Injured Seattle Sounders ace Steve Zakuani admits that he and Chivas USA's Ryan Smith are both distraught after hearing of Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba.
The 23-year old is in hospital in a stable but critical condition after going into cardiac arrest during an FA Cup game against Tottenham on Saturday and his former Arsenal youth teammates have their fingers crossed that he will pull through.
"When I come here I forget, but as soon as I get home I'll be distraught. I sat down and I saw it live. I played with Fabrice Muamba when we were 13 or 14 at Arsenal.
"Obviously he's from my country (DR Congo), so I've known him for years. Everyone from that team kind of reconnected because of that; it kind of rallied us all together.
"I was having a chat with Ryan Smith down at Chivas and he was in tears. He was like, 'It's sad.' And we still don't know. Last I heard he's in intensive care, critically ill, so we're just praying he pulls through. Really, really sad.
"You couldn't hold back the tears yesterday because that's a friend on the ground. He has a young son at home, so it's just really, really sad.""Really sad. Really sad. I'm distraught," Zakuani told the Seattle Times.