Cheche eyes back-to-back World Cup appearances
Coach Mildred Cheche has embarked on another journey to write more history.
Cheche guided Kenya’s Junior Starlets to the Fifa Under-17 Women’s World Cup in the Dominican Republic last year, the first time a Kenyan national football team was appearing on the global stage.
Junior Starlets bowed out in the preliminary round after 2-0 and 3-0 losses to England and North Korea respectively, and a 2-1 victory over Mexico.
Cheche is now eyeing back-back qualifications to the global stage and yesterday said a provisional team will report to camp on Saturday to begin preparations for the 2025 Under-17 Women's World Cup qualifiers.
The 2025 U-17 Women’s World Cup will be held in Morocco from October 16 to November 3.
Junior Starlets got a bye to the second round where they are set to clash with familiar neighbours Uganda in the second round. The first leg will be held between March 7-9 in Uganda with the second leg played two weeks later in Nairobi.
"The camp was initially set to begin on 20th but has been slightly delayed. We hope to be there before the 25th. We will hold a mini-selection for the players," said Cheche.
She, however, did not name the players selected for the exercise.
Cheche recently returned from Tanzania, where she led the Kenya Elite Junior Academy (Keja) U-17 girls to a fifth-place finish in the inaugural Girls Integrated Football Tournament (Gift) in Dar es Salaam.
Kenya had a second team coached by Jackline Juma that finished third.
The tournament was organised by Confederation of African Football and involved girls under the age of 17 years from the Cecafa region.
Featuring for the Kenyan sides were six players we saw action with Junior Starlets in last year’s World Cup.
They were Butere Girls High School trio of midfielders Halima Imbachi and Joy Angela Valencia and defender Jenevive Mithe, striker Lindey Weey of Sunflower Junior High School and Wiyeta Girls’ duo defender Lorine Ilavonga and goalkeeper Velma Abwire.
The six will likely be part of Cheche’s 2025 World Cup plans.
"The Gift tournament allowed young girls to watch competitive matches and prepare for the World Cup qualifiers. Most of our squad will be retained, with a few new additions since not all players travelled to Tanzania," said Cheche.
Uganda advanced to the second round of the U-17 World Cup qualifiers with an aggregate 18-0 demolition of Namibia last Sunday.
Uganda crushed Namibia 8-0 in their first round return leg match at Hamz Stadium in Nakivubo last Sunday to add to their 10-0 first leg romp at the same venue on Thursday.
Kenya received a bye to the first round together with Zambia and Nigeria by virtue of having represented Africa in the 2024 World Cup.
"We focus on building a competitive team to qualify for 2025. Playing Uganda will be challenging, but we are ready to work hard for success,"said Cheche, a CAF B licensed said.
"A big high was qualifying for the World Cup and giving many young players exposure."
