Canada’s men’s U-15 national team opened the inaugural FIFA U-15 World Cup & Festival with a 2–1 loss to Guinea-Bissau at the Hovsan Competition Complex in Baku on 24 October.
A narrow opening result
Canada Soccer’s official timeline shows Guinea-Bissau taking a two-goal lead through Camara in the ninth minute and Sylla in the 17th. Yele Dazirignon cut the deficit in the 25th minute, but Canada could not find a second goal before the 40-minute match ended.
The result was Canada’s first competitive experience in FIFA’s new global U-15 event. The tournament uses eight players per side, two 20-minute halves, a smaller pitch, unlimited substitutions and an offside line 14 metres from goal. Those rules make direct comparison with a standard 11-a-side international misleading.
One result does not end the tournament
The qualification stage places teams into performance tiers rather than sending them home. Canada still had Guatemala, Singapore, Samoa and Honduras to play across the following two days, and every participating association was guaranteed tournament-stage matches.
That structure changes the implication of a 2–1 defeat. It cost Canada an opening result and contributed to its tier placement, but it did not eliminate Andrew Olivieri’s 14-player group. The tight schedule also offered an immediate chance to respond.
The timeline establishes the turning points but not how the three goals were created, nor does it provide possession or shot data. The measured lesson is therefore about the sequence: two goals conceded in the first 17 minutes left Canada chasing, and Dazirignon’s reply did not become an equalizer.