By Dan Cancian
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An Egyptian commentator died after reportedly suffering a heart attack shortly after his country lost its final World Cup game against Saudi Arabia on Monday.
Multiple sources reported Abdel Rahim Mohamed fell ill at the headquarters of the Egyptian state television, where he was scheduled to provide commentary on Egypt's game on the Nile Sports channel.
Colleagues rushed him to a medical care department in the building, before then taking him to the French Qasr Al-Aini Hospital, where doctors attempted to resuscitate him for over half an hour.
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However, despite their efforts, Mohamed, who had played for and coached Egyptian side Zamalek FC, was pronounced dead shortly afterward. Ahmad Taha, the head of the hospital, was quoted by news website Masrawy as saying that Mohamed had died of cardiac arrest.
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According to Egyptian newspaper El Watan, former goalkeeper Ahmed Fawzi, who was in the studio with Mohamed, reported his colleague had looked "exhausted" and deeply "affected" after Egypt suffered a third consecutive defeat at the World Cup.
The Pharaohs had taken a 1-0 lead against Saudi Arabia in Volgograd thanks to Mohamed Salah's second goal of the tournament—the first goal from open play Egypt had scored at the World Cup since 1934.
The Liverpool striker did not celebrate his goal, fueling speculation he could still quit the national team over a political row. Last season's Premier League top scorer was initially omitted from the starting XI before appearing in the team in a revised version of the line-up.
The goal meant Egypt led a World Cup for the first time in its history and the advantage was preserved when Essam El Hadary saved Fahad Al Muwallad's penalty shortly before the end of the first half.
At 45 years and 161 days, the Egyptian keeper became the oldest player to feature in a World Cup game, beating the record held by another goalkeeper, Colombia's Faryd Mondragon. The Colombian played against Japan at the 2014 World Cup, just three days after his 43rd birthday.
However, El-Hadari could do nothing about Salman Al Faraj's spot-kick on the stroke of halftime and was then beaten a second time, when Salem Al Dawsari scored deep into injury time to give the Saudis a first World Cup win since 1994.
The 2-1 defeat means Egypt's first World Cup appearance since 1990 ended with three defeats and the African nation is yet to win its first game at soccer's major tournament, having drawn two and lost five of the seven games it played over three World Cups.
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