Ecuadoreans mourn striker Benitez

2 August 2013 Last updated at 13:29 ET Fans were allowed to stand a few seconds near Benitez’s coffin Thousands of Ecuadoreans are saying their last goodbye to the football star Christian Benitez, in a sporting arena in the capital, Quito.

Benitez, who died of heart problems in Qatar on Monday, played in Mexico and Britain as well as for Ecuador’s national team.

Fans started queuing in the early hours of the morning shortly after the arrival of their idol’s body on Friday.

President Rafael Correa is expected to pay his respects at the end of Friday.

Preliminary results from an autopsy conducted in Qatar suggest that a previously undetected heart condition was to blame for Benitez’s death, Ecuadorean media say.

The body of Benitez was flown in from Qatar by charter flight and arrived early on Friday.

By then, a crowd of hundreds had already gathered at the airport.

‘Destined to die’

Before being driven to the Coliseo Ruminahui sports arena, the body of Benitez was autopsied for a second time at the cemetery where he will be buried on Saturday, in the outskirts of the capital.

“He had a deficiency in one of the coronary arteries, but this could only have been detected after his death. For this coronary condition, he was destined to die, sooner or later. This is what the doctor told me,” Luis Chiriboga, the president of the Ecuadorean Football Association told reporters.

Fans were being allowed only a few seconds to say their goodbye, only friends and relatives were authorised to stay inside the arena.

Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa was expected to mourn the footballer later on Friday.

Christian Benitez’s performances in Ecuador’s team made him a national hero

The Ecuador international, 27, was admitted to hospital with severe stomach pains shortly after making his debut for El Jaish on Sunday.

He died hours later and his club confirmed that “official medical reports stated that the sudden death was caused by heart failure”.

El Jaish said they would cover all costs of returning Benitez’s body to Ecuador.

Benitez, capped 58 times by his country, spent the 2009-10 season on loan at Birmingham from Santos Laguna but returned to the Mexican side when the St Andrew’s club decided not to sign him permanently.

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Ecuadoreans mourn striker Benitez

Boyz head coach aims to lure enigmatic striker out of retirement

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida — New Reggae Boyz head coach Winfried Schafer says he will attempt to lure striker Marlon King out of international retirement in an effort to boost the team’s offensive thrust.

The German tactician told the Jamaica Observer in Chicago on Saturday that he is prepared to look beyond King’s dogged past as he aims to shoreup the offensive aspect of the team’s play after an enduring goal drought during the ongoing CONCACAF World Cup qualifying campaign.“I saw one player at Birmingham City, who has scored many goals and I want to have a talk with him. This is a new situation and the past is the past,” said Schafer, the former Cameroon coach, who led that country to the African Cup of Nations title back in 2002.He warned, however, that fans of King should not get their hopes up of successfully wooing the enigmatic striker back to the fold after he quit Jamaica’s team out of frustration last November.“First I want to watch him play… I must first see him and talk with him, but it’s possible that he could come back,” said Schafer.King, 33, who has scored 12 goals in 22 appearances for Jamaica, is regarded as a top striker, but who has had a see-saw association with the national team.King’s frustration hit the roof after he was scorned by the Theodore ‘Tappa’ Whitmore-led coaching team after serving a two-match suspension for violating team curfew rules during a friendly match against Panama in that country in May last year.After serving the ban that would have involved World Cup qualifying semi-final games against Guatemala in Kingston and Antigua and Barbuda away, King was kept in the wilderness thereafter by Whitmore, who recently quit as head coach.No stranger to trouble, King was also banned for two years by the Crenston Boxhill-led administration for another curfew-related incident in England in 2006.On the return of Burrell to the helm of the JFF in 2007, King was immediately reinstated to the team.In December 2008, King was arrested in England on suspicion of punching a 20-year-old female university student in the face, causing a broken nose and split lip for which she was treated in hospital. In a highly publicised case, he was later convicted of sexual assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and sentenced to 18 months in prison.And just this past weekend merely hours of being handed a free transfer by Birmingham City, King was arrested after a hit and run which left a man in hospital on Saturday night.According to the Mail Online, the collision reportedly occurred near London’s West End and King has been released on bail until September by City of London Police.The victim is reported to be in his 40s, and he was treated for head injuries at a nearby hospital. Sources claim the incident happened not far from Paddington rail station.King has had a relatively successful career playing in England, having represented Wigan Athletic, Hull City, Middlesbrough, Coventry, Watford, Leeds, Nottingham Forest and Birmingham City.Meanwhile, Schafer, who is charged in the first instance to try to make a last-ditch, death-defying move to rescue Jamaica’s flailing World Cup campaign, said the team’s poor scoring record has to turn around.“We want strikers and I go to England soon to look at (some prospects). We can’t be playing with only one striker in the box… we need more strikers in there.“Maybe we could play 4-3-3… those playing on the wings must go in for goal. We just can’t play with one striker and hope to make goals,” Schafer told the Observer.Jamaica have scored only two goals and conceded eight in six matches.In the Hexagonal of the CONCACAF elimination, Jamaica sit at the bottom with two points and must win their four remaining games, starting with a do-or-die contest against a dangerous Panama away on September 6, if they wish to at least snatch the fourth-place play-off spot that would pit them against the champions of Oceania.The USA lead the points standings with 13 points, followed by Costa Rica on 11, Mexico on 10, Honduras, 7, and Panama, 6.KING… top striker who has had a see-saw association with the national teamHead coach Winfried Schafer (left) and his new assistant head coach Vin Blaine at the press briefing to introduce Schafer at the JFF headquarters recently.

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Boyz head coach aims to lure enigmatic striker out of retirement