2021 Diary: Bright Starlets still leaking wounds from atrocious displays

The Bright Starlets still have a long way to go as fans cross their fingers that they will write history instead of being the weaker side enduring hammerings from opponents.

For Bright Starlets, 2021 has been one of the most disappointing and disgraceful football calendars worth forgetting. The games came, but the results were atrocious.

Games in focus

In April 2021, Bright Starlets proudly jetted to the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, to take on the Ethiopian women’s side, only to be beaten 3-0, which everyone accepted and believed that the girls were learning.

The South Sudan Football Association praised the performance, terming it an improvement from the past matches.

Despite all the humiliation, the officials have kept on encouraging fans not to lose hope and have insisted that they are in the learning process and that one day the Bright Stars will be the lions in the region.

“A much-improved performance from the Bright Starlets today. This is only the beginning,’’ the association tweeted after the game.

It added: “A big thanks to all who supported us throughout the international break. Lots of lessons learned. We shall continue to stick to our vision and mission as we continue growing and developing into a team that will be unbeatable in the future.”

The statement that was tweeted by the South Sudan Football Association looked like the Bright starlets gained something better, which everyone hoped for immediately after the Ethiopian game.

More miseries

Another trip came around the corner on September 20, 2021, when South Sudan’s Senior National Women’s Team landed in South Africa to take part in the 2021 Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) Women’s Championship.

The COSAFA competition brought together 14 nations from Southern Africa under a single umbrella, intending to develop the game of football in the region.

The main aim was not just from a playing point of view, but also concerning referees and the administration of the game.

Although it was their first time participating in the COSAFA Women’s Championship, many fans were hopeful that the Bright Starlets would do something better than just a representation.

The Bright Starlets were led by the country’s football governing body, which was headed by SSFA Vice President, Charles Odwar, and other senior members of the SSFA.

The tournament that kicked off on September 28 and ran through October 9 also produced wasteful results.

South Sudan was drawn in group B with Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Samia Suluhu’s (Tanzania).

On September 29, 2021, the team started their game against Botswana and were thrashed 7-0. This was the greatest humiliation and one of the worst defeats in the competition.

Following that, they lost 3-0 against a Tanzanian women’s team and 2-1 against Zimbabwe, the only team they managed to touch their net.

The team ended the campaign winless and conceded 12 goals while scoring only once.

The teams used the tournament to prepare for the 2022 Africa Women’s Cup of Nations qualifiers, which started in October.

After ending the COSAFA winless, the ladies were given another test against the Kenyan side to participate in the African Women’s Cup of Nations Qualifier 2022 AWCONQ, which also ended in tears.

The Bright Starlets were hammered in all the two games by the Harambee Starlets of Kenya, 8-0, and 7-1, for a total of 15-1 in aggregate.

However, despite the disappointing competitions, Mr Udwar again echoed that the ladies had learned a lot.

“Being the first competitive games for these women, I believe they have benefited a lot, and next time they will do better than this as they prepare for more games to come in the future,” Mr Udwar stressed.

Mr Udwar, who was also the head of the delegation of the national team, insisted that the team had gained more from participating in both the COSAFA and AWCON Qualifiers.

He believed the lessons learned from the two competitions would be of great benefit to the team as they prepare for more competitions.

“AWCONQ 2022, and COSAFA competitions are big competitions, and it was a big lesson for our ladies to take from there and move forward,” he added.

In November 2021, the South Sudan National Women’s team arrived back in Juba after spending one month out of the country with no single win while honouring two different competitions.