The national women’s U17 soccer team Junior Starlets lost 0-1 to Cameroon in their 2025 FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup qualifier,first leg, played Sunday at Nyayo National Stadium,Nairobi.
In evenly balanced encounter Kenya began brightly and nearly snatched the lead minutes after kick off but Breanda Achieng’s effort hit the upright.
Cameroon created their own chance after 28 minutes whne an inswinging corner was missed by the Kenyan goalkeeper but the defence cleared the danger.
Two minutes later Cameroon found the net resulting from a corner that was headed home by Tiwa Melong Lys. Kenyan custodian Abwire Auma missed the ball along with her three defenders with the Cameroonian lurching on the ball to haed home.
With Junior Starlets hit,this appeared to take the win off their sails and head coach Mildred Cheche made instant changes bringing in the enterprising Lindey Wee Atieno so as to shore up the attack upfront.
Cameroon held on to lead 1-0 at the break, and on resumption Kenya’s efforts to find an eaqualiser were frustrated by her opponents.
‘’We got more chances than Cameroon,infront of goal we did not utilize our chances so going into second leg we have to work on that’’Junior Starlets head coach Mildred Cheche said ahead of the second leg on 25th of April in Younde which she believes they can turn the tide saying:
‘’We are playing away it will be a tough match.we have everything to play for,they have everything to lose,and for us we will go all out and our players are tougher mentally you can see how they performed in the second half’’, Cheche added.
‘’Cameroon team were physical and a good team but we did not look at that and believe that we can change the result in second leg away’’,junior starlets captain Halima Imbachi reasoned.
If Cameroon emerges victorious over the second leg then they will qualify for the 2025 FIFA U17 World Cup while Kenya’s efforts for a second consecutive appearance at the world showpiece will come to a cropper.Will iit be so? Well only the remaining 90 minutes will reveal in five days.