U-17 WWC Qualifying: Kenya left with mountain to climb after Cameroon defeat
- Dennis Kegengo
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Kenya U17 girls’ national team, the Junior Starlets, will face a tall order to qualify for the 2025 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup after they suffered a 1-0 first leg home defeat against Cameroon at Nyayo Stadium on Sunday.
The Junior Starlets should blame themselves for the third round qualifying defeat as they dominated the visiting side but could not convert the open scoring chances that came their way.
Spurred on by a sizeable crowd that turned out for the fixture, Kenya should have taken the lead with only nine minutes played when Joy Valencia picked out Brenda Achieng with a brilliant defense-splitting pass but the latter blasted the effort wide.
The missed opportunity turned costly for Kenya as Cameroon took the lead against the run of play when Tiwa Melong slotted the ball past goalkeeper Velma Abwire. The goal stunned the Kenyan girls, but they almost levelled matters through Joan Ogola, whose strike after a cross from Elizabeth Ochaka went over the bar.
In the second half, Kenya continued to raid Cameroon for the equaliser and it was Cameroon goalkeeper Jessica Mabou, who was forced into making a superb save to deny substitute Mitshell Waithera after a shot by Valencia had rattled the crossbar.
Five minutes later, Waithera had another great opportunity to hit the back of the net but after being set up by Ochaka, she unleashed a weak effort which Mabou handled without pressure.
Kenya never looked to give up and they continued to raid Cameroon. In the 53td minute, Ogola found herself with enough space inside Cameroon's dangerzone following another good delivery from Ochaka, but her final decision was not good enough as the danger was cleared out for a fruitless corner-kick.
Patience Asiko, who had come on for Joan Ogolla, wasted another glorious chance after she squandered a scoring opportunity from a one-on-one situation with keeper Mabou.
"We did all we could but Cameroon defended well to deny us a goal, they scored and resorted to play defensively so my players could not get the opportunity to score," said Junior Starlets coach Mildred Cheche after the game.
"We will have another 90 minutes to play for, it is not over yet. We don't have to give up, we can go there and change the result, we can go there and win, so we want to be positive and get ready for the return leg."
The return leg will be played on Friday, April 25, at the Stade Olembe in Yaoundé. The aggregate winner will book a coveted ticket to the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup, which will be hosted in Morocco from October 17 to November 8, 2025.