Canada shaken by 'horror' World Cup injury after everyone 'heard bone snap' during match

Canada's first-ever World Cup win was marred by a horrific injury to star midfielder Ismael Kone last night.

The co-hosts were looking to break their duck at the iconic football tournament and did so in emphatic fashion, thrashing Qatar 6-0 to all but secure their spot in the knockout rounds, having drawn 1-1 against Bosnia and Herzegovina in their opener.

Jesse Marsch's World Cup side were already 3-0 up and cruising against the 10 men of Qatar when disaster struck however, as Ismael Kone was fouled by Qatar’s Assim Madibo close to the dugout, with Marsch saying everyone on the bench 'could hear the bone snap'.

According to the Mirror, a Canadian backrooms staff member told the referee: "His leg's hanging off. It's a f**king broken leg over there."

Madibo, who was visibly upset, was sent off for the challenge to reduce the opposition to nine men, and Kone was sadly stretchered off and taken to hospital with a suspected broken leg.

Marsch said: “I haven’t spoken to Ismael yet, he’s at the hospital, he will prepare for a surgery. I’m going to 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. It happened right in front of the bench – everyone could hear the bone snap.

“Your heart goes out to him, and everybody’s a little shaken by the experience, because of the nature of the injury and also because Ismael is a big part of the team.

The emotional match saw Marsch in tears at the second-half hydration break. When Nathan Saliba, Kone's replacement, scored a fourth goal for Canada, he held up his teammate's shirt during his celebrations.

The game ended in ugly scenes, as players from both teams scuffled at full-time.

As they jostled, Marsch was seen in a furious confrontation with his Qatari counterpart Julen Lopetegui, which ended in him throwing his hands in the air and storming off.

What could have been said? 👀

Jesse Marsch is NOT happy with what Julen Lopetegui had to say after the final whistle pic.twitter.com/pPf2NYFh37

— ITV Football (@itvfootball) June 19, 2026

After the match, Marsch said of Kone: "He will be back stronger than ever and he will continue to have a great career.

“I said at the water break that he would want us to finish this game - and that is what the guys did."

He made it clear that Madibo had apologised and he clearly felt terrible that his tackle had led to such a severe injury.

Marsch added: “Let me be clear, the player apologised to Ismael, came into the dressing room and apologised to him and Ismael told the team that had happened. So I don’t think that he meant such a gruesome tackle or gruesome situation.

“But I don’t understand a 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.”

Jonathan David's hattrick alongside goals from Cyle Larin, Nathan Saliba and an own goal from Mohammed Manai helped Canada to the hugely impressive 6-0 win, although sadly Kone's injury will take some of the shine away from such a joyous day in Canadian sporting history.

Marsch concluded: “No Canadian will forget this day. There’ll be 40 million people that said they were here, and it’s an incredibly seminal moment for everyone to understand that there’s talent in this country, that there’s mentality, that there’s desire, that there’s a lot of things that make this country special.”