By Canadian Press

Canada blanks Turks and Caicos in opening game at CONCACAF U-17 qualifier

Feb 9, 2025 | 1:13 PM

HAMILTON — Andre Ali-Gayapersad scored twice to lead Canada to a 6-0 win over Turks and Caicos in CONCACAF U-17 men’s qualifying play Sunday.

The 16-year-old from Brampton, Ont., is in the CF Damm youth ranks in Spain.

Owen Graham-Roache, Shola Jimoh, Kevin Kahn (from the penalty spot) and Sergei Kozlovskiy also scored for Canada, which led 4-0 at the half at the National Sports Centre in Devonshire Parish.

Canada continues Group A play Anguilla on Tuesday, Curaçao on Thursday and Bermuda next Sunday.

Turks and Caicos opened play Friday with a 3-0 win over Anguilla with Schuyler Selver scoring twice and Wepsdel Saintilus adding the other. Curaçao thumped Bermuda 6-1 in Friday’s other game.

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The qualifying format is a single-round format with 35 participating teams in North and Central America and the Caribbean split into eight groups.

The group winners qualify for the FIFA U-17 World Cup, which runs Nov. 5-27 in Qatar. The newly expanded tournament will feature 48 teams and take place on an annual basis between 2025 and 2029.

Canada was up 3-0 after just 23 minutes thanks to Jimoh, who left a defender in his wake before knocking the ball home. Khan made it 4-0 from the penalty spot in the 45th minute after Turks and Caicos goalkeeper Samuel Harvey took down Sahil Deo in the penalty box.

Ali-Gayapersad, with his second, and Kozlovskiy scored late goals in the second half.

Canada had chances to add to the score but the finishing was less than clinical at times. And Harvey made some good saves.

Canada’s senior men are ranked 31st in the world compared to No. 206 for Turks and Caicos, whose population of some 60,000 is a little less than Fredericton’s.

The 21-man Canadian roster features 10 players from the three Canadian MLS teams’ academies.

Richard Chukwu, from the TFC academy, captained the side.

A limping Graham-Roache exited in the 60th minute, helped off the field after taking a knock. The forward, who turns 17 on Tuesday, signed a homegrown contract with the Montreal first team on Feb. 5. He joined the Montreal academy when he was 12.

Khan, who is in Feyenoord’s youth system in Rotterdam, limped off in the 74th minute.

Canada has qualified for eight of the 19 editions of the FIFA U-17 World Cup but has yet to win a game there.

Canada lost to Spain (2-0), Uzbekistan (3-0) and Mali (5-1) last time out, In Indonesia in 2023. That dropped its all-time record at the tournament to 0-20-4.

Canada also went 0-3-0 in 2019 in Brazil (the 2021 edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic).

Canada has scored just 11 goals — one of which was an Argentine own goal — while conceding 70 at the tournament.

The young Canadians held a camp in Costa Rica in November, beating Costa Rica 3-0 and Mexico 2-1 in friendlies, to prepare for the CONCACAF qualifiers.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 9, 2025.

The Canadian Press