Harambee Starlets duo express confidence as WAFCON preps take shape

Confidence is brewing in the Harambee Starlets camp, ahead of their participation at the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) later this month.

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On Thursday, 2 July, the Kenyan duo of Vivian Nasaka and Marion Serenge expressed as much optimism about the team’s ambitions and capabilities, heading into the tournament set for Sunday, 26 July to Sunday, 16 August in Morocco.

“The mood in the camp is good, everyone here is focused and trying to push as best as they can,” defender Nasaka said on the sidelines of the team’s training session at Kasarani Annex on Thursday.

“We are now in Day Four of the camp, and we hope by the time WAFCON begins, everyone will be ready for it.”

In Beldine Odemba’s provisional 29-player squad, Nasaka stands as one of the experienced members in the team, which has, over the last year or so, seen the integration of new, younger players.

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In the present squad, Odemba took advantage of Kenya's rising youth national team structures, naming several promising young talents including Fasila Adhiambo, Elizabeth Mideva, Elizabeth Muteshi, Elizabeth Ochaka, and the aforementioned Serenge.

Asked what that reality offers the rest of the squad, Nasaka, who plays abroad in Turkey for Hakkarigücü Spor, said: “The majority of the players in our camp are made up of players experiencing this for the first time, so everyone has hopes to come back home with the trophy, and that completely aligns with what we are preparing to do.”

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After a decade out in the cold, Harambee Starlets are marking their return to the continental scene for the second time ever, but that statistic is not standing in their way, nor in their thinking.

“Training has been okay, so far since Day One, as we know the task that is ahead of us,” Serenge, who was part of the Kenya Under 17 team that qualified for the FIFA U17 Women's World Cup for the first time, said.

“As a team and the technical bench, we want to reach the semi-finals, so that we can play in the World Cup.”

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To get there, Kenya will first have to negotiate through the preceding stages, including a testing group phase, which will see them play last year’s finalists and hosts Morocco, Algeria and Senegal in Group A.

Their first game comes on opening day - Sunday, 26 August - against the Atlas Lionesses - at the Moulay El Hassan Stadium in Rabat from 11:00 PM (EAT).