Focus on Tanzania after Starlets dazzle past S. Sudan in Dar es Salaam

Harambee Starlets Head Coach Beldine Odemba has hailed her charges after bagging their third consecutive victory at the ongoing Cecafa Women’s Senior Championship in Tanzania, after hitting South Sudan 4-0 on Thursday at the Azam Sports Complex, Dar es Salaam.

Kibera Soccer Women Faith Mboya set the ball rolling after netting home three minutes after kick-off and South Sudan did well to hold Kenya for slim 1-0 lead at the break.

The second half saw the girls add three more goals with foreign Municipal De Layooune (Morocco) forward Violet Nanjala doubling the lead just two minutes after resumption before Martha Amunyolet found the back of the net on the 66th minute.

Elizabeth Ochaka rounded-off the victory for Kenya with a fourth goal five minutes into extra-time to see Kenya remain second on the log on nine points, same as Tanzania, who have only a one goal difference.

“It’s a good win which enables us to seal nine points out of possible nine so far. I congratulate my players for working hard and maintaining the focus. We have now shifted focus to our final preliminary fixture against the hosts on Saturday and we are hoping for the best,” observed Odemba, who is also Police Bullets coach – the KWPL champions.

Odemba however highlighted some of the mistakes her playing unit has to work on ahead of Tanzania match.

“In our match against South Sudan I noted that the energy of my players was not good more so in the first half. We need to work on that because you can’t afford to slow against some teams because it can get tough, trying to recover,” she noted.

She has in the meantime acknowledged that the level of competition within the Cecafa region has gone high, reflecting on what she has seen at the tournament so far.

“I’m happy that teams have improved and you can clearly see that there is good competition in the Cecafa region. It's an indication that women football is growing. We hope this tournament will be held more frequently, maybe yearly and we hope to see other countries taking part,” Odemba added.

Kenya’s rout against winless South Sudan was their third clean sheet following commanding wins against Uganda (4-0) and Burundi (3-0).

The win marks a solid start for Starlets, who are back in CECAFA action for the first time since 2019.