Shikobe urges Starlets' to fight for a good run as AWCON beckons

Harambee Starlets captain Dorcas Shikobe has called on her teammates to put in the work and aim for better results as the team prepares to play the Africa Women's Cup of Nations (AWCON) qualifiers beginning this June.

"I urge my teammates to keep pushing themselves as we do not want to drop from where our level of play is now. The only way now and we all know better awaits us if we are at the top. We risk starting all over again if we let our game go down," she said in an interview with Harambee Starlets media team.

The national team was scheduled to play Zambia on a friendly match as part of their preparations for the upcoming qualifiers but the encounter was called off after President Uhuru Kenyatta suspended sporting activities on March 26. 

Starlets' qualifiers are set to kick off in June as the Charles Okere-coached side fight for a ticket to the continental showpiece. Starlets made their debut at the AWCON in 2016. The team was set to make a second appearance after Equatorial Guinea were disqualified by CAF in the qualifiers for fielding an ineligible player but the decision was overturned on appeal and Equatorial Guinea were reintegrate into the competition Kenya's appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) was unfruitful.

On its 12th edition, next year's AWCON is set to be held in Morocco. The tournament also doubles as the African qualifiers to the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. The top four teams will qualify for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand and two more teams will advance to the inter-confederation play-offs. 

Shikobe, who has captained Starlets since 2018, says her highest achievement as the team's skipper so far is winning the team's maiden CECAFA Senior Women’s Challenge Cup in 2019 in Tanzania, beating the hosts 2-0.