Canada's Ismaël Koné waves to the crowd as he is stretchered off the field Thursday after breaking his leg during the 6-0 World Cup win over Qatar in Vancouver.Agustin Marcarian/Reuters
The surgeons – like millions of Canadians on Thursday – watched Ismaël Koné’s left fibula and tibia snap on television. For them, it was a call to duty.
They rushed to Vancouver General Hospital. “They knew right away,” said Canada head coach Jesse Marsch on Friday morning.
By the time Koné arrived at VGH – the hospital is up the hill from BC Place, less than 10 minutes south of the stadium – the surgeons were there and they were ready. The medical team quickly discussed the best options of how to proceed. Koné, Canada’s linchpin midfielder at this World Cup, went under the knife. The work lasted 90 minutes.
Marsch met the surgeons at the hospital beforehand, not long after Canada’s first-ever World Cup win, a 6-0 rout of Qatar, and listened to them assess the situation. It reassured him to know Koné was in the right hands. The surgery, the doctors said afterward, went really well.
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Koné had taken to Instagram Friday morning to post an earlier black-and-white image of himself sitting down on a pitch. It evoked the scene at BC Place, early in Thursday’s second half, after a rough tackle from Qatari midfielder Assim Madibo. Referees sent off Madibo with a red card and a regretful Madibo soon after apologized to Koné.
It happened near the sideline, right by the Canada bench. Everyone had heard bones break. Some knew exactly what that shock of pain feels like.
“Allah has never failed me,” Koné wrote on Instagram. “Throughout my life, not even once.” Koné spoke of the broken leg as a new battle, one that would test his character. “I’m ready for it.”
He also sent a rallying cry to his teammates, who, next Wednesday, play at home in Vancouver against a favoured Switzerland to decide the winner of Group B, the group victor going on to play a round of 32 game in Vancouver on July 2.
Canada’s gone from never winning a single match in three World Cup appearances over a stretch of 40 years to the brink of topping a group.
“To my Canadian brothers,” Koné wrote, “I [turn] myself into assistant coach to support you from the sideline.” He punctuated that with the laughing-crying face emoji.
Koné turned 24 on Tuesday. His teammates celebrated him that morning at practice. He sent them a video message on Friday. On Instagram, he wrote: “I wanted you to know that I love you guys from the bottom of my heart and our brotherhood is everything to me. What you guys did yesterday will stay with me forever.”
On Friday, goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau planned to see Koné at Vancouver General after a morning of practice at the University of British Columbia.
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Crépeau knows what it’s like. He broke his leg in 2022 and missed that year’s World Cup. On Thursday, Crépeau consoled tearful defender Luc de Fougerolles, 20 years old, on the pitch after Koné went down. Crépeau at 32 is one of the wise old men on this young team.
“It’s difficult,” said Crépeau of yet another traumatic blow to the Canadian squad. He nodded to 22-year-old Marcelo Flores, who blew his ACL shortly before the World Cup started. “We’ve been through certain types of injuries like this, and good wins, and tough losses.”
It has forged a togetherness. The team’s resilience after Koné’s broken leg, Crépeau said, is another example of “how tight the group is and connected we are.”
On Thursday, as medics carted Koné off the pitch, Marsch embraced him.
Jesse Marsch comforts Ismaël Koné as the injured player departs the pitch on Thursday.Kaleb Tatum/The Associated Press
Koné, starting to recover from the initial shock, waved to the sellout crowd of more than 52,000 at BC Place, almost everyone in Canadian red.
While pushing forward in the World Cup means that Canada’s mind must turn toward the work to at least draw against a stronger Swiss team next Wednesday, the team has a bit of time to breathe. A family barbecue was planned on Friday, to decompress, savour the moment and assuage nerves after the rattling injury. Saturday is a day off and then the work is immediately intense again.
On Friday, Marsch said he has seen several tibia breaks. The team coming together demonstrated the sort of squad Canada is to his mind.
“It’s a soothing moment, when you feel the pain of the situation, to know that everybody here cares, and takes care of each other so well,” the veteran 52-year-old coach and former pro player said. “I’ve never been around a team like this. It’s really unique.”
And Koné did as much to reassure the team as they did to comfort him.
“It’s like, as much as we’re trying to soothe and take care of him, it’s actually happening the other way around,” Marsch said. “It says everything about Ismaël.”