Kenya’s national Under-17 girls football team has been drawn in Group E of this year’s FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup, where they will face China, the United States (US) and Samoa during the tournament set for Morocco from October 17 to November 7.
The Junior Starlets will begin their campaign against China on October 19 at the Women’s Football Complex, Pitch 1, before taking on the US three days later at Pitch 3 of the same venue. They will wrap up their Group E fixtures against Samoa on October 25 at Pitch 4, hoping to secure enough points to book a place in the knockout stage.
Kenya earned its place at the global tournament after beating South Africa 5-1 on aggregate in the final round of qualification. The Junior Starlets sealed qualification with a 3-1 victory in the second leg at Nyayo Stadium on Sunday, having won the first leg 2-0 at Lucas Moripe Stadium in Pretoria a week earlier.
The tournament will mark Kenya’s second appearance at the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup, with coach Mildred Cheche’s side aiming to improve on their debut performance in the Dominican Republic two years ago.
During that campaign, the Junior Starlets opened Group C with a 2-0 defeat to England before losing 3-0 to eventual champions North Korea.
They ended their historic first appearance with a 2-1 victory over Mexico, becoming the first Kenyan football team to win a match at a World Cup after also making history as the country’s first football team to feature at the global tournament at any level.
Coach Cheche expressed her delight after guiding the Junior Starlets to World Cup qualification, praising the players, technical bench and the country for their support.
“I am really delighted. I am happy for the girls, the technical bench and the whole country,” Cheche said, noting that the team’s qualification was a result of hard work and belief despite facing challenges throughout the journey.
“The journey has not been easy, but here we are again. All this is the fruit of hard work and belief. The girls wanted to do this from the start, and you can see the joy on our faces,” she added.
She admitted that the team struggled with pressure in the opening stages of the match but improved after a half-time talk in the dressing room.
“The girls had some stage fright at the start and played with some fear. We went back to the dressing room at half-time and reminded them that we are playing at home, and even if they had never played in front of this huge number of fans, we had to step up and get results at home, and I am glad they responded well in the second half,” she said.
The coach said the team will now focus on preparing well for the World Cup and improving its performance as they target qualification from the group stage.
“We now have to prepare well and focus on getting better results. We want to go past the group stages, and I believe we can do it,” Cheche said.
On her part, South Africa coach Khumalo congratulated Kenya for the victory, admitting that the result was shaped by the first-leg defeat at home.
“Firstly, let me congratulate the Kenyans for their win. We lost the game in the first leg back at home, and we knew it was not going to be easy coming here in front of such a big crowd,” Khumalo said.
She praised her players for their efforts despite their elimination from the competition, saying they fought hard throughout the qualification campaign.
“The journey has ended for us, but I must applaud our girls. They fought a good fight, but, unfortunately, sometimes the results don’t go your way,” she added.
Khumalo said the team had gained valuable lessons from the experience and would focus on future projects, noting that some of the players are still eligible to compete at the same age level.
“We have learnt our lessons, and now we have to look forward to the next projects because we still have players in this team who are 15 and 16 years old that can continue in this age group,” she said.
She admitted that the loss was disappointing but said the team would regroup and prepare for the next edition.
“It hurts that we were so close and yet so far, but we will go back home and regroup for the next edition,” Khumalo said.
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