Jacob Shaffelburg dedicated his Copa America goal against Venezuela to Tajon Buchanan after his Canada team-mate was ruled out of the tournament with a broken leg.
Buchanan suffered the injury during training on Tuesday before being taken to a local hospital for treatment and further evaluation.
It was later confirmed he had suffered a broken tibia, the larger of the two bones in the lower leg, with a lengthy recovery period now expected.
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Shaffelburg, who plays his domestic football in Major League Soccer with Nashville, opened the scoring in the first-half of the quarterfinal before running to the bench to retrieve a Buchanan jersey.
He then held it up to the crowd at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Jacob Shaffelburg ran over to the sideline after scoring to hold up Tajon Buchanan's jersey who was injured earlier this week in training ❤️🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/uRl8ydUaW0
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) July 6, 2024
Canada qualified for the knockout stages after finishing second in Group A behind Argentina.
They then defeated Venezuela on penalty kicks in the quarterfinal to book a repeat meeting with the defending champions in the last four.
Buchanan has made 25 appearances for his country — including all three group-stage games at the Copa — since making his senior debut in 2021, scoring four goals.
He joined Inter Milan from Club Bruges in January and made 10 Serie A appearances in the second half of last season, scoring once.
GO DEEPER
Takeaways: Canada wins penalty shootout to reach Copa America semifinal
(Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images)
