Junior Starlets Put to the Sword by China to Begin Women’s U17 World Cup in Painful Fashion

Kenya’s Junior Starlets started their 2026 Women’s U17 World Cup on a sour note following a 3-0 loss to China in their opening match in Morocco on Monday.

Mildred Cheche's side, returning to the World Cup for the second since their debut in 2024, received a harsh welcome as China went ahead after 12 minutes.

China were rewarded for their enterprising display when Yue Xu slotted home after 12 minutes from Yichen Wu’s pass.

From there, Kenya survived a couple of attacks from the Chinese with goalkeeper Mishel Okoyo coming to their rescue.

Okoyo stood tall in the first half, thwarting away good opportunities, including one in the dying minutes of the opening stanza.

The first half ended with Kenya leading 1-0, having had seven attempts, three on target, while Kenya had none on target from their two opportunities.

After the break, Cheche brought on forward Peninah Fostine for midfielder Noelina Akuku in a bid to get a tune out of his team.

However, just five minutes after resumption, China extended their lead. Yichen Wu got space in the middle of the field and unleashed a rocket of a shot which hit the crossbar and bounced back into the pitch.

It fell kindly to Xiaotang Xu, who was lurking at the edge of the box, and she fired home from the rebound.

Just three minutes later, China were celebrating the third one. Some poor marking from Junior Starlets allowed Zhenzhu Fang time and space on the ball and she floated in a delicious cross at the back post.

Xiaotang Xu shrugged off the challenge of Fleviah Khatenje at the near post to head home easily for her brace, making matters more difficult for Kenya.

By this time, Kenya had not made inroads into the China half and it continued like that until the 78th minute when Elizabeth Achieng had their first attempt on goal, having taken a shot from distance, which was easily gathered by the goalkeeper.

There was one final attempt from China six minutes from time when they went on the counter attack but goalkeeper Okoyo dived low to save before the cross reached its target.

It puts Kenya in a difficult position ahead of their second group stage match against USA on Thursday and then Samoa on Sunday.