Confederations Cup remembers Foe 10 years on

BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil, June 26 (Reuters) - A capacity crowd held a minute's applause before the Brazil v Uruguay Confederations Cup semi-final in memory of Marc-Vivien Foe, the Cameroon player who died during a match in the same tournament exactly 10 years ago.

Foe collapsed unexpectedly in the 75th minute of the Confederations Cup semi-final in Lyon between Cameroon and Colombia on June 26, 2003. Although medics tried to resuscitate him he was pronounced dead minutes later.

He died of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a rare condition that causes the walls of the heart to thicken and is very hard to diagnose.

The Manchester City player was just 28.

"We won the match 1-0 and the players were dancing in the changing rooms afterwards," then Cameroon manager Winfried Schafer told the BBC.

"Then (captain) Rigobert Song came in and cried and said "Marcus, Marcus" and told us he was dead.

"Everyone was shocked and was asking why. All the players were crying. I went out of the dressing room and heard two ladies crying very, very loudly. Then I saw Marcus lying there, on a table, with his mother and wife by his side. I touched his leg and I went outside and cried too."

Foe played in two World Cups and won 64 caps for the Indomitable Lions. He also turned out for Lens, Olympique Lyonnais and West Ham United.