Kenya’s Rising Starlets grind on World Cup dream

• The Rising Starlets beat Angola 6-1 in the first leg
• The return leg will be played in Luanda
• They are two stages away from World Cup qualification

Kenya’s Rising Starlets have pushed on the wheel to battle for their first ever qualification to the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup after thrashing Angola 6-1 in Nairobi in the first leg of their second round qualification match.

The team has put one step into the next round, where a date against either Cameroon or Botswana awaits. Cameroon beat Botswana 2-0 in the first leg of their second round qualifier as well.

Head coach Beldine Odemba says she was delighted with the performance, though she reckoned they did not play as well as they had planned.

“Tactically we didn’t play as well as we had prepared but it is good they gave us goals and the results we wanted. They were not aggressive enough but we will work on that to ensure that we are better in the return leg. We might make some changes in midfield for that match,” Odemba said after the match.

She added; “It was really good we won. We have a big goal difference but we have not won the round. We will go for more goals and work as a team to play for a good result. We need to counter the brilliance we saw the Angolans with and this is not done until we finish the second leg.”

Valerie Nekesa scored a hattrick with Charity Midewo adding a brace as Odemba’s girls put the Angolans to the sword and ensure their maiden qualification to the Cup of Nations remains afloat.

Nekesa unsatisfied despite hatrick 

Valerie Nekesa celebrates one of her three goals against Angola.

Despite  her hatrick, just like her coach, Nekesa, who is a Form Two student at Madira Girls, said she was not satisfied with her performance.

“I had many chances and I know I should have socred more goals. That is what I wanted from the word go. But at least we won as a team and that is a good thing,” she noted.

Starlets had a perfect start when Nekesa scored the opener after just four minutes, racing to a through ball before slipping the ball past the keeper.

She scored a similar goal just three minutes later, once again beating the backline with pace to pick out a defense splitting pass and just touching it beyond the shot stopper who had come off her line.

Angola made a change early on with Maria Isabel being pulled out and replaced by Domingas Mutolo as they sought to get a balance in the game.

But instead it was the hosts who would be more comfortable as Nekesa added her third in similar fashion, just like the first two goals.

Angola pull one back 

Charity Midewa in action against Angola

Angola pulled one back immediately when Ivone Julio struck a brilliant shot from inside the box, to give themselves some minor hope of a comeback.

But, Kenya continued to dominate and at the stroke of halftime, the girls would add the fourth, Midewo sending a scorching freekick beyond the keeper from range.

In the second half, it was more dominance for Kenya as they sought to keep the ball more and open up spaces. Two substitutes then combined for the six goal, Faith Naliaka scoring with the second bite of the cherry after her initial shot off an Elizabeth Mideva cross was blocked.

The visitors couldn’t conjure any sort of comeback as the Kenyan girls utterly dominated and couldn’t allow even a single shot on target against them.