Canada returns to the pitch in Hangzou, China, on Saturday for its first must-win game at the FIFA Women's World Cup, against Ghana (CBC, 4:45 a.m. ET).

Canada led until the 52nd minute in its first tournament action on Wednesday, but Norway, ranked fourth in the world by FIFA, fought back for a 2-1 win.

Canada faces its first must-win game Saturday against Ghana.
(Feng Li/Getty Images)

Candice Chapman capitalized on the strong work done by teammate Christine Sinclair to score Canada's lone goal.

Erin McLeod starred in net, making several brilliant saves to give Canada a shot at least a tie. Norway took the lead for good in the 83rd minute.

McLeod figures to get the start again in light of her performance and the shoulder injury to World Cup veteran Karina LeBlanc is nursing.

Most worrisome for Canadian fans in the debut, the No. 9 ranked team in the world grew fatigued as the game wore on against the Norwegians.

Team Canada has been living and training together since January, but coach Evan Pellerud and many of the players strenously denied any notion of overtraining.

Sinclair pointed to the last World Cup, where Canada lost 4-1 in the opener to Germany but rebounded to finish fourth overall.

"We are in a lot better shape than we were four years ago," said Sinclair. "We got hammered [in the first game] and look where we ended up.

"We have to win our next two games. It's against teams we should be able to beat."

Ghana's Black Queens, ranked 47th, were handled with relative ease in their first Group C game. After failing to capitalize on a couple of early chances, Australia took over in a 4-1 win.

Anita Amankwa scored the only goal for the Ghanians, late in the second half.

With Ghana not expected to advance, the pressure will be all on Canada, but forward Melissa Tancredi said the team won't play cautiously.

"It's very hard to play against us if you are a disorganized team in the back," she said. "We are going to use our size and our ability to push it down their throats."

Ghana captain Adjoa Bayor, a former African women's footballer of the year, said her team won't be intimidated by Canada.

"We are short but we are very strong," she said.

Canada and Ghana drew 1-1 in their only previous meeting, a 2003 friendly in Seattle.

Canada will play its final game of the first round in Chengdu on Wednesday against Australia.

The Aussies play Norway in the second game in Hangzhou on Saturday.

With files from the Canadian Press