Harambee Starlets coach hopeful of playing in Cup qualifier
Harambee Starlets coach Alex Alumira during their training session on February 1, 2022.
What you need to know:
- Meanwhile in Uganda, the Crested Cranes have been in celebratory mode, the announcement by CAF bringing sweet relief for the team that lost 3-0 to Starlets in the 2019 Council of East and Central Africa Football Association Women’s Senior Challenge Cup in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
- “It was great news for all Ugandans to hear that we have qualified. We will now train even harder for the main event,” Uganda coach George William Lutalo said.
Harambee Starlets head coach Alex Alumira is hopeful that the team will feature in the 2022 Africa Women Cup of Nations (Awcon) qualifier against Uganda despite the Confederation of African Football (CAF) announcing that Kenya had issued a walkover on January 28.
A walkover means that Uganda’s Crested Cranes automatically qualify for Awcon finals in Morocco from July 2 to 23. Football stakeholders learnt of Kenya’s purported withdrawal on Friday night when the Federation of Uganda Football Association (Fufa) published a report announcing their qualification for the 12th edition of Awcon.
“We got the news of Kenya withdrawing just two days into our training camp and we were all shocked by this development and the players immediately went into panic mode, with their mood towards training drastically changing. However, through continuous communication with the caretaker committee, and being assured that the team will certainly play, the mindset has changed for both the players and the technical bench and we are now placing all our focus on the challenge ahead,” Alumira said at Tuesday’s training session at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani.
Starlets have less than two weeks in camp with the first leg scheduled for February 13 in Kampala while the return leg set for February 17 in Nairobi.
Kenya is seeking to qualify for Awcon for the second time. The team was knocked out of the 2016 edition in Cameroon at the group stage after losing to Ghana, Mali and Nigeria.
Kenya didn’t qualify for the 2018 competition after losing 1-0 to Uganda in the qualifiers.
Meanwhile in Uganda, the Crested Cranes have been in celebratory mode, the announcement by CAF bringing sweet relief for the team that lost 3-0 to Starlets in the 2019 Council of East and Central Africa Football Association Women’s Senior Challenge Cup in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
“It was great news for all Ugandans to hear that we have qualified. We will now train even harder for the main event,” Uganda coach George William Lutalo said.
