Canada advance to knockout rounds in Qatar

Canada lost their final group stage match at the 2025 FIFA U-17 (men’s) World Cup on Tuesday, falling 2-1 to Chile.

Shola Jimoh gave the Canadians the lead in the 32nd minute, but a pair of second half goals from Zidane Yanez and Matias Orellana overturned that result.

Having said that four points after two matches should be enough for Canada to move on, the drama this day brought was unexpected.

Heading in, the group was delicately balanced. Both Canada and France were on four points, Uganda and Chile, having drawn each other, were on one, but with the way the games fell all four teams could end with four points should the results fall a certain way.

Both sides began a little tentatively.

The first half-chance fell the Chileans way, finding that seam between the centre-back and the full-back down the right hand side that Uganda so successfully exploited with a long ball out of the back, but Jonathan Ransom was equal to Yanez’s wide angled shot.

The Canadians then took control with Kevin Khan and Shola Jimoh asking questions.

Khan found Johnny Selemani with a lovely through ball in the 14th minute, the ball bobbled as he sent a shot wide of the post. Five minutes later Jimoh worked up the left-side of the box and his cutback picked out Selemani, but again his shot was off target.

The opening goal was coming.

In the 32nd minute it did. Dylan Judelson found Khan in a pocket of space, he ghosted past one defender and played a ball just beyond the stretch of a defender into the path of Jimoh down the left channel. He pounced on the opportunity, picking out the bottom right corner with a low shot.

Canada went in search of more.

Khan struck a sweet left-footer from range that caromed off the bar and then slipped in Van Parker with another inviting through ball. He was forced wide by a bump from the defender and the goalkeeper did well to close down the chance, blocking the shot with his knee.

In the other game, meanwhile, Uganda had taken a 1-0 lead through James Bogere, putting Canada top of the group for the time being.

The Canadians would come to rue those missed chances.

Having survived a cheeky challenge card from the Chilean coach wishing for a red card – Khan was shown a yellow for a late tackle that caught the top of Orellana’s boot – Yanez equalized in the 55th minute when Canada were caught flat-footed on the second phase of a free kick, allowing Jimenez to pounce on the looping ball put back in. He drove a low cross in from the right and Yanez arrived unmarked at the back-post for a tap in from close range.

11 minutes later another moment of inattention would prove costly. Josh Nteziryayo, having recovered possession, hit a blind exit pass. It was intercepted. Yastin Cuevas’ first attempt was blocked, but his second attempted cross flung in from the right found an unmarked Orellana at the back-post. Sahil Deo did well to recover and get a piece of the first go at goal, but the second beat Ransom to give Chile the lead.

Now all four teams in the group were level on four points. Chile still needed to score another to overtake both Canada and Uganda on goal-difference to move on, but a goal from Canada or France would see their opponent drop out of the running.

That goal nearly came for the Canadians in the 76th minute when substitute Aghilas Sadek hit a cross towards the back-post from the right and the Chilean keeper, Vicente Villegas looked to collect it, only to stumble and lay the ball right on the boot of Aidan Evans. His quick shot from the corner of the six-yard box was cleared off the line by Francisco Daza.

Chile’s chances looked to be dashed in the 83rd minute when Yanez was sent off for a silly little swipe of the boot towards the face of Deo when the two went down in a tangle. Both players were initially shown yellows, but Canada played a challenge card and the referee agreed the colour should be changed.

Down a man, they were handed a glorious chance in the first minute of stoppage-time when a poor back-header from an out of position Sergei Kozlovskiy allowed Amaro Perez a clear run at goal.

Judelson did well to recover and apply pressure. Perez rounded Ransom, but Judelson stayed with him to force his shot wide.

The drama was not over. A long ball up the right from Deo in the 95th minute put Parker in on goal and he went down in a tumble with Alonso Olguin. Initially, the referee made no motion. Canada played another challenge card and upon review the play was onside, there was both a hint of a shove and some contact on the leg, and the foul occurred inside the box.

The review came back: penalty to Canada. The little Chilean fans in the stands were not having it.

When he finally took the kick in the 99th minute, some on the Chilean bench couldn’t watch. Selemani, on Canada’s, could, but only with his hands covering the lower half of his face in anticipation.

With the equalizer, top of the group, an unbeaten group stage, and his first goal in Qatar on his right boot, Parker got his balance wrong, blasting it over the bar. A bite of his sweat-soaked jersey offered little consolation.

When the dust settled, Parker could be seen lying on his back on the field, thinking of what might have been. His teammates were quick to rally him. The teenager has been excellent through the group stage, full of running, full of fight, not allowing defenders a single quiet moment, working hard for his team. That goal will come.

Seven minutes of stoppage-time ballooned to 12 in the end, but that final whistle eventually came. Before too long Uganda’s victory over France too was complete, all four teams finished with four points, and Canada were moving on in second place, behind France on goal-difference (+1 to 0). Uganda too would advance as one of the top eight third-placed sides.

Canada will meet the Republic of Ireland in the Round of 32 on Friday, November 14 with kickoff set for 10:15 am.

Both teams will enter on same amount of rest: Ireland wrapped up Group J on Tuesday, drawing 0-0 against Paraguay – they topped the group with victories over Panama and Uzbekistan, 4-1 and 2-1 respectively.

An interesting wrinkle is that Surrey, B.C.’s Grady McDonnell, formerly of Vancouver Whitecaps FC Academy and Vancouver FC will be suiting up for the Irish – he scored in the win over the Uzbeks.

Come the Round of 16 the winner will face the winner of Switzerland-Egypt. Whichever side emerges from the Argentina-Mexico/Portugal-Belgium quadrant of the bracket lies ahead in the quarterfinal.

Hard to pick a single individual for the Gigi (H/T to Molinaro), a bunch of players – Selemani, Elijah Roche, Deo, Nteziryayo, Random, and captain Richard Chukwu – were all belting out ‘O Canada’, as was the coaching staff.

The Chilean match was Canada’s best in terms of chance creation.

The looks from Selemani, Jimoh and Khan were unmanageable, Evans being in position to profit from that goalkeeper error, Parker threatening in behind. xG is either not being tracked or not publicly (or readily) available from the usual sources, but this was their most consistently dangerous outing.

Against Uganda Canada were second best, force to wait until the waning moments to be a threat. France was a professional, calm performance, but chance creation was not the priority. Come the knockout rounds, goals become even more important so that Canada has found ways to craft opportunities with some regularity is a good development.

The lack of finish, however, was less than ideal. Canada would have liked to, should have, put that game away in the first half.

How much difference finishing top versus second would have meant is unclear. Advancing teams are re-ranked based on how they finished in the group, so France, with four points, were the lowest group winner; Canada the lowest runner-up. France will be facing Colombia in the Round of 32.

With the football expected to tighten up in the knockout games, teams need to make the most of their chances.

As the pace of the competition continues, that sides were limited to a 21-man squad with three goalkeepers seems unfortunate. Tuesday’s match was Canada’s third in less than a week. Friday’s will be the fourth in nine days.

It might be November, but it is still hot in the desert – kickoff temperature was 30° C on Tuesday. Mike Vitulano made just one change from the lineup that faced France, bringing Parker back in for the suspended Marius Aiyenero.

Aiyenero will be available on Friday and Kozlovskiy made his tournament debut, but Sasha Cernic and Antone Bossenberry, outfield players, are yet to feature; nor have goalkeeper Milo Beimers and Samsy Keita. It would have been preferable that players got their first taste of action before the stakes were ratcheted up.

Single yellow cards will be cancelled after the quarterfinals, but until then six players – Chukwu, Deo, Evans, Judelson, Khan, and Roche – will be at risk of picking up a second and missing the next game.

The group stage was 270-plus minutes of high intensity football. Canada were under pressure early against Uganda and had to fight to the end to get that first-ever win. The game against France required them to be locked in for every minute. Both Chilean goals came from moments where that attention waned. In a little more than 72 hours they’ll be back at it against Ireland.

Teams will need every body at their disposal to progress. Rest up and get ready to go again.