Coach Odemba says Starlets gained ‘valuable exposure’ from Ivory Coast friendlies

Harambee Starlets concluded their April FIFA window with two international friendly matches against Ivory Coast’s Women’s National Team in Abidjan, as part of their ongoing preparations for the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) qualifiers.

Although the matches ended in 2-0 defeats, head coach Beldine Odemba has underlined the value of such high-profile friendlies in testing the squad, building cohesion, and identifying key areas of improvement ahead of their final round WAFCON qualifier against Gambia scheduled for October.

“I want to thank the Federation for giving me the friendly and I personally requested for Ivory Coast or Senegal because they’re the same kind of people with our October Opponents Gambia. We wanted to gauge the players knowing that Ivory Coast is much better than Gambia. We noted that there is a big technical and tactical gap between us and Ivory Coast, no wonder they are highly ranked and we picked a lot of lessons from it.

“We still have time for our match against Gambia and we are hoping for another good friendly in June and maybe to play in Cecafa because it’s somewhere around the corner and that will be good preparations before October. We got Injuries but that can be managed and in less than a month all those who got nocks will be back on the pitch.”

Odemba used the matches as warm-up for their 2026 Women Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) final round qualifier against Gambia.

The first leg of the 2026 AWCON qualifier will be played on October 20 at Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi with the second leg set for October 28 in Banjul.

Elsewhere, Kenya U17 girls’ national team, the Junior Starlets tactician Mildred Cheche hailed the Morocco outing saying they have boosted their morale ahead of the World Cup Qualifier against Cameroon.

“We had a good experience as a team for the two friendlies in Morocco and it was a good build up match to gauge our team and just to get the match fitness and also to look at areas to improve.  It has given us a lot of confidence ahead of our match against Cameroon and noted areas we need to work on now that we are back.”

Junior Starlets, wrapped up their tour in Morocco on a high, registering an impressive 2-0 win over Morocco U17 in their second friendly match played on Monday at the Mohammed VI Sports Complex which followed a 1-1 draw at the same venue on Thursday April 4.

The Junior Starlets, who are looking to secure their second straight Fifa Under-17 Women’s World Cup appearance are scheduled to take on Cameroon in the final round of World Cup qualifier, with the first leg set for Nyayo Stadium on Sunday, April 20, and the return leg scheduled April 25, away in Yaoundé at Stade Olembe.