Junior Starlets crank up preps ahead of U-17 World Cup bow

The national U-17 women's football team, Junior Starlets, will report to camp on Wednesday, September 3, ahead of their FIFA Women’s Under-17 World Cup bow scheduled to take place from October 16- to November 3 in the Dominican Republic.

Junior Starlets head coach Mildred Cheche called up 35 players to the camp at the Utalii Grounds in Nairobi a fortnight ago ahead of the global showpiece, whereby Starlets are set to face England, Korea Republic, and Mexico in pool C.

The called players are expected to stay in the camp till September 10, when they will travel to Spain for an extended training period before departing for the Dominican Republic on October 4th.

Starlets, who are debuting in the competition, will open their campaign against England on Thursday, October 17, 2024.

Their opponents in the opener, Young Lionesses, have participated in the competition two times, with their best finish being in fourth place in 2008.

Kenya will also have a tough time facing two-time champions, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, who have participated in the competition seven times.

The national side, however, has been handed a major boost ahead of the competition as the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) announced on August 22 that it will prepare special Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations for eight players from the squad.

KNEC CEO David Njeng’ere in a letter to the Ministry of Sports announced the decision following a request from the latter to grant 8 players who are among the students expected to sit for national exams in the next two months, to be offered special examination.

Korea DPR has reached the World Cup finals on three occasions and won the title at the 2008 and 2016 editions.

Junior Starlets will also be seeking to prove their metal against Mexico, who have made six appearances in the competition, finishing as runners-up in 2018.

Kenya qualified for the global showpiece heroically after white-washing Burundi 5-0 on aggregate in their final qualification match on June 16.