NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 20 – After narrowly missing out on a second consecutive appearance at the African Women’s Cup of Nations (AWCON) in 2018, Harambee Starlets hope to vie for that same slot when the qualifiers for the 2022 showpiece kick off on Wednesday.
Starlets had made their continental debut in 2016, Ghana and were extremely close in 2018 and only failed to qualify after their appeal against Equatorial Guinea was thrown out in the last minutes.
Last year’s showpiece was cancelled at the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Starlets begin their quest for a place in Morocco next year against newbies South Sudan who are playing the qualifiers for the first time ever.
The neighbors jetted to Nairobi straight from South Africa where they played the COSAFA Women’s Championship where they lost all their matches, shipping in 12 goals in three games.
On paper, it seems like an easy straightforward win for the Starlets but head coach Charles Okere is not underrating them.
“We respect South Sudan as a team and as a nation and so we will take the game seriously. We have prepared well for it and we know we expect a very strong challenge from them. There is no easy game in Africa,” said the tactician.
His sentiments were shared by skipper Corazone Aquino who takes over the armband from Dorcas Shikobe who will miss the game.
“We cannot underrate anyone and we treat this game as serious as we would any other tie. They come into the game with confidence after the experience from COSAFA and we are going to playour hearts out to look for a win,” said the midfielder.
South Sudan have been training in the country for the past two weeks and according to their South African coach Shilene Booysen they will give their all to try and get a precious win against Kenya.
“We are not under pressure. The federation has been clear that first we needed a ranking which we got when we played in COSAFA. Now we need to build a team that will compete in CECAFA and Africa in two years-time. We are making the right strides on that a win over Kenya will help our course,” Booysen said
She adds; “We know the pedigree that Kenya has. They are currently CECAFA Champions so we are not here to take this game lightly. The girls are still learning and they want to progress but in the process there’s desire to win and that is what the girls have brought to Kenya.”
In their technical bench, South Sudan have former Kenyan international and former Stars head coach Florence Adhiambo in their ranks and her presence is expected to ignite their insight on Kenya and how to approach them.