Harambee Starlets Captain Defends Coach After Disastrous WAFCON Campaign - ‘Bedline Cannot Come and Play’

Harambee Starlets captain Mwanalima ‘Dogo’ Adam has jumped to the defence of head coach Beldine Odemba following their poor outing at the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON 2026).

Kenya were eliminated at the group stage without a goal and point after losing 4-0 to Morocco, 1-0 to Senegal before suffering a 2-0 defeat to Algeria, from a tournament that many had hoped they would make an impact.

Starlets were brutally exposed as they made several mistakes in and out of possession while they struggled on set-pieces. They also created a number of chances which they failed to utilise as their lack of experience after a 10-year absence told.

Following the disappointing outing, Odemba has carried most of the blame with some fans even calling for her removal, but Adam feels the players did not cover themselves in glory.

“The technical bench did its job. If there is someone to blame, let it be the players. Beldine cannot come to the pitch and play it is me to ask what did I do?” posed Adam while speaking to NTV.

“For the coach to believe in you, what have you done as a player? I know all the blame goes to the technical bench and the coach but I was telling the players, it is us who did not do our jobs properly.”

Adam feels Starlets players did not leave everything on the pitch and should not hide behind the coach as they went to Morocco possessing enough quality to show more than what they dismayed at WAFCON.

“If I had done my part and another player did theirs, we would have had a positive outcome but we are always blaming the coach,” she added. “I feel it is us the players who did not display everything we had,” said the Starlets playmaker.

“I know Kenyans are hurting but we are also hurting. We did not work hard as players. So, it is not the coaches, Kenyans had high hopes in us but we let them down,” said the skipper.

Starlets players returned to the country on Thursday following their woeful campaign in Morocco and have now set sights on qualifying for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.