Denmark scores three goals in nine minutes to edge Canada 4-3 in Toronto ahead of the CONCACAF W Championship

Denmark punished Canadian mistakes with three goals in a nine-minute span in the first half and held on for a 4-3 win over Canada in a women’s international friendly on Monday at BMO Field in Toronto. Olivia Holdt scored twice and added an assist, and Pernille Harder and Janni Thomsen also scored for the 12th-ranked Danes, The Canadian Press reported.

Canada started brightly. Delaney Pridham opened the scoring in the 10th minute, according to the Canada Soccer match centre. Denmark then struck through Holdt in the 23rd minute and Harder in the 27th, and Holdt made it 3-1 in the 32nd after Jade Rose could not handle a pass from Ashley Lawrence, leaving Canada two goals down at the half.

Canada pulled one back in the 49th minute when Olivia Smith found substitute Evelyne Viens in the penalty area and Viens’s deflected shot looped into the top corner, her 11th goal for Canada, The Globe and Mail reported. Thomsen restored Denmark’s two-goal cushion in the 61st minute before Smith hit a heavy shot from outside the box in the 70th that Danish goalkeeper Freja Thisgaard let roll through her legs and over the line. It was the Arsenal forward’s sixth goal for Canada.

An announced crowd of 12,112 watched on a warm, mostly sunny afternoon at the lakefront stadium. Coach Casey Stoney made seven changes from the side that drew 1-1 with Denmark on Friday in Montreal, where Smith’s 84th-minute goal forced an unofficial shootout that Canada won 4-2. Kailen Sheridan started in goal and Jessie Fleming wore the captain’s armband as the ninth-ranked Canadians lined up in a 4-2-3-1 against Denmark’s 3-4-3.

The loss drops Canada to 3-4-1 all-time against Denmark, according to The Canadian Press, and to 4-3-2 in 2026, with its other defeats coming against the second-ranked United States and seventh-ranked Brazil, according to The Globe and Mail.

The two-game series was Canada’s final tune-up before next month’s CONCACAF W Championship in Texas, where World Cup and Olympic qualification will be on the line. CBC Sports also has a full recap of Monday’s match.

Sources: Canada Soccer match centre (Oct. 12, 2026); The Canadian Press via Sportsnet (Oct. 12, 2026); The Globe and Mail (Oct. 12, 2026); CBC Sports (Oct. 12, 2026).