NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 18 – Kenya’s Junior Starlets went down fighting early Friday morning, losing 2-0 to England in their opening game at the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup in Santiago, Dominican Republic as they made history, becoming the first ever Kenyan team to play at the global stage.
Lola Brown’s first half penalty got the English going before substitute Lauryn Thompson scored the second four minutes to time.
However, despite the defeat, Starlets put up a performance to be proud of, especially in the second half, and will have a lot of positives to pick heading to the second match.
“It was a great match, we played well but not the results we wanted. There are lots of lessons we picked in terms of tactical preparedness and physical attributes . For the remaining two matches we will give our best,” coach Mildred Cheche said after the game.
Understandably so, England were top in possession in the opening half, and forced the Kenyan girls to do more defending. Izzy Fisher had two early chances for England, first volleying the ball over unmarked from the edge of the six yard box before striking a shot that was well saved by Starlets keeper Velma Abwire.
They got the opener in the 28th minute from the penalty spot, Brown beating Abwire from 12 yards out after a handball inside the box. England kept the pressure and Abwire was called into a brilliant one on one save seven minutes to the break when Junaid Omotara broke through on goal from a Brown through ball.
A minute later, Abwire pulled off another superb save to deny Las Nelly’s shot from the right.
In the second half, though, beaming with confidence from the half time pep talk, the Kenyan girls came back a better side. They pinned England into their half, but were unlucky not to find the back of the net with two crosses from either end being cleared away.
In the 70th minute, Starlets had a golden chance when Valerie Nekesa dribbled her way into the box but her rasping shot hit the side netting. Kenya requested for a VAR review citing Nekesa’s shirt being pulled as she made her way into the box, but the appeal for a penalty was turned down.
Kenya kept the pressure hoping to get at least an equalizer, but they were pegged back four minutes to time when Thompson powered through a run to the edge of the box, with a shot that beat Abwire in goal.
