These days the next African Cup of Nations is taking place in Morocco. The match of the second round of the group stage between the national teams of Equatorial Guinea and Sudan did not foretell anything extraordinary, but in the end they learned about this game all over the world.

Losing consciousness is not a reason for replacement

The Sudan national team is an infrequent guest even at the continental tournament, which is not surprising, given the level of this team. In the FIFA rankings, the national team occupies only 117th place. In the first round of the group stage, the Sudanese lost without a chance to Algeria (0:3) and were clear outsiders in the game with another African “giant” – Equatorial Guinea. Any result other than a victory reduced the chances of both teams to qualify from the group to a minimum.

Football played by far from the strongest teams in the first half presented a special spectacle. The spectators in the stands of the stadium in Casablanca were frankly bored, but in the 34th minute the fans froze. At first, no one understood why the chief referee decided to stop the match. It was even more difficult for television viewers to understand what was happening. In recent years, television crews have had a clear policy not to show a player with whom something serious has happened. It was the same this time.

Photo: © DeFodi Images / Contributor / DeFodi Images / Gettyimages.ru

Only later did it become clear that the goalkeeper of the Sudan national team, Elnil Abuzaid Monged, suddenly lost consciousness while being in the semicircle outside his own penalty area during an attack by his team. In those seconds, I thought about the worst thing, especially since the history of football knows many examples of cardiac arrest right during the game. Suffice it to recall the incident with a happy ending that happened to the Dane Christian Eriksen at EURO 2020. This time everything turned out to be not so serious.

Immediately after the 29-year-old goalkeeper found himself on the lawn, players from both teams began to signal to the referee that the victim urgently needed help. The team doctors rushed to Monged and quickly brought him to his senses. After the game, it turned out that the football player’s blood sugar levels probably dropped sharply, which led to loss of consciousness. The doctors saw no reason why the goalkeeper could not continue the match. As a result, the goalkeeper became one of the main heroes of the match, repelling all the shots on his goal, which allowed his team to win the most important victory – 1:0.

Sudan retained its chances of reaching the 1/8 finals; to do this, it needs to beat Burkina Faso in the final round of the group stage on December 31. In this meeting, Monged’s health and reaction will be especially useful to the Sudanese.