Nostalgic moment for Ouma after N.Ireland win

National women’s football team head coach, David Ouma, is over the moon after his charges registered a historic win against Northern Ireland in the Turkish Women’s Cup opener on Wednesday evening.

Harambee Starlets outclassed the much-experienced opponents with a 2-0 win in their Pool B opening tie as they launched the title hunt in style at the Gold City Sport Complex in Turkey.

Topister Situma and Dorcas Shiveka scored the two unanswered goals in the second half and Ouma says the underdog tag worked for his side and that he expects the Cecafa champions to replicate that performance against Chile on Saturday.

“Yesterday’s (Wednesday) match wasn’t easy more so in the first half but my girls were composed and after studying their game plan, we outclassed them and killed the tie in the second half. Scoring through a set piece shows how we dominated the critical areas and I think we can get better going to our second match against season Chile,” Ouma told Citizen Digital from Turkey.

The coach singled out the  Acacoro Ladies star Sylivia Makungu and other rookies in the team after they impressed in their debut with the national team colours.

“Makungu is one of our new players in the team and despite her having less experience in she started her journey in the team well. She coordinated smoothly with her team members and delivered a couple of would-be goal crosses, I think going forward she will help the team a lot.

“I spotted her from the Chapa Dimba na Safaricom Nairobi regional finals when she was playing for Acacoro ladies and I can say she is our important asset,” she added.

Against Chile, Ouma was optimistic his charges can stun the Southern Americans but he lifted the pressure off the Starlets shoulders urging them to play with less pressure.

“We understand Chile is a tough side, having been featured in the world cup qualifiers and many more tournaments. We will fight and as I said earlier my game play will be a striking match, I need more goals in the first half and we will push them to the wall,” he averred.

Starlets play Uzebekistan on Tuesday in their final preliminary match in the tourney which has also attracted other teams like Hungary, Venezuela, Hong Kong, Romania and Turkmenistan.