Harambee Starlets head coach David Ouma has claimed they are now capable of competing at the highest levels after finishing third in the Turkish Women’s Cup.
Kenya won bronze after picking up a 2-0 win, against Northern Ireland, before losing to Chile and Ghana with 5-0 and 3-1 margins respectively. Ouma said the performance of the women's team is an indication they are now a competitive side.
“We are now capable of competing at the highest levels and the recognition we were given as a nation for the past years generates interest across the world,” Ouma told the media after the Ghana tie on Tuesday.
Ouma draws his faith in his squad for what they could do in Turkey even after snap calls for players who were in pre-season breaks.
The next assignment for Harambee Starlets is the African Women's Cup of Nations (Awcon) qualifier against Tanzania in April.
“Let me congratulate my players a lot especially after calling them from their offseason as they were in the early pre-season programmes with their clubs,” the coach added.
“But we know the importance of the invitation to the tournament as it was to help us in preparation for Awcon qualifiers.”
The tacticians picked factors which made their outings against Chile and Ghana tough during the tournament in Turkey.
“As a coach, my main concern was for the players to recover quicker between the matches and you could see how we approached the Northern Ireland game and won,” explained Ouma.
“We had the least time to recover for the Chile match but the players did not do well especially in one against one situations. Against Ghana, we were more exposed in the goalkeeping aspect as we missed the qualities of Anette Kundu.
“These are talking points we as the technical bench members will be looking at and how we can solve them.”
The coach also explained why the match against Chile, who picked up a huge victory against Kenya, was going to be tough.
“You know Chile played in the last World Cup against the US and Sweden and have been consistent in their play,” he concluded.
Kenya's Sheryl Angachi won the best midfielder award to earn the bronze award for the team.
