Lewis Page of Stratford is the assistant coach with the Canadian under-17 women’s team. Page is the technical director for the P.E.I. Soccer Association and head coach of the UPEI men’s Panthers soccer team.
His team of young Canadians looked sluggish and failed to record a shot on goal in the first 45 minutes at the World Cup game at Larry Gomes Stadium near Trinidad’s capital, Port-of-Spain.
But Canada came out sharper to open the second half.
The goal came when Cantave, a forward for the Ottawa Fury, beat her marker to angle a header in off a Chantale Campbell corner. Cantave had engineered the corner, taking a pass at midfield and racing the length off the field before a defender poked the ball away.
Canada plays Ireland on Thursday in their second Pool ‘D’ match. The European runners-up lost 2-1 to South American champion Brazil earlier Monday.
Going into the game, Canadian coach Bryan Rosenfeld said the Ghanaians were somewhat of a mystery, having prepared in closed sessions in Alabama prior to the tournament. But the Black Maidens soon showed their skills.
Ghana had more of the ball in the first half and demonstrated flair but lacked clinical finishing. The Canadians, who defeated the U.S. and Mexico en route to qualifying as CONCACAF champions, struggled to get their game going.
Ghana began to take control but a counter-attacking Canada had a decent chance in the 26th minute on a good cross from Abigail Raymer only to see Kinley McNicoll muscled off the ball by a defender.
There was almost disaster in the 80th when Canadian ’keeper Sabrina D’Angelo whiffed on an attempt to boot away a backpass from captain Nicole Setterlund. But the ball rolled past the Canadian ’keeper and went wide of the post.
The tournament kicked off Sunday when former Canadian senior women’s coach Even Pellerud saw his Trinidad and Tobago team defeat Chile 2-1 in Pool ‘A’ play. The Soca Princesses next take on Nigeria, a 3-2 winner over defending champion North Korea.
Canada reached the quarter-finals at the inaugural under-17 world championship in 2008 in New Zealand, losing 3-1 to Germany.
