The moment Ismael Kone went down, you could see it was bad. Really bad. Canadian players waved frantically for medical staff. A few of them turned away. One Qatar player dropped to a knee.
Kone, the 24-year-old midfielder playing in his first World Cup, broke his left leg during Canada’s 6-0 win over Qatar in Vancouver on Friday. The injury came in the 50th minute after a challenge from Qatar’s Assim Madibo. Madibo was initially shown a yellow card by referee Cristian Marcelo Garay Reyes but got a red after a VAR review.
Kone was stretchered off with oxygen and a splint on his leg. He gave a thumbs up to the crowd. They applauded. But nobody was fooled into thinking this was minor.
Teammates paid tribute on the field
Minutes after Kone left the pitch, Nathan Saliba scored Canada’s fourth goal. He grabbed Kone’s jersey from the sideline and held it up in front of the stands. It was a small moment that hit hard. You don’t plan that. You just do it.
The match ended with some shoving between both benches. It looked like it started with a pretty cold handshake between managers Jesse Marsch and Julen Lopetegui. Nothing major happened, but the tension was obvious.
Marsch called Kone irreplaceable
Canada head coach Jesse Marsch didn’t mince words after the game. “Ismael is such a great kid, he’s imperfect but that is why we love him,” Marsch said. “He can do things that no other player can do. He embodies a lot of what this team is. He was our best player against Bosnia. He is a huge loss for us.”
Kone plays for Serie A side Sassuolo and has been linked to bigger clubs in Europe for months. According to multiple reports, several top teams were watching him closely. That interest isn’t going away because of this injury, but it does complicate things.
Center back Moise Bombito put it simply: “Ismael’s injury is a big loss for us to be sure. He is an unbelievable human being, he will be missed a lot. We just have to make him proud.”
Canada now has to figure out how to replace a guy who was their best player in the opener against Bosnia. That’s not going to be easy. Kone’s future is still bright, but right now the immediate focus is on him getting healthy. Everything else can wait.
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