Canada's Group C opener ends in 6-2 Brazil defeat

The Canada U17 women's team opened its World Cup campaign with a 6-2 defeat to Brazil on Sunday, taking an early lead before conceding five goals after halftime at the Mohammed VI Football Complex in Rabat. Reed Tingley's header gave the Canucks the perfect start in their Group C opener at the 2026 FIFA under-17 Women's World Cup, but Chloe Scicchitano's second-half volley proved only a brief interruption in Brazil's scoring.

An early lead, then a second-half collapse

Tingley rose inside the box to meet a corner and glanced a header home in the opening minutes, according to Concacaf's match report. The goal, timed at three minutes and 44 seconds, was Canada's second-fastest in the tournament's recent editions, bettered only by Gabriela Istocki's strike against Nigeria at one minute and 14 seconds a year earlier.

Tingley plays her club soccer for Concorde Fire, while Scicchitano represents CF Montréal, and both goals were set up by the corner-kick delivery that has become a Canadian trademark at this level.

The advantage survived until first-half stoppage time, when Helena struck to level the scores. Brazil needed barely a minute of the second half to retake the lead through Nicolly Manuel. Scicchitano answered with a spectacular volley in the 50th minute to draw level again, but Marcelinha headed Brazil back in front in the 56th minute and the match slipped away from the Canucks.

Greise Kelly scored in the 63rd and 72nd minutes to put the result beyond doubt, and Pepe added the final goal deep into stoppage time. Both of Canada's goals came from corners, and the Canucks have now scored ten goals from corner kicks at this tournament since 2018, according to Concacaf's post-match data. The 10 shots on target Canada registered were the most by any losing side in a match in recent editions of the competition, the same report noted, a thin consolation on a day the defense was breached repeatedly.

The result puts Brazil top of Group C after the opening round of fixtures, while Canada sits bottom and must now take points from its remaining matches to keep its knockout hopes alive.

A rematch with an unhappy ending

Sunday's fixture carried recent history. The teams met in the quarterfinals of the previous edition, when Brazil eliminated Canada 5-4 on penalties after a goalless draw in Rabat, as reported by TSN, despite the South Americans dominating the shot count. On that night Canada's defense held firm for 90 minutes. This time it held for barely 45.

Head coach Jen Herst's 21-player squad arrived in Morocco hoping to go further than last year's quarterfinal exit. The team is captained by Istocki, Canada's top scorer in the qualifying campaign, and nine of the players are attached to Northern Super League club academies, a measure of how quickly the country's new professional league is feeding its youth national teams, even as FIFA chases the same young audience through a Roblox partnership.

The format still offers a way forward. The group winners and runners-up advance, joined by the four best third-placed teams, for a round of 16. Canada faces Norway on Wednesday, then closes the group against Ghana on October 24. The tournament stays at the Mohammed VI complex through the semifinals, with the final set for Prince Moulay El Hassan Stadium on November 7.

Why it matters

The worry for Herst will be the speed of the collapse rather than the defeat itself. Canada matched Brazil for the entire first half and briefly threatened to do so again after Scicchitano's volley. Then came the second-half onslaught, with most of Brazil's goals arriving in a 26-minute span that turned a contest into a rout.

There were positives to carry into the Norway game. Canada's set-piece delivery produced both goals, Scicchitano's volley was among the finest strikes of the tournament so far, and the shot count shows an attack capable of troubling defenses far better organized than Brazil's was on Sunday.

Wednesday's game against Norway now carries real weight. A win would put Canada back in control of its own fate with a game to spare, while anything less leaves the Canucks needing a result against Ghana and possibly help elsewhere.

The group is far from lost. With Norway up next on Wednesday and Ghana to follow in the final group game, Canada still controls its own path to the knockout rounds, and the expanded format means even a third-place finish can be enough. But the Canucks must now learn to protect a lead: on two occasions in Rabat they went ahead, and on both occasions the advantage slipped away within minutes, at a time when young fans are sticking with soccer and crowds keep setting records, and watching closely.