PREVIEW: CanW20's looking to learn from past lessons as they get set for 2024 FIFA U20 World Cup
The Canadian U20 Women’s National Team will begin their World Cup journey in Colombia this weekend, as they get set for their second-straight World Cup participation.
This time, however, they’ll hope they find more success at this tournament than in 2022, where they exited after the group stage after losing all three games by a combined score of 8-2.
Sitting without a win at this tournament since the 2014 edition, where Canada reached the quarter-finals on home soil, they’ll hope to turn around those fortunes in Colombia.
They’ve got a tough group, sitting with France, Brazil and Fiji in Group B, but they’ll look to make the most of the opportunity that lies ahead of them here, as they try and make the knockout stages of this tournament for just the second time since 2004.
If they’re to do that, however, they’ll need to be disciplined, organized, and find a few moments of magic, as is customary at a tournament like this. The good news? They’ve got the pieces they need to do that, but will just need to put the rest together as a group and go from there.
With that in mind, here’s a look at what you need to know about Canada’s participation in this tournament.
The path to #U20WWC glory is set. 🔐
— FIFA Women's World Cup (@FIFAWWC) June 5, 2024
Who are you rooting for? 🏆
The format and Canada's journey:
To begin, it’s worth looking at the road Canada took to get here, as they certainly had quite the journey to reach this stage.
First, they had to embark on qualifiers last spring just to reach the U20 Concacaf Championship, which served as the qualifiers for this World Cup. To be fair, the qualifiers for the Concacaf Championship didn’t cause them much trouble, as they defeated their opponents by a combined score of 40-1 across four games to comfortably reach the final stage, but it was still a potential obstacle to overcome.
Once at the U20 Concacaf Championship last summer, they naturally faced stiffer competition, but still cruised to start as they defeated Jamaica and Panama by a combined score of 9-0 in their first two games to open the tournament.
From there, however, they faced their first bout of adversity, as they fell 5-2 to the US in their group stage finale, leaving them to finish in second place and setting up a date with Mexico in the semi-finals. There, they missed out on their first opportunity at World Cup qualification in a 2-1 loss where Mexico scored a 92nd minute winner.
The good news for Canada? They still had another chance to qualify, and they made the most of it, defeating Costa Rica 5-3 in a chaotic third-place match that went to extra time and saw both teams exchange leads, before Canada ultimately won to secure a World Cup spot. In hindsight, that win didn’t end up mattering as much as it first did, as the World Cup was expanded a few months later, meaning that Costa Rica ended up qualifying anyway, but it was still a good learning experience for Canada, who finished their tournament on a high note.
Now, they’ll look to build off that, having had a year to learn and grow from that experience as they get set for this World Cup.
Now, their goal is simple - reach the knockout stages, and they have the best chance in recent memory to do so in this tournament. Why? With the expansion of the tournament to 24 teams from 16, it means that there are six groups of four, out of which the top two teams from each group will qualify, as well as the four best fourth-place finishers.
Essentially, that means that if Canada wins a game, they’ll have a strong chance to reach the Round of 16, which is a big boost given that they’ve needed to advance as top two finishers in recent tournaments, which has proven to be a tall task.
A reminder that the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup kicks off on Saturday!
— CANWNT (@CANWNT) August 29, 2024
Catch our #CANW20 in action on @TSN_Sports and RDS 📺 pic.twitter.com/bLQ0MflvJ0
Certainly, they’d love to finish in the top two in their group, but they also won’t care how they reach the knockout stage as long as they get there, so they’ll look to try and make the most of this opportunity.
Their schedule is favourable, as they open with a game against France before taking on Fiji and then finishing with a clash against Brazil, so while they’ll start strong with their clash against pot 1 opponent France, they’ll see their clash against pot 4 opponent Fiji as a big game in regards to their knockout hopes before they face pot 2 opponent Brazil in what they’ll hope isn’t a must-win game at that stage.
What to expect from Canada’s squad?
Of course, Canada will look to rely on their key players to help them as they look to build off what they showed at the 2022 World Cup and at the 2023 U20 Concacaf Championships.
For what it’s worth, however, they’ve got an interesting team for this tournament, one filled with a unique mix of players.
FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Colombia 2024™ Roster Unveiled 🇨🇦
— CANWNT (@CANWNT) August 19, 2024
Canada open the tournament on Saturday 31 August and will face France, Brazil, and Fiji in Group B.#CANW20
To begin, they’ve got a couple of players they didn’t have in 2022, and that’s players with professional experience in Amanda Allen (Orlando Pride) and Olivia Smith (Liverpool). Expected to be key players on this team, Allen brings 14 games of professional experience with Orlando, while Smith has 28 games of experience with Sporting CP and is fresh off signing with Liverpool this summer.
By comparison, they had no players with any professional experience in the 2022 World Cup squad, and that ended up hurting them when pitted against some more veteran-savvy U20 squads.
Otherwise, this squad is similar to the 2022 squad, which was filled with players playing in the NCAA joined by a couple of players in League 1 Canada, as they had 18 players in the NCAA system and two League 1 Canada players in 2022 - this year, they’ve got 16 players in the NCAA and three League 1 Canada players.
For what it’s worth, however, two of the League 1 Canada players have actually recently had experience playing against professionals, and that’s Jeneva Hernandez-Gray and Jamie Perrault, whose Vancouver Whitecaps side recently qualified for the Concacaf Champions Cup, providing them with the opportunity to play against top professional sides in Concacaf.
Elsewhere, Canada has two returning players from the 2022 World Cup, and they’re key pieces, too, in Smith and Florianne Jourde - in fact, Smith even scored at that last World Cup, while Jourde scored three goals in the lead-up to that tournament before scoring five goals in the most recent qualification cycle.
Lastly, it’s worth noting that while a lot of the players are spread out at various colleges, a lot of them played together before going to college and with Canadian youth teams, so it’s hoped that chemistry can help pay off in these games, making up for a lack of games together over the past year.
So overall, there’s a lot to be encouraged with when looking at this squad. Ideally, they’d like to have more professional experience, as that’s still an area where Canada trails behind other nations who typically do well at this level, but that’ll be a long-term project for this Canadian team, one that will be boosted by the launch of the Northern Super League next year.
Until then, it’s been hard for young Canadians to get professional minutes with no options close to home, so it’s encouraging to see that a few have been able to carve out unique paths in Smith and Allen, and it’s hoped that by the time the 2026 U20 World Cup comes around, that Canada can have far more professional experience within their ranks to rely on. 
Can Smith, Allen’s pro experience pay off?
Speaking of Smith and Allen, however, it’ll be fascinating to see how they perform in this tournament, as Canada will be relying on them heavily.
In particular, Smith will have all sorts of eyeballs on her given that she recently completed that move to Liverpool, and has 10 caps and two goals with Canada’s senior team to go along with her aforementioned U20 World Cup experience.
It's official: Olivia Smith has made a key step in her career, moving to the WSL to join Liverpool, who finished in 4th place last season
— Alexandre Gangué-Ruzic (@AlexGangueRuzic) July 2, 2024
After a strong debut season with Sporting CP, this is a big step, one of note for the #CanWNT/#CanXNT after she missed their Olympic squad https://t.co/RuMLvuQ41G
Then, even though Allen doesn’t have the same senior team experience as Smith, having made one appearance at that level, she’s done well to break in and get minutes for a strong Orlando team over the past year, and she has experience scoring at a youth World Cup having done so at the 2022 U17 World Cup.
A strong opening day weekend for 🇨🇦's in the NWSL continues, as 19/yo Amanda Allen notched her 1st pro assist on a late Orlando City equalizer vs Louisville
— Alexandre Gangué-Ruzic (@AlexGangueRuzic) March 16, 2024
Nice flick from her on this free kick, as she makes the most of her late cameo#CanWNT/#CanXNTpic.twitter.com/B1qBjGEQ0J
Because of that, it’s expected both will be on Canada’s radar long-term as they progress, with Smith likely to be a key piece the senior team will start to build around starting this fall, and Allen hoped to not be long behind her.
For this team, that’s key, as there weren’t any players with that sort of experience to rely on in 2022. Jade Rose, Zoe Burns and Smith all had senior team experience heading into that tournament, but none had professional reps under their belt.
And, as a plus, it’s worth noting that another thing to be excited about with Smith and Allen is that they’re also both attackers, which will be a welcome sight for a Canadian side who scored just two goals at the 2022 World Cup, one of them being Smith’s tally.
Having scored just seven goals in their last 10 World Cup games, their attack has long been an area of concern at this age level, so they’ll hope Smith and Allen’s presence can help fix that.
From there, it’ll be fascinating to see which players can emerge and surprise, especially among the college players. For example, 2022’s breakout player ended up being Simi Awujo, who used that to vault into a spot in the senior team, doing well to make Canada’s squad for both the 2023 World Cup and 2024 Olympics, playing a key role at the latter tournament.
Before the 2022 World Cup, Awujo was a relative unknown compared to college peers such as Jade Rose, yet that’s the reality with a lot of college players, who can sometimes be of a high level but still fly under the radar before they get an opportunity to reach the limelight.
Ultimately, while Canada will want to have success at this tournament, they’ll also want to use it to push some players into their senior team long-term, the same way that Awujo, Rose and Smith did after the 2022 edition, so they’ll hope that beyond Smith and Allen, a few surprise faces can step up and potentially earn a similar opportunity after this tournament.
One to keep an eye on, for example? Annabelle Chukwu, who has nine goals in nine games for Canada's U20 team, has already started scoring goals in her freshman season with Notre Dame, and has also earned a Canadian senior call-up in the past year. And there are several others to keep an eye on, as one expects Canada to do as they look to push these players up to that senior level long-term off the back of what they can do in Colombia.
If they're to do that, however, it’s hoped that Smith and Allen lead the way, using their experience to help this team come together as they chase their collective and individual goals down in Colombia.
