Canada, Marsch 'shaken' by gruesome Koné injury

VANCOUVER -- Canada head coach Jesse Marsch said his team was left "shaken" after Ismaël Koné broke his leg in Thursday's 6-0 win over Qatar, saying the midfielder will be a "huge loss." Koné was stretchered off the field in the second half of the host nation's match at BC Place. The 24-year-old suffered the injury after a challenge from Qatar midfielder Assim Madibo in the second half. Koné went down on a hard tackle from behind by Madibo, and players on the field immediately waved to the sideline for help before surrounding Koné on the pitch. After a VAR review, Madibo was given a straight red card and sent off for a dangerous play, leaving Qatar to finish the match with nine players after Homam Al Amin was dismissed 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]. "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 taken off the field on a stretcher, he received a loud ovation from the home crowd as he waved to the crowd. "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. 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." At the full-time whistle, there appeared to be an altercation on the pitch between the Canada and Qatar benches. While Marsch would not be drawn on the details of the incident, he condemned the reaction from the opposing side. "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. 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 -- raised Koné's shirt in celebration after scoring his team's fourth goal. The injury put a blemish on an otherwise perfect afternoon for Canada, who ended up winning the game 6-0 for their first-ever World Cup victory and top spot in Group B.