Junior Starlets face Young Lionesses test in World Cup qualifier

Junior Starlets will have everything to fight for when they take on Cameroon Young Lionesses on Sunday at 3pm in a 2025 Fifa Under-17 Women’s World Cup qualifier match at the Nyayo Stadium 

A victory in the first clash of the two-legged final round qualifier will see Starlets, who are looking to secure their second appearance at the World Cup, inch closer to booking their ticket to the global showpiece. This year’s event will be held from October 17 to November 8 in Morocco.

Starlets must win at home in order to enhance their chances of being among five African nations that will represent the continent at the now-expanded World Cup. Hosts Morocco will be joined by four teams from the qualifiers as the junior event features 24 teams for the first time, up from 16 last year.

Having made their debut in the Dominican Republic last year, the Kenyan youngsters are hungrier and determined to make a back-to-back appearance.

Starlets captain Halima Imbachi, who is among players who featured at the 2024 World Cup, maintained that their main objective, even as they go against the highly fancied Young Lionesses, is to secure their ticket to Morocco.

“We are ready for tomorrow. The friendly matches we played against Morocco motivated us, and also we also take seriously every correction our coach made after the encounters,” Imbachi said.

Going against a side that is rather physically advantaged, Imbachi insisted that football is a mind game, urging her teammates to believe in themselves.

“I believe that playing and winning in football is determined by mental strength and not physicality. We trust and believe in ourselves, we know that football is a mind game and we will not be focusing on their size because we want to win at home,” the soft-spoken midfielder who also captains national schools champions Butere Girls said.

She noted that despite playing at home, it won’t be easy for them because Cameroon are also keen to bag maximum points.

“We have to work hard and put in more effort because we must achieve our goal. All we want is to return to the World Cup but we know that Cameroon came ready to stop us and so we just have to give more," said the midfielder.

Junior Starlets coach Mildred Cheche is likely to retain goalkeeper Velma Abwire in goal with the experienced quartet of former skipper Elizabeth Ochaka, Lorine Ilavonga, Jenevive Mithel and Judith Nandwa starting in defence. Of the five, only Nandwa did not travel to the Dominican Republic last year due to school commitments.

Imbachi will lead the midfield with Lindey Weey Atieno and Mwanakombo Bakari among possible starters. Patience Asiko and star girl Brenda Achieng, who scored in Kenya’s 3-0 win against Uganda in the second leg leading to a 5-0 aggregate win, are also favourites. Asiko, Achieng, Joan Ogola, Ednah Nasipwondi and Joy Angela Valencia will lead the goal hunt.

Cheche’s equal, Joseph Ndoko, will be banking on his current top strikers Ange Tazanou and Lys Tiwa who have scored five and three goals in the qualifiers, as well as Christiane Meva and Gertrude Bikie.