Harambee Starlets coach Beldine Odemba has opened up about how she is planning to lead her team to the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations after coming so close in 2023.
Harambee Starlets coach Beldine Odemba still has memories of her team’s failure to qualify for the 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) and wants to use them as fuel to fire them to the 2026 tournament.
Kenya came close to sealing a second appearance at the continental tournament when they took on Botswana in the final round of the qualifiers in 2023 but fluffed their chances.
Starlets recorded a 1-1 draw at home, when they missed a number of clear-cut chances, including a penalty, before losing 1-0 away, when they also missed a spot-kick that would have handed them an away goal, losing 2-1 on aggregate.
That has not been erased in their minds, however, and Odemba feels that her team took Botswana lightly and got shocked, something she is keen to avoid ahead of their first round of the qualifiers for WAFCON 2026 against Tunisia this month.
Harambee Starlets coach Beldine Odemba has opened up on how she is planning long-term even as he begins preparations for 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
“After beating Cameroon, in our minds we had already won against Botswana even before playing them. If you look at the performance in both games, Botswana came prepared to fight for every ball but for us, we thought it was an easy game,” Odemba told Telecomasia.net, revealing how her players still remember that painful experience to date.
“Even now, you will hear it in the corridors, the girls talking about it. We learnt our lessons the hard way. Football is won on the pitch and not on paper. We have learnt and we are using that as an inspiration to start this journey. For us now, every game is like a final and we have to respect any opponent that comes our way and give 100 percent always.”
The Kenya Police Bullets coach named her squad for the match against Tunisia early this month and have been in camp preparing for the two-legged tie that will start with a home match on February 21 before the return leg in Tunis four days later.
Odemba acknowledges the North Africans pose a different challenge compared to Cameroon and Botswana that they faced in the qualifiers for WAFCON 2024 and will need to devise a new strategy.
“No opponent is an easy opponent and definitely we have to prepare well tactically, physically and mentally. We start the first round at home and finish away, and we have to exert our dominance right from the game at home,” she added.
“It will be very important for us to get a win, and a clean sheet at home to make matters easier when we play in North Africa, which is never easy. If we don’t get it done here at home, we will have a difficult outing away. We need to take every chance that we get,” said the tactician, who is counting on the two training camps that her team had in Morocco and Turkey late last year.
Odemba’s squad is a blend of young and experienced players and she is thrilled by the confidence she sees in camp which gives her belief of conquering Tunisia as they look for a second appearance at WAFCON since their debut in 2016.
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Former Manchester United first-team coach Benni McCarthy has been reported to be the leading contender for the Harambee Stars job but a veteran tactician is against it.
