Crunch moment for Junior Starlets as they lie in wait for North Korea

Junior Starlets forward Valerie Nekesa (left) duringa training session. [Harambee Starlets, X]

Junior Starlets face an uphill task on Sunday (11pm) as they tackle two time champions North Korea in their second fixture at the ongoing 2024 Fifa U17 Women's World Cup in Santiago, the Dominican Republic.

Kenya needs a win against the Koreans to stay afloat in the tournament after they went down 2-0 to England on Friday morning.

On the other hand, the Koreans, who walloped Mexico 4-1 in their opening fixture, are determined to stamp their authority in the Group C standings where they are already in the driving seat.

From the lessons learnt in their opening game, Kenya needs to be tactically swift, and mental toughness will also be key against the decorated Koreans who are also the East Asian champions.

Goalkeeper Velma Abwire has already proved her mettle in the tournament with wonderful saves against the Young Lionesses that drove the capacity crowd at the CFC Stadium on the edge of their seats. She should be keen to ward off surprising volleys too common with the North Koreans.

Upfront, the trio of Valarie Nekesa, Marion Serenge and Lorna Faith need to be clinical and provide a challenge to the opposition’s defence.

Mildred Cheche's midfield should be composed with short crisp passes, as long balls did not work against the English who had height and were tactically superior, owing to the fact that they are all club based players.

Cheche, who sees every fixture as a learning curve for her girls, stated ahead of their encounter with the Koreans is hopeful of pulling an upset tonight.

"I don't feel like we have lost any game in this tournament, l feel like the matches are offering teams tips to carry on with their next assignments. I'm confident that we are going to give good accounts of ourselves in the remaining fixtures,” said Cheche.

Serenge called on her teammates to remain focused.

"We are going back to the drawing board to see where it all went wrong, we promise to bounce back against North Korea," Serenge said after their encounter with England.

Kenya is the first East African nation, and the ninth African country to take part in the tournament.

On the other hand, the double champions North Koreans are featuring in the showpiece for the fourth time.

They won the tournament in 2008 and also prevailed over Japan on penalties to lift the 2016 edition.

The East Asians arrived in the Dominican Republic with boosted morale after lifting the AFC Women's Asian Cup for the fourth time, courtesy of a 1-0 triumph over Japan in May.

The team also won the Taegeuk Girls’ trophy in 2010, in which they saw off Spain in the semi-finals before squeezing past Japan on penalties in the tournament decider, which was the nation’s first – and only – title at a Fifa event.