Canada thrashed nine-man Qatar 6-0 to take control of Group B of the FIFA World Cup football championships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the hosts will also fret a serious injury picked up by midfielder Ismael Kone, a vital cog in their campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Jonathan David hat-trick, one apiece form Cyle Larin and Nathan Saliba as well as a Qatar own goal sealed a momentous victory for the Canadians, who now need only a draw against Switzerland in their final match to finish top of the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Larin opened the scoring in the 16th minute with David then taking over, firing home in the 29th and the home side gained a one-man advantage in the 33rd minute following defender Homam El Amin’s red card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They made full use, with David netting his second in added time to leave Canada fully in control going into the break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The celebratory atmosphere at Vancouver’s BC Place stadium, however, was soured by a serious injury to Kone in the 51st minute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Qatar’s Assim Madibo upended Kone with a clumsy challenge from behind to leave the Italy-based midfielder writhing in agony and clutching his left leg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The seriousness of the injury was immediately apparent as teammates frantically called for help from the Canadian medical staff on the sidelines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kone was eventually stretchered off the pitch, waving to the crowd as he inhaled from an oxygen pipe and Madibo, who had initially been given a yellow card for the tackle, was sent off after it was upgraded to red following a VAR review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With Qatar down to nine men, Canada took full advantage to score three more goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saliba – who had replaced the injured Kone – curled in a free-kick to make it 4-0 in the 64th minute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The substitute celebrated his goal by racing to the sideline to hold up a replica of the stricken Kone’s Canadian jersey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another substitute, Jacob Shaffelburg, then helped make it 5-0, his fierce shot turned into the Qatar goal by defender Mohammad Manai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
David then completed his hat-trick in the second minute of stoppage time to complete the win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Canada thrashed nine-man Qatar 6-0 to take control of Group B of the FIFA World Cup football championships.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13978,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[430],"tags":[276,63],"class_list":["post-13977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","tag-fifa","tag-football"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t