Women’s World Cup: Fear grips the Colombian national team as teen sensation Linda Caicedo collapsed in a training session.
Caicedo, 18, bagged a remarkable World Cup scoring “hat-trick” when she netted in her side’s opening win over South Korea.
The teenager, also has scored at both the Under-17 and Under-20 World Cups, this same season.
The Real Madrid player was able to do this incredibly, just six months after winning a two year battle with cancer.
However, Caicedo’s Women’s World Cup joy has been cut short by her collapse at Colombia’s training base on the outskirts of Sydney.
Caicedo however, then tried to sit down but within seconds had keeled over, seemingly unconscious.
The Colombian medical staff paced over as a sense of panic beclouded the camp, with her team-mates fearing the worst.
An ambulance was summoned and swiftly arrived as concerns for her well being was growing as she was unconscious for at least 90 seconds as medics and team-mates rushed to the scene.
Caicedo was able to regain consciousness by the time she was placed on a stretcher, carried into the ambulance and off to a local hospital.
Their training session as participants of the Women’s World Cup was paused immediately as her team-mates looked on with fears.
The Media was immediately asked to leave the premises with Colombian staff explaining: “We cannot give any more details – and we want to avoid any more confusion.”
Later at the same day, at night, a Colombian FA medical staff member revealed that: “Linda is very tired.”
“What happened was just a symptom of all the stress and physical demands. She is well and all is back to normal.”
The incident left her teammates, who are to face Germany in the Women’s World Cup on Sunday, in a state of fear.
Linda Caicedo was previously diagnosed with ovarian cancer at the age of 15 in February 2020, just before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Caicedo however needed surgery to remove a tumour and underwent six months of chemotherapy before she returned to playing football.
Linda Caicedo explained in an interview that: “The truth is that I was very young and maybe I didn’t quite understand what was happening to me.”
Her Mum Herlinda recalled: “Every time we would take Linda to the hospital, she would cry, and she would ask the doctors to please tell her the truth, if she would be able to play football again. That’s all she wanted to know.”
Who Is Linda Caicedo?
Linda Lizeth Caicedo Alegría is a Colombian footballer who was born on 25 February 2005 and plays as a forward for Real Madrid and the Colombia women’s national team.
Caicedo made her professional debut at age 14 with América de Cali and was named the best player at the 2022 Copa América Femenina.
Caicedo’s team (Deportivo Cali) were the 2021 champions of the Liga Femenina Profesional de Fútbol Colombiano.
FIFA Women’s World Cup
The FIFA Women’s World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior women’s national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association, the sport’s international governing body.
The tournament has been held every four years and one year after the men’s FIFA World Cup since 1991, when the inaugural tournament, then called the FIFA Women’s World Championship, was held in China.
