Canada are on the brink of qualifying for the World Cup knockout stages after a Jonathan David hat-trick inspired a 6-0 win over woeful nine-man Qatar – in a result marred by a serious leg injury for midfielder Ismael Kone.
Jesse Marsch’s side were dominant from start to finish in Vancouver – leading 3-0 at half-time thanks to David’s double and Cyle Larin’s opener. Qatar defender Homam El Amin was sent off for a last-man challenge on Tajon Buchanan in that half.
But the most pressing concern was for Canada midfielder Kone – who was stretchered off with oxygen after a challenge that left everyone watching distressed. VAR upgraded Assim Madibo’s yellow card to a red.
“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,” Canada boss Jesse Marsch said after the game.
“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.”
Marsch confirmed Madibo did enter the Canada dressing room after being sent off to apologise to Kone but admitted he was confused by the reaction from the Qatar bench, after an altercation between both sets of players broke out following the incident.
Marsch continued: “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.”
Marsch and Qatar boss Julen Lopetegui also had a testy exchange after full-time, which neither boss wanted to comment on: “I’m not spending one second (discussing it), it’s not worth any of our time to discuss,” Marsch said.
Kone’s replacement Nathan Saliba then curled in a free-kick to make it 4-0, and lifted his stricken team-mate’s shirt up in his celebration. Mohammad Al Mannai’s comical own goal made it worse for Qatar, as David completed his hat-trick in stoppage time.
The result means Canada need to avoid defeat against Switzerland in the final group game to claim top spot in Group B – which would see them play their round of 32 game in front of a home crowd.
