Sammie Szmodics spent the night in hospital after being knocked unconscious in worrying scenes on Thursday night.
The 30-year-old Republic of Ireland star had only just entered the pitch in extra time of their World Cup play-off semi-final against Czechia before being involved in a horrible collision.
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With the scores level at 2-2 during their eventual defeat in Prague, Szmodics – on loan at Derby from Ipswich – instantly hit the deck following a clash with Stepan Chaloupek.
The forward dropped to the ground and looked to be unconscious as medics immediately rushed to his aid.
He was put into the recovery position as the stadium fell into silence, before eventually leaving the pitch on a stretcher to a standing ovation, where he was replaced by Harvey Vale for his Ireland debut.
Ireland and Szmodics provide update
Speaking after the match, Ireland boss Heimir Hallgrimsson confirmed: “Sammie was unconscious on the ground. But we have good doctors and they took care of him on the grass.”
Hallgrimsson then gave a positive update, saying: “He’s back to consciousness. He’s just being tested, checked and monitored and he will hopefully fly back to Ireland on Friday.”
Ireland have also now posted an update, writing on social media on Friday morning that he had been discharged from hospital.
They wrote: “Sammie Szmodics was transferred to hospital yesterday, having sustained a head injury during extra-time of the play-off against Czechia.
“Following further tests and a period of observation, he has been safely discharged from hospital – and will continue his recovery under the care of the Republic of Ireland & Derby County medical teams.”
And Szmodics has also thanked medical staff for their work when helping him on the pitch when he fell unconscious.
He posted on X: “Gutted the way it ended. Fans and boys immense all evening. Appreciate everyone’s messages. And thank you to the medical staff who acted so quickly to help me. On the mend.”
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Distressing scenes
Speaking on eSPORTY commentary after the incident on Thursday, Mark Wilson said: “He went down in a pretty heavy challenge.
“Looks like he got a bang on the head.
“There was a shot of him on the ground, looks like he might have been possibly knocked out, well he has been stretchered off now.”
Ex-Sunderland defender Micky Gray then remarked: “It was a coming together.
“He just kind of shoulder barged him, but he had a look to see where Szmodics was before he actually made the challenge.
“And he’s caught him really high up and then you could see his head was jerking a little bit.
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“Szmodics was down for about three or four minutes and rightly so was being stretched off.”
To make matters worse for Ireland, their World Cup dreams came to an end after suffering a heartbreaking penalty shootout defeat.
But it was Szmodics that was on the minds of fans on social media last night, as one X user posted: “Please God let Szmodics be OK.”
Another message: “This looks really scary. Szmodics hits the deck and was KO’d. Sincerely hope he’s OK.”
A third added: “Wishing Szmodics the best, that looked scary.”
Thankfully, the Irishman has ended up being okay and will be looked after during his recovery following the collision.
