Junior Starlets warm up for Burundi with win against Premier League side Ulinzi

Time is chiming away fast for the national women’s 17 side who have a date with destiny against Burundi in the two-legged fixture for the World Cup Qualifiers this month.

The Junior Starlets are on the brink of making history as the first ever-Kenyan football team to make it to the FIFA World Cup competition. They need to beat Burundi on aggregate to achieve the feat.

Under the tutelage of Coach Mildred Cheche, the team beat Football Kenya Federation Women’s Premier League side Ulinzi Starlets 2-1 at the Dandora Stadium on Friday in a pulsating build up game.

Since eliminating Ethiopia by a 3-0 margin on home soil at the Ulinzi Sports Complex on May 19, the team has been in camp at Kasarani, Nairobi, sketching on how to down the Burundians who are standing on their way for a maiden World Cup participation.

Midfielder Halima Imbachi says they have already set their sights on reaching the global football showpiece in the Dominican Republic and exudes confidence of emerg-ing victorious for them to reach their dreamland.

“The training is going on well since we finished our business against Ethiopia. We have been training at the Kasarani Annex and Dandora Stadium. Every player is excited and focused on the mission ahead. We are prepared mentally and right now our minds are on reaching the World Cup, we know that we are going to beat Burundi,” said the Butere Girls Secondary School student.

The team has been boosted with the return on midfielder Joy Angela Valencia who missed the previous two assignments against Ethiopia through an injury. The speedy wizard offensive player is itching to make her junior national team debut, having watched from the stands as Kenya humbled Ethiopia last month.

Burundi beat neighbors Djibouti 24-0 aggregate to make it to the final round of the qualifying process. They earlier thrashed Botswana 6-1 in the second round.

Going to the crucial last round, Kenya will play away in Addis Ababa on June 9 after their opponents chose Abebe Bikila Stadium as their home venue.

Junior Starlets will depart for Addis on June 6.

The reverse fixture will be staged at the Ulinzi Sports Complex on June 16, probably a fate decider for the two CECAFA nations that are seeking to reach the World Cup for the first time.

Since the introduction of the FIFA Women’s U17 World Cup in 2008, it is only Tanzania who have sampled the competition from the CECAFA region having qualified for the 2022 tournament in India where they reached the quarterfinals.