Mike Jeffrey will be parked in front of his TV this morning as the United States tries to advance past the pool play stage at the World Cup.
They will be guaranteed a spot if they beat Algeria. There are several other scenarios which will allow them to advance if they tie Algeria.
The fact the Brewer High School social studies teacher for the last 35 years and former Witch soccer coach and track assistant will be able to follow one of his passions results from good fortune.
Last July 8, Jeffrey was biking with friends when he suffered a heart attack, fell off his bike and passed out. There were no symptoms, he said.
Here is where the good fortune comes in.
“We had stopped to wait for a couple of the other bicyclists in the ambulance [fire]/police station parking lot in Hampden. Then I remember getting back on my bike and veering wide of a puddle. That’s the last thing I remember. I fell outside the ambulance [fire]/police station building,” said Jeffrey.
“It was the shortest ride they ever had to make,” he quipped. “And I found out later that the first person to who came along the other way was a doctor.”
His friends told him he gave the emergency medical technicians information they needed.
When Jeffrey woke up, he was on a back board in a neck brace staring at the lights on the “ambulance ceiling” while being transported to Bangor’s Eastern Maine Medical Center.
“My widow-maker [coronary artery] was 99 percent blocked,” said the 58-year-old Jeffrey, who has three sons (Jay, Ryan and Kyle) with wife Alayna.
He said his high cholesterol; the stress that came with coaching, even though he has been retired since 1997, and the fast food he would occasionally consume after a game or a meet had finally caught up to him.
He had a stent inserted and underwent six weeks of rehab.
Jeffrey says, “I can’t say enough about what they did for me at Eastern Maine [Medical Center]. It’s incredible.”
He takes three pills a day but began riding his bike, slowly, three weeks into his rehab.
He now rides 30-40 miles every day and has made three 100-mile rides since his heart attack. He played in three soccer leagues during the winter months.
He has eliminated red meat from his diet in favor of chicken, fish and vegetarian meals.
Jeffrey was influential in the soccer community in eastern Maine for over 30 years. His teams were fundamentally sound and played a sophisticated ball possession game rather than a more direct kick-and-chase style prevalent in eastern Maine.
The former Wesleyan University (Conn.) soccer player not only coached the Witch soccer team from 1983 to 1997, he also helped run the Central Maine Summer Soccer League for 35 years and was a player-coach for a team in the league.
He is still a well-respected referee.
He knows he is a lucky man and cherishes life more than ever.
He won’t be on the edge of his seat watching the Americans play today.
“I take things with a grain of salt. I’ll root for the Americans, but if they don’t play well, they don’t deserve to win,” Jeffrey said.
He has been disappointed with the U.S. performance.
“They haven’t played well at all. I’ve been very disappointed in the fullback play. I don’t think they put pressure [on the ball] quick enough,” he said. “Algeria is dangerous. The African athletes are incredible. We’ve got to stop giving up early goals.”