It emerged that he had refused to be substituted only minutes before collapsing in Cameroon's match against Colombia. His manager Winfried Schäfer and the team doctor had noticed Fo' "was slowing down" but the 28-year-old insisted he was able to continue.
"It was a couple of minutes later when he collapsed," said Schäfer. "Marco refused to come off - he said he felt OK and he wanted to stay on the pitch to help make sure we got to the final.
"Both myself and the doctor thought he seemed to have run out of energy and that he was slowing down. We sent him a message that we wanted to bring him off and send on a substitute, to give us some fresh legs, because we were coming under increasing pressure. But he said no."
The Fifa president Sepp Blatter confirmed that the Confederations Cup final between Cameroon and France would go ahead as planned tomorrow - with all the players wearing shirts with Foe's name emblazoned on the back.
Fifa is considering renaming the tournament in honour of the former Manchester City and West Ham player. The mayor of Lyon has proposed that the Stade Gerland should also be renamed, and City's manager Kevin Keegan announced that they would retire Foe's No23 shirt as a mark of respect. West Ham and City are planning a benefit match.
Rigobert Song, the Cameroon captain, said: "We started as kids together, we shared so much and he was like a brother. He's a neighbour from my district of Yaound', and now he's gone.
"At half-time his last words were 'Boys, even if it means dying on the pitch, we must win this semi-final'. And he was the victim. It's terrible."
Hundreds of fans gathered outside Maine Road, where Fo' had spent the last season on loan, to leave their floral tributes entwined through the blue iron gates at the main entrance. "This family will never forget your smile" read one message.
As well as Keegan and his first-team coach Stuart Pearce, other tributes came from the chairman John Wardle and the director Dennis Tueart. Bernard Halford, the club's secretary, described it as "the biggest tragedy" in their history. "There has been a wonderful optimism about the place, everyone has been looking forward to moving to the new stadium - but this has changed everything."
In Cameroon, where the president Paul Biya sent a message of condolences to Fo''s family, there is talk of a national day of mourning for its 16m people.
Blatter visited the grieving Cameroon players yesterday to ask them not to pull out of the tournament and to play instead in Fo''s honour.
"They all agreed, they even applauded - they want to play this final," he said.
"I asked: 'What would make Fo' happy now? If he knew you were in the final, would he have applauded?' At that moment, everybody burst into applause. Even in sadness, positive feelings can be expressed."
The Cameroon players will be offered counselling before the match and there will be a minute's silence.
"I have never lived through anything like it. Marco wasn't ill, how could it have happened?" said a visibly upset Schäfer, adding that his players had "gone through torture" but would be in the right state of mind to play tomorrow.
"We will pull ourselves together, we will try to win in memory of Marco," added Song. "I think it's better to play because together we will make it a celebration of football. The final should be a celebration for Marco, our friend who has left us. And after that we will take his body back to Cameroon and the players will bury him."
City are also considering arranging a tribute match for the player who scored their last-ever goal at Maine Road. Another idea is to rename part of their new City of Manchester stadium in his honour.
"Marc did a terrific job for us as a player and is greatly revered in his country as an ambassador," said Tueart. "This is something you can't legislate for. We have been looking forward to going to the new stadium but this has put a dampener on everything.
"I've spoken to Kevin Keegan this morning and to say he is devastated is an understatement. He is very emotional.
"We have laid a wreath in honour of Marc and are retiring his shirt. Everything else will be considered in the future."
Keegan, who signed Fo' on loan a year ago, said: "Marc was not only a special footballer but a very special person. You only have to look at the range of tributes that have come in to realise the regard and respect in which his fellow professionals held him.
"We will all miss his smile and his personality. Nothing was ever too much trouble for him and he was the ultimate professional loved by everyone in the dressing room and the boardroom.
"He only missed two games all season, won the fans over and one of those was to be at the birth of his new baby. We are all distraught, especially Arthur Cox who loved Marco.
"I felt it was a privilege to work with him for the past year and we were still in the process of trying to negotiate a deal that would have made him a City player.
"You perhaps had to get to know Marco a bit to fully enjoy his personality - certainly his dress sense - but he was universally liked.
"Everyone knows what a wonderful player he was but more than that he was a fine human being.
"He had the ability to make us all smile and feel better. We will miss him."
The France team doctor Jean-Marcel Ferret said that some clubs were not paying sufficient attention to the health of their players and that Fifa should act to protect their prize assets.
The Confederations Cup itself has been seen by some as an unnecessary addition to the fixture schedule.
"Fifa have to look at the overloaded schedules," Ferret said yesterday at Clairefontaine, the French training camp.
"Right now, we don't have anything," he added. "I told Sepp Blatter yesterday about it and, given the circumstances, I think he heard me."
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2003
Read the tributes made to Marc-Vivien Foe, or add your own here
Tweet