Spain lived up to expectations in Surakarta, defeating 10-man Canada with goals from Marc Guiu and Quim Junyent in their opening game in the FIFA U-17 2023 World Cup.

Pau Cubarsi and Daniel Yanez both missed excellent opportunities in the first 20 minutes as the Europeans got off to a fast start.

Midway through the first quarter, Pablo Lopez fired up a wonderful cross for Guiu to head home, proving they wouldn’t be denied for long.

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Alessandro Biello’s dismissal from the game in the 37th minute for stamping on Spain captain Pau Prim off the ball made an already difficult assignment for Canada considerably more difficult.

The referee disqualified Canada’s No. 4 after checking the pitchside monitor, despite the officials’ initial failure to see the incident.

As Spain’s numerical advantage started to show, traffic continued in the same general direction during the second session.

Before Junyent entered the area and watched a rasping shot strike the crossbar, Guiu went near once more, heading just wide from a Hector Fort cross.

Soon afterward, Junyent would not repeat the same error twice.

After a wonderful one-two with Barcelona teammate Guiu, the midfielder scored by slotting past Nathaniel Abraham to seal the victory.