An ambulance taking injured people leaves the Stage II Male Juvenile Detention Center, after an operation was carried out to rescue four hostages kept held by inmates in San Jose Pinula, east of Guatemala City, on March 20, 2017.
Guatemalan police stormed a juvenile detention center Monday and freed four guards taken hostage by inmates who killed two others during a riot over what they called harsh treatment. But one of the hostages died soon thereafter of injuries suffered during the ordeal, which started around midday Sunday. Authorities said he had been beaten severely and stabbed.
/ AFP PHOTO / JOHAN ORDONEZ (Photo credit should read JOHAN ORDONEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

Hernán Maldonado, the president of the club, told ESPN that Menaldo was “a young, dynamic, and jovial person.”

“It was around 11:00 [a.m.] that they called me to inform me that Marcos had fainted in training,” Maldonado told the multinational sports channel. “They transferred him to the assistance center where they did everything possible, but unfortunately, the death was confirmed.”

“It is quite strong and shocking because you lose not only a player, you lose a friend,” he said. “God has his plans and his purposes, but unfortunately we have the death.”

Menaldo joined Club Deportivo Marquense in 2018 and was reportedly complaining previously of having difficulty breathing. The club hasn’t immediately provided a statement on more details about his death.

The tragic incident comes as some experts have said that the number of soccer players collapsing during matches or training has increased recently.

One prominent soccer star who suffered from a similar heart attack as Menaldo is Christian Eriksen, who collapsed on the field during Denmark’s Euro 2020 match last summer.

The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), when asked if the increase in the number of players having cardiac arrests while on the pitch may be related to a large number of players have received a vaccine against COVID-19, said it is not aware of this claim and has not seen any cases attributed to individuals receiving the shot.

“FIFA is not aware of a rise in episodes of cardiac arrests as indicated in your email and no cases have been flagged in relation to individuals receiving a COVID vaccine,” the global soccer’s governing body said in a statement to news agency Reuters.