Harambee Starlets development on the right track - Ouma

Harambee Starlets head coach David Ouma has said everything is on the right track in as far as the development of the women's national football team is concerned.

Ouma led Harambee Starlets to finish third in the just concluded Turkish Women's Cup and, in his post-tournament assessment, said he feels everything is on the right trajectory.

Apart from winning bronze in the tournament which also Chile and Ghana participated in, Kenya's Sheryl Angachi won the Best Midfielder trophy.

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"Finding a player like [Sheryl] Angachi winning the best midfielder award when we are in the pre-season just before the competition is something to applaud. It means we are in the right direction," Ouma told the media.

"[Sylvia] Makhungu, though young showed in her debut, she is ready to compete for the available positions in the national team. I think she also caught the eye of scouts who enquired a lot about her.

"The overall achievement gives me the feeling, as a coach, everything is on the right track in our steps of building the team."

The Cecafa Women's Senior Challenge Cup champions opened the tournament with a 2-0 win against Northern Ireland before losing 5-0 to Chile and finally going down 3-1 to Ghana.

Ouma says the competition gave him and his fellow coaching staff highlights to talk about before their next assignments.

"I think there are good steps we have achieved there. Of course, I cannot say we did not do a proper job because we got three points and sometimes you can miss out on those points," he concluded.

"We have to find players with the right attitude but until now I commend the players that in pre-season, they could still compete against players who were active in their leagues.

"We still have a lot of work to do, though, as members of the technical bench."

Kenya will face Tanzania in the first round of the Africa Women's Cup of Nations (Awcon) in April 2020.

The aggregate winner of the first-round will face off against either DR Congo or Sao Tome & Principe in the second and final qualifying hurdle.