THE THE wife of tragic Manchester City star Marc-Vivien Foe last night revealed he felt too ill to play in the match that killed him.
Distraught Marie-Louise insisted her husband, 28, was suffering from dysentery in the build-up to his death on Thursday.
She said: "He should not have been playing at
all. He had dysentery for two or three days. He also had gastric problems and he knew he probably wasn't well enough to play.
"When he collapsed, I never thought he would die. I assumed he'd get up or recover on the sidelines. The family is in utter shock."
Cameroon ace Foe slumped to the ground during his country's Confederations Cup match against Colombia in Lyon.
Marie-Louise, 26, was in the stadium and saw the midfielder carried off on a stretcher after his eyes had turned up in his head.
The father of three died 45 minutes later without regaining consciousness. His wife added: "He desperately wanted to play for his country in his adopted home-town of Lyon. But doctors should have stopped him."
Foe, who spent last season on loan at City, had been treated in hospital for dysentery and saw a doctor on the day of the match.
He also cancelled a TV interview because he was feeling faint. Family friend Andre Matip said: "I was in the stadium and saw Marc was asking to be substituted a little before he collapsed. This is both terrible and unbelievable."
An autopsy takes place today, although an early report found no evidence of a stroke. It was initially thought he suffered a heart attack.
THE Sun's GP, Dr Carol Cooper, insists that the dysentery which struck Marc-Vivien Foe may have caused fluid loss which, coupled with dehydration from the hot weather in France, could have triggered the death if he had underlying heart disease.
Dr Cooper, who is trained in sports medicine, said: "If he had lost a lot of fluid from dysentery it could have unmasked previous heart trouble and triggered a fatal event.
"It could have been a fatal combination."
