With only two weeks until they report to camp, uncertainty has descended upon Harambee Starlets camp with the future of head coach Charles Okere in doubt.
Football Kenya Federation revealed on Wednesday that the national women’s team had secured an international friendly match against Albania in Tirana on April 11, but kept mum on who would lead the team.
This was a departure from how the federation conducted itself when it announced the Harambee Stars’ friendly against Iran where Engin Firat also named the provisional squad.
Reliable sources claim that Okere’s fate has already been decided and that the federation will unveil a new tactician within the next few days.
“KCB assistant coach Godfrey “Solo” Oduor might likely be named as the new head coach to replace Okere,” the source said.
The source didn’t, however, divulge what occasioned the fallout between the federation and Okere, who currently sits on the Tusker FC bench as an assistant coach.
This is the first international engagement for the Starlets in over a year after the FKF’s suspension by the World football governing body Fifa.
Albania are ranked 78 places above Kenya in Fifa Women’s ranking. Harambee Starlets are expected to report to camp on March 30, 2023, and leave for Albania on April 8.
Starlets were scheduled to face Uganda in the second and final qualification round for the 2022 Africa Women’s Cup of Nations in October last year before Fifa slapped Kenya with a ban.
They booked a date with Uganda after wallopping South Sudan’s Bright Starlets. 15-1 on aggregate. Starlets rout the Sudanese 8-0 in their first leg of the 2022 Africa Women Cup of Nations Qualifiers played at the Nyayo Stadium on October 20.
They then completed the rout with another resounding 7-1 win at the same venue on October 23, 2021. The two-legged qualifier between Kenya and Uganda had been scheduled for February 2022, with the winner set to earn automatic qualification to the 2022 women’s continental showpiece in Morocco.
Harambee Starlets made their debut at the Cameroonian edition of the Africa Women’s Cup of Nations in 2016, losing to Nigeria, Mali, and Ghana in the opening round. In September 2017, the team made a guest appearance at the COSAFA Women’s Championship in Zimbabwe, where they placed fourth behind South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Zambia.
Starlets later made their second appearance at the Ghana-hosted 2018 Africa Women Cup of Nations. Their biggest feat came in 2019 when they fended off a tough challenge from hosts Tanzania to clinch the Cecafa Women’s Championship.
They graced the Turkish Women’s Cup in 2020, where they finished third behind Chile and Ghana.
