Ismael Kone: Who is the 19-year-old Montrealer playing for Team Canada?

Canada’s world cup squad features teen from Montreal There could be three Montrealers on Canada’s World Cup roster including a teenager who went pro in February.

Montreal — From scoring in his professional debut with CF Montreal on Feb. 23, to playing for  World Cup qualifying Team Canada just one month later, It's been a whirlwind five weeks for 19-year old Ismael Kone.

"It's a dream come true to be honest, just to be a part of this,” said Kone on March 23. “Maybe I will not go, but just the fact that I'm here and I'm helping this team get qualified it's amazing. It's surreal, to be honest."

Just a year ago, Kone was far from a professional athlete playing on the world stage. At the time, he was a youth player in Montreal’s Saint-Laurent borough.

"We have a lot of talent, but to actually see someone play with (CF Montreal) was already incredible,” said SC Saint-Laurent Technical Director Rocco Placentino.

Now, he says, “to have him on the men's national team, he could be playing in the World Cup in a couple months … We're blessed."

Placentino says he can already see the boost it's given the other players at the club, especially since Canada will automatically qualify as a host nation for the world cup in 2026.

"Just seeing what Kone is doing now, it's making me realize like ‘okay, I have four years to really step up my game and to play at his level’,” said SC Saint-Laurent semi-pro player Aidan Daly.

“He's proved to all of us that he's capable, and I'm sure that a bunch of us are capable of doing it as well."

There's no guarantee that Kone will make the 25-man roster that goes to Qatar in November, especially with some key players for Canada returning from injury.

One of those players is Kone's CF Montreal teammate and fellow Montrealer Samuel Piette, who was sitting pitch-side when Canada secured qualification on Sunday.

"I'm not going to lie, I cried a couple tears with some of my teammates,” said Piette on Wednesday.

“It's just a dream come true, and obviously I’m really happy to have lived these moments with the team even though I wasn't able to play."