the semifinal.

The routine included Foe's suggestion that they share one bag because that would bring them luck after having done the same before their 1-0 upset win over world champion Brazil.

"Now that he's not there any more, I don't know I'm going to make it," Mettomo, at 26 two years younger than Foe, said.

Mettomo said Foe was still breathing when he lay flat out on the pitch after collapsing and that, having been carried off, the team expected to find him in the changing room or hotel after the match and tell them how it had gone.

"I'm still trying to understand how all that could have happened," Mettomo said of the outcome. Foe stopped breathing, doctors said, after being carried off and more than 45 minutes of efforts to restart his heart failed.

Mettomo said that in the heat of the moment he questioned the doctors' efforts when they said they had done everything they could to revive Foe.

He said he shouted: "It's not possible... that can't happen to him, not him, he's so strong."

When Mettomo saw Foe's body lying on the bed in the medical center at Lyon's Gerland stadium, he said Foe's wife said to him: "Look, he's asleep. He'll wake up and we'll go back to the hotel."

Lyon in mourning after Foe's death

LYON, France (Reuters) -- Still shocked after the death of Marc Vivien Foe at its Gerland stadium three days ago, the city of Lyon, where Foe's family is living, was mourning the Cameroon midfielder on Sunday.

The player's wife, Marie-Louise, was to be flown to Paris by a private flight chartered by French champion Olympique Lyon to attend the Confederations Cup final between Cameroon and France.

Foe died after collapsing during the competition's semifinals against Colombia.

Lyon's prosecutor office said they had not yet authorized the body to be handed back to Foe's family while further tests were underway.

Foe's funeral should take place in midweek at Lyon's St Jean church and Lyon players, now in pre-season training in the ski resort of Tignes, will drive down to attend the ceremony.

Foe played for Manchester City on loan but still belonged to Olympique Lyon and the French champion was all shell-shocked by the news of his death.

Club president Jean-Michel Aulas cancelled a trip to Spain to discuss transfers and decided that Foe's shirt number of 17 will from now on be removed from the team's line-up.

The same will apply at RC Lens, the French club at which Foe made his European debut.

"We're trying to keep a brave face in spite of everything," said Lyon defender Jeremie Brechet.

"Marco is in everybody's mind. It's awful. We're all thinking about his family. But we need to overcome and to go on in spite of it all," he added.

At Olympique Lyon's headquarters, a picture of Foe with arms spread after scoring a goal against Nantes in 2001 has been posted on the outside wall.

Flowers and messages have been left at the club's main entrance, which has two lion statues on each side of the door.

"For Marco. An Indomitable Lion (nickname of Cameroon players) has gone but an angel remains," said one of the messages.

The club said 1,500 mails had been received on Foe's Web site.

The club's television channel repeatedly showed an interview in which the Cameroon player was asked what he would ask God when he went to Heaven.

"What can I do to help happiness on earth?" Foe replied.

 

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