Seattle Sounders goalie Stefan Frei said he is ‘back home resting’ after he was rushed off the field in an ambulance on Sunday.
Seattle and the Columbus Crew were deep into second half stoppage time when the knee of Crew midfielder Amar Sejdic collided with Frei’s head as they both went for the ball during a free kick.
Frei immediately went to the ground and reportedly received about five minutes of medical attention before an ambulance drove onto Lumen Field.
He was then placed on a stretcher en route to the hospital, while both Seattle coach Brian Schmetzer and Columbus coach Wilfried Nancy agreed to end the match early.
Following the game, Frei spoke out for the first time since the harrowing incident.
‘Still trying to figure out what happened at the end of the game,’ he began on X.
Stefan Frei was loaded onto an ambulance in a harrowing scene on Sunday afternoon
The Sounders goalie said later that night that he was ‘back home resting’ after the scare
‘But I’m incredibly grateful to all the staff that looked after me and happy to be back home resting now. What resonates is all the messages, calls, and love I’ve received from so many of you.
He continued in a reply message: ‘Thank you – truly…. It means more than I can put into words. I feel the support, and I’m thankful for every single one of you.’
While the extent of Frei’s injury is not year clear, Schmetzer said following the game that Frei was ‘alert’ as he went onto the ambulance.
‘His fingers were moving, so he was OK in that regard,’ he told reporters, via the Seattle Times.
‘No paralysis, no nothing major, but I don’t want to downplay it. I’m very happy for our medical staff because they did a good job to be careful. We can’t underestimate that type of stuff.’
Footage from the Apple TV broadcast of the 1-1 draw showed both Schmetzer and Nancy pleading with referees to end the game as the Crew were set to have a corner kick.
Columbus coach Wilfried Nancy urged referees to stop the game early – even as his team had a corner kick
Nancy said that ‘football is not important’ in comparison to Frei’s injury, while one of the goalie’s teammates thanked the coach for his actions.
‘I have a lot of respect for them doing that, you can tell they’re a classy club,’ Sounders forward Paul Rothrock said.
‘I talked to Wilfried afterward and said thank you for doing that. The referees were trying to say it was a corner kick, but I don’t think anybody could’ve played after that.’
It’s unclear if Frei will be available for the Sounders’ match against Sporting KC on Saturday.
