During the 2026 World Cup match between Canada and Qatar, a very serious incident happened involving Canadian midfielder Ismaël Koné.
In the 53rd minute, Qatar player Assim Madibo made a dangerous foul on Koné. The referee, Cristian Garay, checked VAR to look at what happened again.
At first, the referee gave Madibo a yellow card. But after watching the replay, he changed it to a straight red card. This meant Qatar had to continue the game with only 10 players.
Koné could not keep playing because of his injury. Canada coach Jesse Marsch had to quickly make a change and brought on Nathan Saliba to replace him.
Videos from the stadium and the fans’ reactions showed how painful the moment was. People on social media said they heard a worrying snap when the tackle happened, and fans were very worried about Koné’s condition.
At that time, Canada was clearly winning the match against Qatar, but Koné’s injury became the most upsetting moment of the game for the team. Continue to More Sports.
Gutting. You can see the instant damage done to the leg of Ismael Kone from the Qatar kick💔
Such a reckless and unnecessary challenge that ends a brilliant players World Cup on home soil. I’m sick pic.twitter.com/SorFuRPey5
— Erik (@erikandersennn) June 19, 2026
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