Kenyans expressed their joy and gratitude after the U 17 Women’s national team beat Uganda 2-0 to boost their chances of qualifying to the 2025 FIFA U 17 Women’s World Cup.Uganda hosted Kenya in the first leg of the second round U 17 Women’s World Cup qualification on Saturday, 8 March 2025 at the Hamz Stadium, Nakivubo in Kampala.Kenya joined the qualification in the second round after receiving a bye in the opening round, while Uganda were 18-1 aggregate winners over Namibia in the opening round.Two first half goals from Edibah Nasipwombi and Joan Ogola in the 36th minute and 45+1 minute respectively were enough to grant the Mildred Cheche-coached side a big advantage ahead of the home tie.##NAJAVA_MECA_8763445##As is the nature of Kenyans, they took to various social media platforms to react to the impressive performance by the Junior Starlets.Kenneth Kirui was impressed by the maturity displayed by the girls despite their age.“Those girls played beautiful and attractive football. I dare say, better than Harambee Stars. They make it very easy to support them. Focus now shifts to the return leg in Nairobi. We must fill the stadium to cheer on the girls,” he stated.Salma Wangare appreciated the strength of women in the win that fell on International Women’s Day.“What a nice gift and display of our strength on this International Women’s Day. As usual, the girls are bringing more joy to the country unlike their male counterparts,” she said.Kenya’s FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup quest off to a positive start against UgandaIn the popular fans’ Facebook group, KPL Chat, Patrick Abala perhaps had the most interesting reaction to the match.“Congratulations,we want to make the FIFA U 17 Women’s World Cup our tournament, ” wrote AbalaOketch Jebby was impressed with how the Junior Starlets reacted to moments when Uganda were the better side.“The girls really played well. Congratulations even though the first 15 mins after break they were the better side but we did our best to contain them,” wrote Oketch.Drews Andrea, on his part, credited the colour of the jersey to the win.“It seems The green Jersey has some good fortune for Kenya. Lionesses had it & won HSBC. It was a great Women’s Day for our Women, Congratulations,” he noted.Stars Abroad: Olunga on target as Marcelo, Vyner featureJames Eric Assavaa noted the improvement and excellence of Women teams and called for more coverage of their games.“Women are doing good in sports nowadays compared to our male counterparts. Be it football, rugby. It’s high time women soccer (Women’s Premier League)) is aired on our local TV and radio stations,” he remarked.Clinton Ravi foresaw the selection headache that Harambee Starlets coach will have in the next five years.“Selection of the Women national team will be very difficult for the coach in the next five years. All of them will be stars and maybe selection will be done in Parliament like it happened in Brazil,” he said.Kevin Wise peculiarly picked a lesson from the Ugandan federation that needs to be implemented in Kenya.“We need to learn lessons from the Uganda Federation and government. They have quality pitches and on top of it OB (Outside Broadcasting) Van to broadcast matches. No doubt, in East Africa we are leading in terms of talent but we should also think of developing our football infrastructures,” said Wise through a post on X (formerly Twitter).Some fans also took issue with the Junior Starlets’ jersey which caused a lot of criticism online.“McDonald Mariga, kindly check on the size of the jersey especially for the under 17. They are big,” read a post by Ise PabloUnbeaten against McCarthy, Mwalala reveals what to expect from Harambee Stars style of playRobert Omondi Muruka was equally unhappy with the jersey and called for proper designs.“Guys, how many agree that our uniform is not attractive??? Kwani we don’t have designers in this country who can come up with a trademark jersey for Kenya?” he posed.The two teams will once again lock horns on Sunday 16 March in Nairobi for the second leg where the winner of the tie will meet either Ethiopia or Cameroon for the final round.
