Golden Boot beckons for Akida in Starlets final duel

Golden Boot beckons for Akida in Starlets final duel

Harambee Starlets striker, Esse Mbeyu Akida, is in pole position to finish as the top scorer of the Cecafa Women Football Championship in Uganda but that is secondary to helping Kenya lift the crown in their Tuesday final against Kilimanjaro Queens of Tanzania.

Mbeyu has sunk five goals in Starlet’s march to the final and she is aiming at scoring against the Tanzanians to put the icing on the cake and bag the Golden Boot.

Speaking to Citizen Digital from Jinja, where the final will be played, Mbeyu hopes above all that that her team will lift the inaugural trophy having breezed through to the final unbeaten.

“The tournament has been tough. Ethiopia was one of our toughest games. I’m not guaranteed of being the top scorer because we have two players with four goals each, one from Uganda and the other one my teammate.

“However, I’m not so much interested in being the top scorer but winning the trophy for my country with the support of my fellow players. Thereafter, I will think of being the top scorer,” the forward stressed.

Starlets booked their final ticket after edging Lucy of Ethiopia 3-2 in a keenly fought semi with Akida saying the Starlets are not used to playing on artificial turf that is being used at the FUFA Technical Centre in Njeru where the tournament has been held.

“We are experiencing a few challenges when playing during the day due to the heat unlike in Spain where we always played at night due to the extreme weather conditions during the day when we went for the COTIF tourney.

“There no other major concerns apart from pressure from our fans that have very high expectations on us,” the Spedag striker added.

Team Manager, Doreen Nabwire, who has also played in the tournament, is equally optimistic.

“We have had our normal preparations and the team is okay. I don’t expect big changes in the first team but the final decision lies with the coach.

“It will be a difficult game since every team is well prepared and ready to win the trophy but we will do our best. Both teams did their best to reach this level, and Tanzania will draw inspiration from their huge semi final win against Uganda (4-1),” the former captain noted.

Before the final, Uganda will play Ethiopia in the third place play-off.

Tags:

kenya Tanzania Harambee Starlets Doreen Nabwire Women's football Esse Mbeyu Akida Kilimanjaro Queens Cecafa Women Football Championship Jinja Uganda

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