Duo out for Junior Starlets’ duel with Mexico

Junior Starlets will miss the services of two key players, Lorine Ilvango and Diana Anyango, when they face Mexico in their final preliminary match of the Fifa U17 Women’s World Cup in the Dominican Republic on Thursday morning.

Head coach Mildred Cheche said the two are unwell and will miss the dead-rubber encounter even as Kenya seek their first goal and point on their debut tournament.

Kenya fell 2-0 to England in the opener and were no match for North Korea in the second, succumbing 3-0.

Cheche said: “We’ll miss the services of Lorine and Diana, who are unwell. The rest of the squad are okay and will do their best. The preparations have been okay and even though we lost the opening matches, it doesn’t mean we give up. Of course, there is no qualification after that, but we’ll do our best to defeat Mexico for pride and finishing properly.”

Mexico lost 4-2 to England and 4-1 to North Korea. Cheche is optimistic Starlets will score past Mexico.

“Mexico have good technical ability and they can keep the ball. We will exploit our strengths, which are unique from these sides. We’ll try to maximise our chances in front of the goal. We are keen to get at least one (goal),” Cheche said.

Starlets are the first Kenyan team to qualify for a Fifa World Cup tournament and even though the results didn’t go their way, they picked valuable lessons as the players seek progression into the senior ranks.

“Biggest take home is we must invest in women’s football. Most of the teams here have played together for a long time, from as young as 13 years. (In contrast) our players have been together for about eight (non-continuous) months,” said Cheche.

“We should play more international matches while keeping these players together as we look forward to qualifying them for the U20 World Cup.”

Meanwhile, Cheche revealed some of the are still hard at work with their books preparing for their Form Four examinations.

The Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education tests began this week but the Starlets’ players have been exempted and will sit for a special paper upon return.

“They are getting time to study since we train for just two hours a day.”

“To our fans at home, keep supporting us. You’ve been with us on this journey. We are grateful that you are watching our games in the early hours. We will try our best to get something out of the Mexico encounter,” concluded Cheche.

Kenya will depart the Caribbean country immediately after the game against Mexico.