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The incident happened in the 51st minute, leading to the game being paused for several minutes while Koné was treated. Reuters / Agustin Marcarian
VANCOUVER — Canada’s star midfielder Ismaël Koné left their second World Cup group-stage match against Qatar with an apparent serious injury to his left leg.
Qatar midfielder Assim Madibo fouled Koné in the 51st minute, when the score was 3-0. The 24-year-old hit the pitch and quickly grabbed his left leg.
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Koné had to be helped onto a stretcher and then left the pitch wearing an oxygen mask, sitting up and giving a thumbs up as he was taken from the field.
The 54,000-strong BC Place crowd immediately quietened in shock. When the horrific nature of Kone’s injury became evident and the stretcher was brought on, that same crowd let out a roar of despair.
In the immediate aftermath of the injury, Canada’s players gathered in a circle in obvious shock. Koné’s close friend Jonathan David in particular looked to be in distress. Multiple players hugged each other — Koné is a popular teammate who brings life to this Canadian side.
After Homam Elamin’s 33rd-minute red card, Qatar was already down to 10 men at the time of Koné’s injury, with Madibo — who also seemed visibly upset — then sent off after a VAR review having initially been shown a yellow card by referee Cristián Marcelo Garay Reyes.
Nathan Saliba was substituted on for Koné. In the 64th minute, Saliba scored Canada’s fourth goal. He ran to the touchline and held Koné’s jersey up in celebration.
Qatar had little answer to Canada’s constant attacks in the first half and that did not change after the second red card. The match finished 6-0 to Canada, with the whole group kneeling in a circle postgame.
“Ismaël is such a great kid, he’s imperfect but that is why we love him,” Canada coach Jesse Marsch told TSN immediately after full time.
“He is a huge loss for us. Our hearts are with him, but that kid has a huge future.”
Marsch said in his post-game news conference that he was going to the hospital straight after to be with Koné. He added that Madibo felt awful and went to the locker room to apologize to Koné.
“Ismaël’s injury is a big loss for us to be sure,” centre-back Moïse Bombito said to TSN. “He is an unbelievable human being, he will be missed a lot. We just have to make him proud.”
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“We’re just getting started. We did that for Koné,” Cyle Larin, who scored Canada’s opener, said. “An injury like that hurts all the players, but we showed our character today.”
Koné was arguably Canada’s most impactful player in their World Cup opener as they drew 1-1 with Bosnia and Herzegovina and has established himself as one of his side’s most important figures.
“He can do things that no other player can do,” Marsch said. “He embodies a lot of what this team is. He was our best player against Bosnia.”
Koné began his career at CF Montréal before a move to the English Championship club Watford in 2022.
He spent two seasons with Watford before securing a high-profile move to Marseille in France.
His stay in Ligue 1 was short-lived, however, with then-head coach Roberto De Zerbi playing him in just eight matches. The Italian eventually banished him from the first team after a now-viral training ground row.
Koné spent the 2024-25 season on loan at Rennes before he transferred to Italy’s Serie A and Sassuolo last summer, where he went on to make 36 appearances and score six goals.
He has featured 42 times for the national team, scoring four goals.
Additional reporting: Tom Bogert
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