The National Women football team Harambee Starlets takes on South Sudan’s Bright Starlets next month in the 2022 Africa Women Cup of Nations qualifiers.
South Sudan are new into the tournament and want to prove a point against Kenya who have already tasted continental football.
Africa’s youngest independent state has been on a steady rise in sports and after their male counterparts established what looks like a formidable force for the future, the South Sudan Football Federation has come up with a plan to make their women’s team even stronger.
The hiring of former Harambee Starlets coach Florence Adhiambo “Duah” is in line with their long term plans. The former Makolanders player and coach has been very instrumental in helping Coach Shilene Booysen come up with a strong team that will challenge for top honors in the near future.
Last month, they played their first ever international fixture against Ethiopia and they lost by 11-0 but then this was a learning curve according to Duah.
The Awcon qualifier has not been kind either and coach Duah knows that they have to prepare well if they want to get past a much fancied Kenyan team.
“Very interesting(on meeting Kenya). Especially with teams not being seeded you might see some of the smaller federations progress. Even in CECAFA the powerhouses have been pitted against each other with Uganda and Ethiopia playing each other in the first round,” she says.
“South Sudan is a nation that is just starting out. They have played very few games and being fixtured against Kenya will be a big test. However, we will do our very best as this is the first time that we have entered qualifiers for AWCON.”
“To prepare adequately is very important. South Sudan have the players to do well but we have to make sure that the players get the best opportunity and preparation to succeed,” she tells TeamKenya.
Harambee Starlets will play against Bright Starlets between June 7 and June 15 with the winner facing either Ethiopia or Uganda in the second round of qualifiers. The winners of both rounds will qualify for the Africa Women's Cup of Nations (AWCON) to be staged in Morocco in 2022.
Harambee Starlets coach Charles Okere says beating South Sudan will be a major step towards ensuring that the team qualifies to the World Cup in 20223.
“We now know whom we are facing. At least we saw them(South Sudan) play against Ethiopia and that has shown us what to expect. Winning the upcoming matches will be a huge step towards our qualification to the World Cup,”Okere said soon after the draw.
“I believe we can make it to the World Cup because we have the support of the federation. It is now us to show what we can do when we take on our opponents,” he said.