Surely there were ambulances on standby at every World Cup stadium? Obviously there would be emergency medical personnel at the stadium. With just two games today (and not even at the same time, in fact Qatar is so small the same ambulances could have been moved from one stadium to the next) it's not like that would've be hard.
This is very sad. And surreal. I hope his family gets clarity about exactly what happened to him. They and he deserve that. I hope all of you stay well.
Awful news, RIP to him and condolences to his family, massive positive influence in not only US soccer but soccer in all of North America.
The RSV going around, and it's going around globally, is nasty. My daughter brought it home and our family was pretty sick for weeks recently. Came in waves. It was far worse than COVID was for us. If there is a amped up version in Qatar getting it would be real rough. And it did feel a lot like bronchitis/pneumonia.
What Wahl posted still seems pretty tame compared to what someone like Roy Keane, for example, has said over there: "The World Cup shouldn't be here, you've got a country and the way they treat migrant workers, gay people. We're on about spreading the game but dismissing human rights, it's not right. It shouldn't be here."Powerful words from Roy Keane about the World Cup in Qatar pic.twitter.com/lAUbItPC0Z— ITV Football (@itvfootball) November 22, 2022
Jesus... Used to jokingly, lightly troll him on Twitter.. this is shocking. Always seemed a really genial guy, and a good, thoughtful journalist.. rip/qepd..
im almost positive an ambulance is required at all fifa events, but ironically it makes logical sense that that is for "participants" (which admittedly i dont know that even credentialed journalists/broadcasters would qualify as). meaning if someone had a heart attack next to the ambulance it wouldnt "matter" because that ambulance is required to be there for players, coaches, ref, etc. a second ambulance would have to be called in. from the realtively little ive seen he got proper medical care on site and lack of an ambulance (for him) is just...weird. and i couldnt be further from having a clue if that would have ultimately mattered.
Me as well. Taking care of my 6 year old. Didn’t go online till 10pm I literally listened to his latest podcast this morning.absolutely stunned. I know he’d been sick for at least a week but wtf??? Not this sick. This is absolutely insane. Feel so bad for his wife and family.
FIFA issues a statement on Grant Wahl's death..... have we heard anything from Fox or their three dozen soccer personalities yet? FIFA President expresses condolences to family and friends of Grant Wahl. pic.twitter.com/WoEN5hUMve— FIFA (@FIFAcom) December 10, 2022
Here I thought he was just a soccer journalist not a social crusader. A perfect match for the Soccer House crowd. And the White House wife's response was a bit strange. Let the spin begin...
The actual game has been over for hours. Why did the reports of his very "public" passing take so long to become public?
His brother said he had death threats. Obviously, he is grieving and should be given some grace, but that’s why the speculation.
That's my thought too. I would agree that it's highly unlikely that the Qatari government killed him, because they stand to lose much more than than anything they could possibly gain from it. If anything, the death threats would suggest that, if he was murdered, it would not have been by a government. If a government wants someone dead, it doesn't typically send death threats first.
Yet, the first video response from the brother was very different saying he was killed and implying complete other circumstances?
Wahl was discussed briefly on BBC Breakfast at the top of the hour this morning. Didn't do him justice.
ESPN had a tribute on sports center. They talked about him being detained by the Qatar for wearing a rainbow shirt and his critical writings of the treatment of migrant workers. What are the chances fox does the same? 0.00001%?
in "fairness" the argentina match finished after midnight, its possible the wc "crew" didnt hear about/want to rush a statement...but its morning/noon in qatar, right? if lalas, donovan, stone etc stay silent on this (even "only" til the wc is over) its going to be extremely damning. fox running a peice on qatars world class medical facilitaties set to gentle piano music today wouldnt surprise me a bit, though.
I was just half asleep listening to the BBC and the report came on. Didn't catch the name but they kept repeating the story. I thought, shit, hope it's not Grant Wahl....googled his name and sure enough....don't know if this was mentioned but his wife is a world class physician ( and very pretty, they met as classmates at Princeton, she is Indian so a diverse family which you see a lot here in NJ ) who is on tv quite a bit talking about the pandemic. Apparently he had a respiratory infection and who knows what it might have been, though he tested negative for COVID ( that is NOT always reliable ) it just shows you that these infections can kill anyone ( that goes for flu and even the damn common cold ) but anyone over 40 is at serious risk. As a former school social worker and teacher for 31 years with risk factors ( going on 60 ) I have had infections nearly do me in; a prostate infection ( a pretty common thing ) led to sepsis and pulmonary embolisms. Both lungs. And the hospital sent me home with symptoms; they missed it I'm really lucky to have survived that. Would not surprise me that he had an infection that led to clots and those clots can hit the lungs, heart or brain. But it seems he did seek medical attention. What a damned shame. The only thing is maybe he had a medical condition like Marfan's or something ( he has a bit of the look ) or some underlying condition he didn't know about. Viruses are some serious stuff, folks, millions were sidelined by CFS and FM long before there was a similar condition called long Covid, but they were dismissed as hypochondriacs. This is shocking but in today's world, all too common. We've all lost people of all ages to Covid, and there is also a chance that he's had Covid in the past and it left him vulnerable; it does that. These are trying times. Sorry for the rant; but when the BBC also mentioned the t shirt incident that's when I suspect it was Grant. He will be missed.
His wife is a world class prominent physician; she will find out what happened to him. You've certainly seen her on TV talking about the pandemic.
She's actually an MD who has covered COVID and Ebola. Brilliant and lovely. Didn't even know they were married at first; she was all over TV in the beginning of the pandemic. Don't know if they had kids.
People can die from the flu or other respiratory illnesses. it happens every day. My father died from the flu 22 years ago.