![\"Kone](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-2282271539-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIsma\u00ebl Kon\u00e9 has undergone successful surgery to repair the fracture in his left leg that he suffered during Canada\u2019s historic 6-0 World Cup victory over Qatar, Canada Soccer has announced.<\/p>\n
Kon\u00e9, 24, was taken to hospital after being caught from behind by Qatar midfielder Assim Madibo in the 51st minute at BC Place in Vancouver during Thursday\u2019s group-stage game.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast night, Isma\u00ebl Kon\u00e9 underwent successful surgery to repair a lower limb fracture,\u201d a statement from Canada Soccer read on Friday. \u201cHe is expected to make a full recovery but will miss the remainder of FIFA World Cup 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBy the time we got to him, he\u2019d already had some drugs to help sedate him a little bit,\u201d Canada head coach Jesse Marsch said at a news conference following Canada Soccer\u2019s announcement. \u201cHe was being prepared to go into the operation room. But he was in really good spirits and he was adamant that he\u2019s going to be fine.<\/p>\n
\u201c(The surgery) took about an hour and a half and they had three surgeons. 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo by the time he got there, the surgeons were there and they were ready. And then we just had to communicate with our medical team and make sure that the surgery was the best option that we thought. But I could see by meeting them and hearing what they had to say about the situation that they he was in really good hands. So the surgery they said went really well.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Kone was embraced by Canada head coach Marsch while he went off on a stretcher (Emilee Chinn\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Kon\u00e9\u2019s club, Italian team Sassuolo, added on Friday: \u201cThe operation to repair the fracture in his left leg was a complete success. The player will begin his rehabilitation programme in the coming days.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole club sends Isma\u00ebl their best wishes for a speedy recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kon\u00e9 had started both of Canada\u2019s group matches. Marsch cannot call up another outfield player to replace Kon\u00e9 due to World Cup regulations \u2014 an injury replacement for an outfield player had to be made 24 hours before Canada\u2019s opening match.<\/p>\n
Kon\u00e9 had received the ball near the touchline and was turning away from pressure when Madibo arrived late from behind, catching his lower left leg. The challenge occurred a few feet from the Canada bench and Kon\u00e9 fell to the ground and grabbed his leg.<\/p>\n
Medical staff rushed onto the pitch, while Canada full-back Richie Laryea confronted Madibo and arguments broke out between the teams.<\/p>\n
Canada were leading 3-0 and Qatar were already down to 10 players after defender Homam Al-Amin had been dismissed in the 33rd minute for bringing down Canada winger Tajon Buchanan and denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity. Madibo was initially booked, but the decision was upgraded to a red card following a video assistant referee review, reducing Qatar to nine players.<\/p>\n
![\"Nathan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/kone-saliba-shirt.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Nathan Saliba held up Kon\u00e9\u2019s shirt after scoring against Qatar (Reuters \/Lee Smith TPX Images of the day)<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could hear the bone snap,\u201d Canada head coach Jesse Marsch said after the game. \u201cYour heart goes out to him. Everybody\u2019s shaken for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think he (Madibo) meant such a gruesome situation. I don\u2019t fault him for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Midfielder Nathan Saliba replaced Kon\u00e9 and scored the fourth goal around 10 minutes later, celebrating by holding his team-mate\u2019s No 8 shirt above his head.<\/p>\n
Canada face Switzerland on Wednesday knowing a draw would secure top spot in Group B.<\/p>\n
How Canada may replace Kone<\/p>\n
Marsch and Canada will look to Saliba as the direct replacement for Kone. Saliba and Kone are close friends and the 22-year-old can deliver the kind of quality and directness that Kone can.<\/p>\n
But important to note: Niko Sigur, who often plays fullback for Canada, will likely move to central midfield to provide creativity in the middle of the park.<\/p>\n
Marsch, though, acknowledged after the Qatar game that there is no like-for-like replacement for Kone, who \u201ccan do things that no other player can do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Isma\u00ebl Kon\u00e9 has undergone successful surgery to repair the fracture in his left leg that he suffered during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":747964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,103818,571,561,82],"class_list":["post-747963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fifa-mens-world-cup","tag-international-football","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=747963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/747964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=747963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=747963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=747963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}