Canada is not off to a strong start at the FIFA women's under-20 World Cup.

The Canadian squad suffered a 5-0 loss against Spain in Group B play on Sunday at Bava Park in Papua New Guinea in the tournament opener for both teams.

Mariona opened the scoring just two minutes in for Spain (1-0-0) and Lucia Garcia doubled the lead in the 30th with her first of the match.

Aitana Bonmati added a third goal in the 58th and another came from Patri in the 87th. Garcia made it a five-goal lead in extra time.

"As a team we are going to keep pushing," said Canadian forward Deanne Rose, a member of the bronze-medal winning team at the Rio Olympics this summer. "We're not holding our heads down, we know there is opportunity going forward, and we are going to keep looking for those opportunities in front of the net and pushing the other teams. No team is out of our reach in terms of winning. If we bring our game, anything can happen."

Alexandria Lamontagne thought she had one back for Canada (0-1-0) in the 84th but was called for offisde.

Canada was dominated much of the match as Spain controlled 66 per cent of possession. Spain also outshot the Canadians 16-7 (7-1 on target).

Group B is rounded out with Japan (0-0-0) and Nigeria (0-0-0), which go head-to-head later today.

Canada's next game is Wednesday against Nigeria.

The Spaniards were runners-up to Sweden in European qualifying for the 16-team world championship.