Canada to face North Korea in U-17 WWC quarter-final

It was a game that the team in red should have won by a lot more, but a 1-0 win over host Azerbaijan Saturday ensured that Canada will qualify for the quarter-finals of the U-17 World Cup. Canada went into its final Group A match against Azerbaijan knowing a win or a draw would book its place in the quarters. And the hosts came into the match with two losses and a -15 goal difference. Canada will face North Korea, the winners of Group B, in the quarters. Nigeria wins Group A on goal difference and will face France in the quarters. But, while Canada got the win — the real hero of the match was Azerbaijani keeper Aytaj Sharifova, who made a series of acrobatic saves to keep the game within reach for the overwhelmed and overmatched home site. She even got a piece of the Valerie Sanderson shot that ended up going over the line for the deciding goal. But Sahrifova dove to rob Amandine Pierre-Louis, when the Canadian forward was just three feet off the goal line and looked liked she was going to simply side-foot home a sitter. But Canada also missed a series of golden chances; Sanderson and Nichelle Prince missed close-range first-half chances. And Nichelle Prince had a chance blocked by defenders after she was the recipient of a lovely pass in front of a goal after Summer Clarke made an ambitious run down the right wing. “At the end of the day, we would have liked to have more goals, but our goal was to qualify for the quarter-finals, and we did that,” Canadian coach Bryan Rosenfeld said on FIFA’s international feed after the match. RELATED: Clarke’s goal gets Canada oh so close to QF berth at U-17 Women’s World Cup (CLICK)