England striker Jermaine Defoe goes home due to father’s death

Jun 7, 2012, 7:55 AM EDT

Yesterday, Jermaine Defoe was a world class athlete, consumed by media, about to participate in perhaps the second most-watched soccer tournament in the world, the European Championships.

Today, he’s just one of us, a man struggling with one of life’s toughest blows, losing a parent.

Defoe has returned to England after the death of his father.

England’s FA issued the following statement early Tuesday: “England striker Jermain Defoe has returned home to England this morning following the passing of his father overnight. Jermain will re-join the England Euro squad in due course. There will be no replacement player called in. We would ask all media to respect Jermain and his family’s privacy at this difficult time.”

Obviously, soccer matters fade into the background, but there is an effect on England, which opens play Monday against France. Wayne Rooney is suspended for the first two matches. So the choices at striker for manager Roy Hodgson (if Defoe is not available) are limited to Danny Welbeck or Andy Carroll, with Ashley Young likely to play a withdrawn role behind them.

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2 Comments (Feed for Comments)

d214tx - Jun 7, 2012 at 11:08 AM

Rip. do you guys think players should comeback and play after this or given time off. Me personally I think he should be given time off unless he himself still want to play most of the time nobody is in the right state of mind after something like this .

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Steve Davis - Jun 7, 2012 at 12:22 PM

I’m not there, so I can’t say for sure, but it looks like the England FA has essentially said, “come back when you think you can.” The right approach, of course. I recall that Dutch defender Khalid Boulahrouz had something terrible happen at Euro 2012 in Switzerland; his wife gave premature birth to a baby who died at the hospital. He played two days later against Russia in an elimination match. So, I think it’s all about player and circumstance.

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