It wasn’t the ideal way to end a difficult back half of 2025 for the Canadian women’s national team — not least as their historic winless run extended to five matches, a mark not equalled since 2005.
And yet, there were still signs of nature beginning to heal within the Canadian camp on Tuesday, all despite a Mina Tanaka goal at the end of the first half consigning the CanWNT to a 1-0 defeat at Transcosmos Stadium in Isahaya, just outside Nagasaki, Japan.
Évelyne Viens looked to have ended the Canadians’ goal drought, now clocking in at 454 minutes (over ten halves of action), in the 54th minute after hitting a low strike past Japanese second-stringer Chika Hirao.
However, the assistant referee’s flag denied the Roma forward the honours, going up once the ball was in the back of the net for an extra step on the Japanese back line.
After four consecutive performances which came in below expectations for the ninth-ranked Les Rouges, acting head coach Natalie Henderson’s side would have been decent value for the goal that they have so desperately lacked in recent times.
“I think certainly, frustrating, feels like we just can’t get over the line [with our performances] at the minute. I thought it was [better], I thought we used the ball well at times, created more chances … at times, our defending, we were compact and organized, but at times, we were also open [defensively] and could [have been] more aggressive and front-footed [in attack],” said Henderson, post-match.
In a turn from their previous showings against the United States, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Japan (the first time around), Canada opened the better side through the first 11 minutes, though they were also marred by an awkward sequence of events for Nadeshiko starting goalkeeper Akane Okuma.
Three minutes in, Adriana Leon pulled out a trademark marauding run from her bag of tricks, aiming a cutback towards returnee Sydney Collins. Collins’ shot rebounded off a blue shirt, falling straight to skipper Jessie Fleming who placed a curler towards the middle of Okuma’s goal. Okuma managed to get two hands to the ball, only to also collide face-first with the inside of the woodwork.
Cleared to stay in the match, Okuma then collided just four minutes later with an onrushing Viens chasing down a loose ball at the edge of the Japanese 18. A lengthy delay eventually confirmed Okuma’s exit via stretcher, in just the second cap for the WE League-based keeper, replaced by Hirao.
A half-rotated Canadian side continued to find luck on and off the ball against a similarly-rotated Japan through the first 15 minutes, including what felt like the longest spell of possession since June to the few fans that remained awake for the late kickoff.
North Carolina Courage midfielder Manaka Matsukubo and Manchester City stalwart Yui Hasegawa both tested Canadian shotstopper Sabrina D’Angelo from distance. Matsukubo would slip on her attempt, putting it over the bar in the 19th minute, while Hasegawa’s try in the 32nd minute squirreled left of the mark.
The luck unfortunately wouldn’t last for Henderson’s side, however, as for the second match in a row, Canada were undone from the corner flag.
Tanaka swept home just as the match entered stoppage time, getting the final touches on a prepped routine. A circular starting formation was enough to throw the Canadians off, allowing a free header that D’Angelo wasn’t able to push past a charging Tanaka.
Match highlights // Faits saillants
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Canada continued to ride their luck into the second half, with Everton defender Hikaru Kitagawa and Bayern’s Momoko Tanikawa bookending a couple of Canadian flashes with a 52nd minute strike that rattled off the crossbar and another uncharacteristic miss from close-range after 73 minutes, respectively.
Vanessa Gilles, back in a Canada shirt for the first time since July, tested Hirao on the hour mark. Her near-miss from a Viens flick-on, in turn coming from a low-driven Leon corner, was one of many tangible and intangible contributions felt by the return of a major pillar of the Les Rouges defence.
Henderson said after the match, “we know how much of a big impact [Gilles] has on this squad, we were happy that we could start her, and also happy to keep her on the pitch,” in reference to the leg injury that has kept the Bayern defender out for club country since late September.
Adriana Leon, making her lone appearance this window, had the other prominent moment for Canada in the second half, dribbling through three Japanese defenders before ‘hesitating on her shot’, as the broadcast described it, resulting in it being blocked.
That latter element was the one step backward for the squad in an all-accounts improved performance, as Henderson was quick to address after the final whistle.
“There are bits of our game we need to tidy up. Our possession game, we need to retain the ball higher up the pitch, we need to take out some of the unforced errors [that] we were causing ourselves, but I certainly think there were some exciting bits of football that we can build on.
Not shying away from the fact we need to get better and tidy up our in-possession, and out-of-possession, and transitional moments, certainly some bits we were happy with that we’re going to continue building on.”
The loss closes the books on a .500 year for the CanWNT, starting brightly with lifting the Pinatar Cup in February, and ending with six wins, six losses, and one draw.
With Canada (and the United States) both automatically qualifying for the Final Tournament of the 2026 Concacaf W Championship, that leaves two unannounced friendlies in February as the next time this team will take the pitch — time that Henderson, and Canadian supporters, will be hoping leads to a much rejuvenated squad in 2026.
“I think it gives us an opportunity to step away, to reflect [and review] on the work we’ve done so far, and get ready to come back in the new year — [to] start putting those positive pieces together, but also tidy up the pieces we think we can do better.”
