Photo Credit - Football Kenya Federation (FKF).
Kenya’s U17 women’s national team Junior Starlets’ head coach Mildred Cheche was left in cloud nine after they dispatched Uganda Teen Cranes 3-0 to secure their place in the third round of the 2025 FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup qualifiers with a 5-0 aggregate scoreline.
In the fixture at Nyayo Stadium on Sunday, the Kenyan girls went into the return leg seeking to protect a 2-0 advantage gained from their first leg meeting in Kampala courtesy of goals from Joan Ogola and Edinah Nasipwondi.
The Junior Starlets wasted no time asserting dominance, with Patience Asiko breaking the deadlock just five minutes into the match. The second half saw substitute Brenda Achieng make an instant impact, netting twice to complete a well-deserved 3-0 victory.
“We were comfortable in attack, and played well, we didn’t take the game for granted, we knew Uganda will come attacking and we managed to keep them at bay, and then did well when we were attacking, and this paid off for the first goal,” Cheche told Pan-Africa Football.
“Of course, when we played our away match, we had some gaps, and we had to fill them in training and we had some of our key players, who were not good physically, but they did well today, they were able to read the game well, they were comfortable with the ball.”
Cheche concluded: “We knew Uganda would come at us, but the girls executed the game plan perfectly. Now, our focus shifts to Cameroon. We are determined to fight for that World Cup slot.”
Following the win, the Junior Starlets marched into the third round, where they will come up against Cameroon in a decisive two-legged tie. The winner will book a ticket to the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup set to be hosted in Morocco later this year.
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