{"id":214350,"date":"2026-06-19T09:55:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T09:55:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/canadas-ismael-kone-suffers-serious-left-leg-injury-in-world-cup-game-the-new-york-times\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T09:55:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T09:55:19","slug":"canadas-ismael-kone-suffers-serious-left-leg-injury-in-world-cup-game-the-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/canadas-ismael-kone-suffers-serious-left-leg-injury-in-world-cup-game-the-new-york-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada\u2019s Isma\u00ebl Kon\u00e9 suffers serious left leg injury in World Cup game – The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

World Cup
FIFA World
Cup 2026
The incident happened in the 51st minute, leading to the game being paused for several minutes while Kon\u00e9 was treated. Reuters \/ Agustin Marcarian<\/span>
VANCOUVER \u2014 Canada\u2019s star midfielder Isma\u00ebl Kon\u00e9 left their second World Cup group-stage match against Qatar with an apparent serious injury to his left leg.
Qatar midfielder Assim Madibo fouled Kon\u00e9 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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Kon\u00e9 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\u2019s 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\u2019s players gathered in a circle in obvious shock. Kon\u00e9\u2019s close friend Jonathan David in particular looked to be in distress. Multiple players hugged each other \u2014 Kon\u00e9 is a popular teammate who brings life to this Canadian side.
After Homam Elamin\u2019s 33rd-minute red card, Qatar was already down to 10 men at the time of Kon\u00e9\u2019s injury, with Madibo \u2014 who also seemed visibly upset \u2014 then sent off after a VAR review having initially been shown a yellow card by referee Cristi\u00e1n Marcelo Garay Reyes.
Nathan Saliba was substituted on for Kon\u00e9. In the 64th minute, Saliba scored Canada\u2019s fourth goal. He ran to the touchline and held Kon\u00e9\u2019s jersey up in celebration.
Qatar had little answer to Canada\u2019s constant attacks in the first half and that did not change after the second red card. The match finished 6-0 to Canada<\/a>, with the whole group kneeling in a circle postgame.
\u201cIsma\u00ebl is such a great kid, he\u2019s imperfect but that is why we love him,\u201d Canada coach Jesse Marsch told TSN immediately after full time.
\u201cHe is a huge loss for us. Our hearts are with him, but that kid has a huge future.\u201d
Marsch said in his post-game news conference that he was going to the hospital straight after to be with Kon\u00e9. He added that Madibo felt awful and went to the locker room to apologize to Kon\u00e9.
\u201cIsma\u00ebl\u2019s injury is a big loss for us to be sure,\u201d centre-back Mo\u00efse Bombito said to TSN. \u201cHe is an unbelievable human being, he will be missed a lot. We just have to make him proud.\u201d
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\u201cWe\u2019re just getting started. We did that for Kon\u00e9,\u201d Cyle Larin, who scored Canada\u2019s opener, said. \u201cAn injury like that hurts all the players, but we showed our character today.\u201d
Kon\u00e9 was arguably Canada\u2019s 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\u2019s most important figures.
\u201cHe can do things that no other player can do,\u201d Marsch said. \u201cHe embodies a lot of what this team is. He was our best player against Bosnia.\u201d
Kon\u00e9 began his career at CF Montr\u00e9al 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.
Kon\u00e9 spent the 2024-25 season on loan at Rennes before he transferred to Italy\u2019s 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<\/em>
Spot the pattern. Connect the terms
Find the hidden link between sports terms
Play today's puzzle<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

World CupFIFA WorldCup 2026The incident happened in the 51st minute, leading to the game being paused for several minutes while Kon\u00e9 was treated. Reuters \/ Agustin MarcarianVANCOUVER \u2014 Canada\u2019s star midfielder Isma\u00ebl Kon\u00e9 left their second World Cup group-stage match against Qatar with an apparent serious injury to his left leg.Qatar midfielder Assim Madibo fouled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":214351,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-214350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}