Vidmar confirms blood clot in coronary artery

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Qantas Socceroo defender Tony Vidmar today confirmed that a blood clot in his left coronary artery is the reason why he has had to pull the pin on his World Cup finals aspirations.

Accompanied by Australian Team Doctor Dr Andrew Jowett, an emotional Vidmar faced a packed media conference at the MCG, who gave him a standing ovation at the end of the conference in recognition of his outstanding service to the national team.

Vidmar will undergo surgery in a couple of weeks time, which will remove the clot and he will then undergo further tests to see if he will be able to play in the future.

“The cardiologist in The Netherlands said I shouldn-t be playing football and this situation could be fatal,” Vidmar said. “Basically I would be playing with my life, if I had kept playing.”

Vidmar said that the specialists were unsure what had caused the blood clot or how long its been there, although Vidmar confirmed that the day before he did his ECG test, as part of FIFA requirements on all potential World Cup participants, he was hit by a teammate with his head in the chest and caused him to be winded for about half-a-minute.

“The cardiologist has said that it was kind of like a freak accident, what-s happened,” Vidmar said.

The 35-year old is understandably still trying to come to grips with his ailment and said he has his moments, but he is generally pretty good and comfortable with his position and that it wasn-t perhaps meant to be.

“You don-t think this can happen to yourself and there are times you are in denial; maybe it just wasn-t meant to be,” Vidmar said. “I have got a lot of good memories and I played a big part in us qualifying and maybe that-s what it is all about, because there was a big emphasis on qualifying for the World Cup.”

Vidmar admits finding it a bit difficult being in Melbourne, but said the players have really helped him and treat him like he is part of the team. He also confirmed that he would be in Germany and that while he won-t be staying with the team at their base, he hopes to be there in some capacity.