Players in comas, medical team's lax attitude sparks outrage

It happened in the 67th minute and 42 seconds of the match when Hungary were awarded a free kick in front of them and Szoboszlai lifted the ball into the box from the left side, at which point striker Volko, who was about to scramble for the ball, collided with the outgoing Scottish keeper Gunn, who appeared to have been struck in the face by an elbow, and both of them fell to the ground. Also on the ground was Scotland's No.2 Rolston.

At first the focus was on Gunn and Rolston's injuries, but soon teammates around them realized that Volko, who was lying flat on his back, was expressionless, and after a slight twitching of his fingers, was motionless. At this point the team doctors of both sides ran in, the Hungarian team doctor first signaled towards the coaching staff that he was unable to hold on to the game, and then quickly made a gesture for the professional medical team to hurry up and enter the field, and the players waved back and forth.

For privacy, players and staff pulled up a fence to form a wall of life. It was only then that four medical professionals in red vests entered the field, only one of whom was trotting, while the other three walked slowly to the scene. And they didn't come directly to Volko, but waved off the field while watching from the periphery, with the reasonable explanation being that they probably weren't professional enough to handle such an emergency either.

The broadcast camera then switched. As time passes, the specialized medical team that can treat the injury, as well as the specialized stretcher, still hasn't entered the arena. More than two minutes had passed since Volko fell to the ground with his injury.

Hungarian manager Marco Rossi, who had been sitting on the bench, got up and angrily yelled at the medical team and waved for them to come in. Hungary's players were also shouting angrily, telling them to hurry up!

Three medical teams dressed in red walked slowly into the field carrying stretchers. In theory, the stretcher must be carried by four professionals at the four corners. But what the picture shows is that one of the medical staff, instead of carrying the stretcher, appears at the end, walking slowly. By this time several Hungarian players, already in a hurry, were in tears, including captain Szoboszlai.

Unwilling to wait any longer, Szoboszlai runs straight over and lifts the corner of the stretcher, allowing the medical team to get to Volko quickly. The last of the medics was still walking slowly, as if he were shopping.

From the replay, the Red Arrows' medical staff maintained their stroll-in, while the Green Arrows' Hungarian players, urged them to hurry up, faster.

As you can see from the pictures, captain Szoboszlai was already very anxious, while #21 Botka was disgruntled and told the medical staff to stop dawdling.

Because of the more serious injuries, five minutes from the incident, the medical team pushed a specialized medical trolley onto the field, and this time it was again Szoboszlai who came to the sidelines to join them before they picked up the pace. Volko was then taken to a specialized hospital in Stuttgart.

After the match Volko was diagnosed with a fractured cheekbone and concussion, which is not life-threatening, but he will definitely miss the rest of the match.

With a 100th minute strike, Hungary won the match and kept their hopes of qualifying. After the match, the whole team held up Volko's jersey and sent their best prayers for him.

But the situation did not calm down, after the game Hungary for the field medical team is very angry about the unprofessional. Manager Rossi said: "The situation was very chaotic, the players said Volko was unconscious, we were very worried about his condition, and even more worrying is that the professional doctors did not come into the field to check, obviously, they do not realize how dangerous the situation is.

The Hungarian media and players were not as polite as the manager, and they slammed the medical team on the field for simply ignoring the health and lives of the players, which is nothing short of a crime.

Even England's The Sun, which has always kept a close eye on gossip, has reported on the story significantly and asked the question: what the hell is going on here? From a professional point of view, they should be the first time to the scene. When Eriksen was injured at the last Euros, it was very professional, what did the Germans do this time?

The Sun is right, and the incident naturally brings back memories of Eriksen's situation at the last Euros. Back then, in the group between Denmark and Finland, Eriksen suddenly fainted, referee Taylor quickly called off the game after signaling the team doctor and medical team into the field, at this time the captain of the team Kjaer opened Eriksen's mouth to prevent him from swallowing his tongue and choking, to ensure that the breathing is smooth, and then began to do cardiac resuscitation for him.

Thirty seconds later, the professional medical team came running fast to Eriksen's side, as he suddenly stopped his heartbeat, and the doctors quickly performed emergency defibrillation. Eriksen was accompanied not only by the Danish team doctor, but also by a specialized medical doctor on the spot, and even by the doping-testing doctor, Dr. Feld, who had previously worked as an EMT and was also involved in the rescue.

In hindsight, Field said that from a medical point of view, when a person's heart stops within two minutes of administering electric shock, the probability of resuscitation can be up to 90%, but every minute thereafter, the resuscitation can be reduced by 10%, and we ran in the race with death to win.

This is a successful case of casualty resuscitation that has been documented by UEFA and FIFA and quickly replicated. Unfortunately, this rescue of Volko was shamefully unprofessional on the part of those on the ground.

One thing that many fans misunderstood about Volko's incident was that the medical team didn't really deal with the situation until almost 5 minutes after his injury. In fact, a professional did enter the field within a minute of the accident (but did not seem to come directly to Volko's side and was slow), only that the broadcast camera did not show it, as UEFA rules state that for this kind of serious injuries, the camera should not focus on the injured player's condition, and repeated replays are not allowed. The BBC apologized first after the match for showing the footage of Volko's injury.

It is irrefutable that the speed with which the medical team handled the situation was absolutely substandard when compared to the Eriksen incident. The explanation given by some of the overseas media and netizens after the race was that after the team doctors and medical staff had first looked at the situation, they concluded that there were no serious consequences and that Volko did not have a heart problem. In addition, they needed to follow the rules and could only enter after the officials signaled them to do so.
This argument simply doesn't hold water or make sense. From the theory of professional doctors: once a person or an athlete is unconscious, there are many dangerous situations that follow, not to mention the fact that it was such a violent collision that occurred, and it is important to be taken to the hospital at the first opportunity to be examined. The most frightening situation is when a player suffers bleeding in the brain or internal organs, at which point, although from the outside it may seem that there is nothing wrong with the player, it is equally extremely dangerous.

On October 14, 2006, Chelsea goalkeeper Cech was hit by Reading's Hunter and also suffered a coma. It was a close call because the medical team was too slow to get in, and afterwards Cech was diagnosed with a severe skull fracture, with doctors saying that if he had been brought in 10 minutes later, the consequences would have been unimaginable. Manager Mourinho criticized the rescuers at the scene for their disregard for life, no different from murderers.

From the perspective of life, soccer cannot be above life and death, nor above health. When a player suffers a serious injury on the field, any win or loss has to take a backseat, and any regulations have to make way for the injury - after all, life only comes once.

While we pray that no similar serious injuries occur in the future for all players, we also hope that in case a player is injured, the on-field medical team will be quicker and faster.