Canada coach Jesse Marsch said his team was left “shaken” after Ismaël Koné broke his left leg in Thursday’s 6-0 win over Qatar, calling the midfielder a “huge loss.”

Koné was stretchered off during the second half of the match at BC Place. The 24-year-old sustained the injury after a challenge from Qatar midfielder Assim Madibo.

Players immediately signaled for medical assistance after Koné went down following a hard tackle from behind by Madibo. Several teammates surrounded him on the pitch.

“I saw his leg. I saw that something wasn’t right,” said Canada captain Stephen Eustáquio, who was one of the first players to reach him.

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Following a VAR review, Madibo received a straight red card for dangerous play. Qatar played the remainder of the match with nine players after Homam Al Amin had already been sent off in the first half.

“I haven’t spoken to Ismaël yet, but he’s at the hospital,” Marsch said in his postmatch news conference. “He will prepare for a surgery. I’m going to go see him after this press conference. We’ll see exactly what we decide to do for him. His family is with him at the hospital, so his mother’s there and his family. Look, it happened right in front of the bench. We could all hear it. I knew right away it was similar to when Tajon [Buchanan] got hurt in training [in 2024].”

Marsch said the emotions on the bench were immediate. “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.”

As Koné was being taken off on a stretcher, he waved to the crowd, drawing a loud ovation from the home fans.

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“But look, you saw also that he was waving to the crowd and almost making everybody else feel at ease with the fact that he’s injured, and it’s an incredible statement about Ismaël as a person, but this is our team,” Marsch said. “I’ve been trying to tell people for two years about the special character of this group, and it gets highlighted in moments of challenging moments and in moments of glory. I think that today was a representation of all of that.”

“Everybody was crushed when it happened, but we had to find a way to stay focused,” Marsch continued. “We knew that Ismaël wanted us to finish the job. There’s a lot of thoughts that go through our heads right now. We’re all thinking about him, but we’re all very proud of what we are. That’s what I would say more than anything is we’re very proud of who we are, and I think that was all on showcase today.”

Near the end of the match, an apparent altercation took place involving the Canada and Qatar benches, along with a heated exchange between Marsch and Qatar coach Julen Lopetegui following the final whistle.

While Marsch declined to go into details, he criticized the opposing team’s response to the incident. “Let me be clear, the player apologized to Ismaël, like came into the dressing room and apologized to him, and Ismaël told the team or let the team know that that had happened,” Marsch said. “So, I don’t think that he meant such a gruesome tackle or a gruesome situation. I don’t fault him for that, but I don’t understand the reaction from their entire bench to try to start a fight about it being a red card when a clear foul just happened that broke a player’s leg. So, strange behavior, but in the end, we were more focused on Ismaël.”

Nathan Saliba, who replaced Koné in the 57th minute, celebrated his team’s fourth goal by raising Koné’s shirt.

Canada striker Jonathan David, who scored a hat trick, questioned why the challenge occurred. “If there’s a play where you cannot win the ball, there’s no point,” he said. “It’s just to hurt people.”

“We’re going to miss [Koné],” Eustáquio said. “He has that X factor that our team really needs.”

Canada captured a 6-0 result over Qatar, claiming its first World Cup win and taking first place in Group B.

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