The Canada Under-17 national team is heading home from the 2019 FIFA World Cup after a 1-0 loss to New Zealand in their final Group A match.
The result condemned Canada to a last-place finish without a single point after dropping all three games in the group. Brazil and Angola advanced as the top two teams in Group A and New Zealand will hope the points picked up against Canada will be enough to qualify them to the Round of 16 as one of the best third-placed teams.
The Canadian U-17s created several chances to start the match against New Zealand, but they were unable to find the back of the net and the Kiwis struck first through a 27th-minute goal from Matthew Garbett.
Toronto FC academy product Jayden Nelson scored a 56th-minute equalizer for Canada, but after Video Review the goal was disallowed due to an offside on the play.
New Zealand would hold on to the one-goal lead and come away with their first win in the tournament despite Canada finishing with 10 shots on target, 11 corner kicks, and 61 percent of the possession.
Canada U-17s vs. New Zealand: Eleias Himaras -- Deylen Vellios (82' Mouhamadou Kane), Gianfranco Facchineri, Nathan Demian, Keesean Ferdinand -- Ralph Priso, Matthew Catavolo (74' Sean Rea), Damiano Pecile -- Jayden Nelson, Jacen Russell-Rowe (60' Deandre Kerr), Kamron Habibullah
Group A (Final Standings)
| Group A | Pts | W | L | D | GF | GA | GD | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brazil | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 1 | +8 | |
| Angola | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | |
| New Zealand | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 5 | -3 | |
| Canada | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 7 | -5 | |
| Group schedule | ||||||||
