Canada thrashing marred by Kone injury

Canada 6-0 Qatar

VANCOUVER, BC–Canada eyed this match against Qatar at BC Place as a chance to win their first World Cup match in their eighth attempt. They did that and then some in a 6-0 thrashing which ties the largest margin of victory by a host nation in a World Cup and virtually guarantees Canada a spot in the Round of 32.

Canada rewrote a lot of their history at the World Cup starting in the 16th minute off a rebound and becoming the first Canadian player to score multiple goals at a World Cup. Eleven minutes later, Jonathan David got on the board to double Canada’s advantage.

It got from bad to worse for Qatar in the 33rd minute, Homan El Amin was initially booked and Canada awarded a penalty after El Amin took down Tajon Buchanan. But after a VAR review, the foul was deemed outside the box, but the foul was also considered denial of a goal scoring opportunity and the yellow became a red reducing Qatar to ten.

Qatar would not make it to halftime without conceding another goal. David would become the first Canadian to score multiple goals in a World Cup match for Canada scoring just before halftime.

Things took a really dark turn in the 52nd minty. Battling for the ball Assim Madibo clattered into Ismael Kone with the latter suffering a serious leg injury. Minutes later, Madibo, riddled with guilt at the challenge would see red after initially seeing yellow. Qatar would be reduced to nine men while Kone was stretchered off and taken to hospital to have surgery on his leg.

Kone’s replacement, Nathan Saliba would continue the scoring for Canada ten minutes after coming on off a free kick to make it 4-0. An own goal made it 5-0 Canada before David completed the scoring and a hat trick in second half stoppage time. David is the first player from a Concacaf nation to score a hat trick at a World Cup since 1930.

As if there was not enough motivation for Canada to do well at this World Cup, the injury to Kone may galvanize the Canadians even more.

“We showed the world who Canada is,” said forward Cyle Larin. “A lot of players came from nowhere, basically. We showed the fight we have in us. And we showed that we can perform on the world stage. We are just getting started. Ismael Koe’s injury hurts and was emotional, but we went back out there and got the job done. Switzerland are around the corner and the job is not finished. I think we can do way better and we will have Kone in the back of our minds and do it for him.”

Canada now need just a draw against Switzerland in Vancouver on Wednesday (noon PT, Fox/Telemundo) to win Group B and stay in Canada for the Round of 32. Qatar will need a lot of things to happen to have any hope of reaching the Round of 32. The simplest step they can take is to defeat Bosnia, who were thumped 4-1 by Switzerland, on Wednesday in Seattle (noon PT, FS1/NBC Universo).

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