Junior Starlets will battle Mexico in their last group of the Fifa U17 women’s World Cup match at the Estadio Olímpico Félix Sánchez in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on Thursday at 2 am with pride and three points at stake.
Starlets head coach Mildred Cheche whose side was kicked out after an opening 2-0 loss to England followed by a 3-0 hammering by Korea Democratic has given four new faces the chance to play, with two being forced changes.
The duo of Laureen Ilavonga and Diana Anyango fell ill and were recommended to rest by the doctors, while two others will be tactical changes.
The gaffer hopes not only to get her first goal of the tournament but remains eager to beat Mexico to clinch third place in Group C after dominant England and North Korea booked the quarters-final slots.
Cheche recommends women's football be taken seriously by both the State and the federation to compete at the top level.
“Most of the teams playing here have been together for between two to four years, since they started in the under 13 categories, while our girls gelled for only eight months with breaks in between," she highlighted.
The coach says there is a need for Kenya to engage in more international fixtures and friendly matches to ensure that they get enough international exposure in future.
"To most of the European nations here, international fixtures and friendlies are part of the norm, so they are used to those standards, my girls only experienced international football at the Spain pre-World Cup training," she said.
Cheche also wants the Junior Starlets to be allowed to grow together after the World Cup and build the future U19, U-20, and U23 categories and Harambee Starlets squads.
Cheche has encouraged their fans not to lose hope and to continue supporting them after the Junior Starlets set standards for all national football teams in Kenya which is quite a monumental achievement.
"Playing in a FIFA World Cup is already an achievement by itself, now we have to maintain those standards as a nation," she concluded.
Meanwhile, midfielder Kimberly Akinyi who is eager to impress after being given the nod by Cheche in her first match, believe they have learnt a lot in the tournament and will carry the lessons back home.
“I have enjoyed my stay here and learned that the top nations have the confidence to hold the ball and make decisive passes, but we also tried and we only need to be confident in front of goal to ensure we beat the South Americans.”
Nigeria beat hosts Dominican Republic 1-0 to finish top of group A with 9 points, while Zambia who have already been kicked out after two losses will face Japan in a dead rubber group B fixture at 11 pm.