Every once in a while, you hear the keen edge of panic in someone’s voice and know that death and his friends are nearby. Whatever mundanity you were enjoying at that moment is instantly forgotten. So it was during extra time of the Holland vs Argentina match, at Lusail Stadium in Doha on Friday night.It had been the game of the tournament, riveting, feisty, full of surprises and featuring a stunning Dutch comeback. But then a panicked voice rang out from the press box: we need a medic. We all turned around to see a man in terrifying distress just behind us, clearly suffering some form of attack or seizure. We bellowed for a medic.
The man in distress was Grant Wahl, probably the best known football writer in America. He was 48 and a much-loved fixture on the world soccer scene. The medics came quickly. I felt momentarily reassured. Perhaps it was a seizure. Maybe he needed an epipen. But they quickly started administering CPR and the entire press box was gripped with anxiety. CPR is a terrible sign. His heart must have stopped.
An even worse sign was that they kept going and going. A journalist with first aid training and two medics, taking turns to pump his chest. This went on for many minutes. In the background, the melodrama of the penalty shootout, the triumphant roars of the Argentina fans, became an irritating distraction. The contrast was bizarre.
The medics kept pumping. Wahl’s many friends gathered round from different parts of the press box. One of them, the football journalist Guillem Balague, sat down next to me. They were rooming together for the tournament. “This isn’t real,” he muttered to himself, lost in shock. Speechless, I just put a hand on his shoulder.
