Harambee Starlets begin preparations for 2024 WAFCON qualifier against Cameroon

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FOOTBALL Harambee Starlets begin preparations for 2024 WAFCON qualifier against Cameroon

Joel Omotto 20:00 - 10.09.2023

Bedline Odemba’s charges have hit camp to tune up for the grueling two-legged encounter against the Indomitable Lionesses

Harambee Starlets have started preparations for their upcoming two-legged 2024 Women Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) qualifiers against Cameroon.

Sixteen players have so far checked into camp with the rest of the squad expected to join them later in the week.

The team is set to depart for Cameroon on September 20, 2023, ahead of their first leg match set to be played on September 22, 2023, in Yaoundé.

Starlets will fly back home on September 23, 2023, in time for their second leg match three days later.

Should Harambee Starlets be the aggregate winners of the two-legged qualifier, they will face either Gabon or Botswana in the second round, between November 27 and December 5, 2023.

Victory for Kenya in the second round would secure automatic qualification for the prestigious 2024 Women's Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, a tournament Kenya last played in 2016, in what was their debut.

Starlets have been inactive on the international front since February 2022 when FIFA suspended Kenya due to government interference but even with the ban lifted later that year, the women’s team found itself with no competition to feature in with the Olympics qualifiers having passed them.

Kenya therefore head to the qualifiers will little exposure after they had their planned friendly match with Albania cancelled due to logistical issues in April.

Starlets, ranked 148th on the FIFA standings, have a tall order against the Indomitable Lionesses, ranked 56th in the world and third in Africa, who are out to right their wrongs after missing out on the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.