"Your heart goes out to him and everybody's a little shaken by the whole experience because of the nature of the injury," Canada's head coach said
Credit: AP Photo/Abbie Parr
NEED TO KNOW
- One of Canada’s soccer players suffered a gruesome in-game injury during the FIFA World Cup
- Ismaël Koné, 24, was carried off the field on a stretcher after seemingly having his leg broken by a player on the opposing team during the Canada vs. Qatar game
- “It will be a big loss for us,” Canada head coach Jesse Marsch said
A soccer player for Canada suffered a game-stopping injury during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
During the Thursday, June 18 match between Canada and Qatar, 24-year-old Ismaël Koné was left speechless after opposing midfielder Assim Madibo went for the soccer ball and cracked Koné’s leg instead during the second half.
Multiple videos circulated on social media showing the moment the 29-year-old went for the ball, knocking Koné to the ground in the process.
Credit: Emilee Chinn/Getty
Though the sound in the stadium was too loud at BC Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada to hear what was happening on the field, cameras zoomed in on the incident, which showed Koné appearing to be shocked.
He covered his mouth and looked at his leg, which was visibly misaligned.
A nearby player from Qatar who was nearly involved in the collision walked over to Koné and signaled for help as others on the field quickly gathered around the fallen player.
"I saw his leg. I saw that something wasn't right," Canada captain Stephen Eustáquio said, per ESPN.
Footage also surfaced of Koné being carried off on a stretcher to be treated for his injury.
“All of Canada is behind you, Ismaël,” the official Instagram of Canada’s Men’s National Team captioned a post of Nathan Saliba holding up his teammate’s No. 8 jersey.
“That tackle was nasty, Saliba's face after his goal says it all. Did it for Kone❤️👏👏👏,” one person wrote. Another added, “Canada 🇨🇦 is behind you KONE! Wishing you a speedy recovery and now Canada is even more motivated to win!! Let’s go boys.”
Saliba, 22, replaced Koné after the in-game injury, and a VAR review resulted in Madibo being given a straight red card and ejected from the game for a dangerous play, ESPN reported.
The 22-year-old scored just minutes after entering the game, and Canada defeated Qatar 6-0, marking their first-ever tournament win and setting a historic margin of victory.
Credit: Nicolò Campo/LightRocket via Getty
In a postmatch news conference, Canada head coach Jesse Marsch said he hadn’t talked to Koné yet, but confirmed that the athlete was in the hospital, and that he would see him after the press conference.
"We'll see exactly what we decide to do for him,” Marsch said, per ESPN. “His family is with him at the hospital, so his mother's there and his family.”
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He also said the injury was something they “could all hear.”
"So your heart goes out to him and everybody's a little shaken by the whole experience because of the nature of the injury and also because Ismaël is a big part of the heart of our team. It will be a big loss for us. He's been an amazing player in these last two games,” Marsch said.
Canada’s next match is against Switzerland on Wednesday, June 24.
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