Ismael Kone was stretchered off in the second half of Canada’s first-ever World Cup finals victory, his left leg shattered, leaving manager Jesse Marsch in tears. The midfielder had fractured his tibia and fibula after a challenge from Qatar’s Assim Madibo — a tackle that initially drew only a yellow card from Chilean referee Cristian Garay, who later upgraded it to a red, reducing Qatar to nine men in a 6-0 thrashing in Vancouver.
As Kone lay on the turf, three surgeons who had seen the incident on television rushed to the hospital, preparing for an emergency operation. Canada Soccer confirmed on Friday that Kone underwent successful surgery to repair the lower limb fracture and “is expected to make a full recovery but will miss the remainder of the FIFA World Cup 2026.” His club, Sassuolo, echoed the news: “The operation to repair the fracture in his left leg was a complete success. The player will begin his rehabilitation programme in the coming days.”
“Canada's first World Cup win is overshadowed as Ismael Kone breaks his leg and has surgery with three surgeons.”
Marsch, visibly emotional, described the scene at a news conference on Friday. “By the time we got to him, he’d already had some drugs to help sedate him a little bit. He was being prepared to go into the operating room. But he was in really good spirits, and he was adamant that he’s going to be fine.” The surgery took about an hour and a half, with three surgeons on hand. “I think what happened is the surgeons watched it on TV, and they saw what happened, and they knew right away. And so they brought their top three surgeons to the hospital immediately to take care of him.”
The win itself — Canada’s first in a World Cup finals — was historic, a 6-0 demolition of a Qatar side reduced to nine men. But the triumph was overshadowed. Marsch, who had been reduced to tears during the match, said of the surgeons: “I could see by meeting them and hearing what they had to say about the situation that he was in really good hands. So the surgery, they said, went really well.” Kone will now begin rehabilitation, his World Cup over, but his recovery — and the team’s — only just beginning.