Canada arrived yesterday with the kind of fearsome reputation that comes with slaying a giant. The young ladies from the Great White North knocked out arch-rivals USA in the qualifying competition to make the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in Trinidad and Tobago the first women's world finals in which the United States will not take part. Canada coach Bryan Rosenfeld is suitably proud of his charges and their accomplishments so far, and is hoping for more of the same here in T&T.

"We didn't have a lot of time together as a team before the qualifiers, so I was thrilled with what we were able to do," said the coach who led Canada to their first U-17 CONCACAF championship in Costa Rica in March.

"We did what was required and then some. The players learned quickly, and everything got in line for us in Costa Rica."

Led by qualifying top-scorer Nour Ghoneim, the roving central presence of Diamond Simpson and goalkeeper Sabrina D'Angelo, the Canadians began their qualifying campaign at a canter with wins over Jamaica and Panama. However, they looked likely to be derailed by a demoralising 1-0 loss to Mexico in their third match. Far from folding in the face of such adversity, the young Canucks dug deep.

"We became a different team after the loss to Mexico," the coach told FIFA.com, pointing to the group's grit, determination and "tactically flexible" approach.

The next game brought a meeting with the much-feared Americans, runners-up at the inaugural FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in 2008. Canada were given little more than an outside chance, but the coach had full faith as his team had "put in the hard work to rebuild" after their stumble against the Mexicans. And after 120 minutes of hard, goalless graft, Canada kept their nerve to score all five of their spot kicks and win 5-3 in a shootout.

"The USA weren't the best they could have been on the day," Rosenfeld humbly admitted. "It was a one-off; at youth level internationally anything can happen on the day.

"Of course the expectation gets a little bigger when you knock out the States," added Rosenfeld, who went on to see his side beat the hosts, Costa Rica in the semi-finals before avenging their earlier loss by edging Mexico in the final.

At the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, here in T&T, Canada face Ghana, Brazil and Republic of Ireland in Group D.