U-17 World Cup Preview: Canadian Player Mental Has Recovered Against Uzbekistan

The Canadian national team will rise against Uzbekistan U-17. (Doc LOC WCU17/RKY2)

The Canadian U-17 national team is optimistic that they will rise and the men will recover against Uzbekistan U-17 in the second match of Group B of the 2023 U-17 World Cup at Manahan Stadium, Solo, Monday, November 13, 2023. Canada U-17 learned from defeat against Spain U-17.

Canadian U-17 coach Andrew Olivieri ensured the mentality of the players had recovered ahead of an important match against Uzbekistan.

Olivieri did not want the players to be disappointed after losing 0-2 against Spain U-17.

Olivieri admitted that a two-goal loss without reply from Spain in the first match made the Canadian players feel devastated. The reason is, great hopes of getting a positive result in the first match failed to end as expected.

"The defeat is certainly not easy for the players. Moreover, this is the first U-17 World Cup match the players have undertaken. They failed to get the results as they expected," said Olivieri.

Despite losing, Canadian opportunities are still open. The condition is that they won in the next two matches.

According to him, this opportunity made his team excited again to look to the next test against Uzbekistan.

"Nevertheless, they still have hope because they see an opportunity to qualify for the next round if they are able to win in the next two matches," he said.

"We are ready to face a very different match than when we face Spain. We already understand what challenges Uzbekistan has the potential to present in the match later," he said.

According to Olivieri, this duel will present different challenges. The reason is, both teams will try their best to secure victory.

Uzbekistan is still not a light opponent for Canada. Uzbekistan was only unlucky that it lost 0-3 to Mali.

The disappointing defeat made Uzbekistan reluctant to give interviews after the match.

One of the Asian representatives at the U-17 World Cup actually struggled against Mali. However, they failed to score and lost in the first match.