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Shaka Hislop is one of the shining stars of ESPN‘s ever-increasing coverage of soccer.
Hislop, a former professional goalkeeper, spent four seasons with Premier League club Newcastle and multiple stints at West Ham before a season in MLS.
He joined The Guardian as an MLS blogger following his retirement in 2008 and shortly after began his career with ESPN.
But things briefly turned scary for the 54-year-old on Sunday night.
Hislop was filming a pre-match segment before a friendly between Real Madrid and AC Milan in Los Angeles. During the segment, he turned to co-analyst Dan Thomas before appearing to lose his balance and collapse to the turf.
He was immediately attended to by club trainers and doctors on hand.
Thankfully, Thomas provided a positive update on his condition at halftime.
Dan Thomas gave an update on Shaka Hislop's condition.
Shaka is "conscious and talking" and has been tended to by medics 🙏 pic.twitter.com/B3mlEsxUfw
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) July 24, 2023
“Halftime then here at the Rose Bowl. It’s AC Milan 2, Real Madrid 0. But that, of course, very much secondary to what happened ahead of the game,” Thomas began. “Obviously, my mate Shaka (is) not here, but as it stands, it’s good news. He’s conscious. He’s talking. I think he’s a little embarrassed about it all
“He’s apologized profusely. Not a man who likes people to make a fuss of him. Obviously, far too early to make any sort of diagnosis. But the important thing is that Shaka is conscious and we spoke to his family as well, because could you imagine seeing that happen live. There can’t be many more things that could scare you amongst a family. But fortunately we spoke to his wife and things are looking okay.”
Thomas could be heard taking an audible sigh of relief following that final sentence, and it’s easy to see why.
Thankfully it appears Hislop will make a full recovery and could well be back on your screens in the not-too-distant future.