Kenya national team head coach Benni McCarthy has defended his winless run with Harambee Stars since taking charge by calling on Kenyans to give him enough time to build a strong team for future assignments.
The South African legend came under heavy criticism from a section of fans after Harambee Stars battled to a 0-0 draw against Chad in an international friendly match at the Stade de Marrakech in Morocco on Saturday, June 7th.
The friendly was the third fixture the former Bafana Bafana striker was taking charge of Kenya since being appointed on a two-year contract to run until the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
The first Group F fixture was an away game against Gambia which Harambee Stars produced a thrilling comeback to force a 3-3 draw before they returned home to suffer a 2-1 defeat against Gabon at Nyayo Stadium.
Rome wasn’t built in a day
McCarthy has come out to defend his poor start by insisting that he has to know his players well and their quality because they aren’t playing for AFC Leopards, Tusker or Gor Mahia but the national team.
“I am trying to build the squad for CHAN, this are just preparation games, friendly games, that you try and see players that you have in your disposal, of course, I want to win, but if you don’t know a player, they haven’t played together, and they have only been here for a couple of days, then people expect them to win five, six zero, I think it is not possible,” McCarthy told Flashscore.
“They (players) must get used to each other, they have to feel what is it like to make the jump from playing local football in the Kenyan league to international levels, trying to select the best players that we are going to have in readiness for CHAN, and that is what we are doing, this is experimental, you have to experiment because if you are judged on results, then I don’t need pick all these players, but I pick all those from Europe because that is if I was selfish.”
McCarthy, who previously worked as the head coach of South African Premier Division team AmaZulu, and as assistant coach at Manchester United, continued: “I want to be well prepared for CHAN, and I want to have a good squad, so I have to give everybody a chance, so that is what people, you guys the media, have to understand, the fans have to understand, Rome wasn’t built in one day, you are not supposed to come here and suddenly make magic, then you have a castle… no.
“I am not a magician to have one squad and we good to go, I don’t believe so, we have to get to know each player, I have to see their qualities, I have to see what they are capable of delivering on the international level, because they are not playing for AFC Leopards, Tusker or Gor Mahia, they are playing for Kenya national team and it is different.”
McCarthy aims to build squad for CHAN
With Kenya set to co-host the 2024 Africa Nations Championships (CHAN), McCarthy, who is the South Africa national team’s all-time top scorer with 31 goals, and the only South African to have won the UEFA Champions League, doing so with Porto in 2003/04, stressed the importance of building a strong squad for the competition.
“So, we are trying to build and I want to see the level of the players, and I want to see which other player I can move forward with when we come to CHAN and that is what it is,” offered McCarthy, who began playing at a local side called Young Pirates, which was managed by his uncles.
Revisiting the 0-0 draw against Chad, McCarthy said: “We dominated the game (against Chad), we had 67% of the game, but it is not good enough that you have much possession, and you dominate the game but don’t score the goals.
“The conditions were also very high, when you play under 42 degrees, and most of your players are not used to playing at that time, at 4 o’clock, yes, we had breaks in between the game, but you could see the heat affected many of my players.
“The condition was terrible to play in, at that time, the condition mostly played a part, most of the players complained about the heat, because they kept drinking water, the condition was almost impossible.”
Kenya to play Chad again on Tuesday
Harambee Stars will wind up their back-to-back friendly matches against Chad when the two sides face off at Stade de Marrakech in Morocco on Tuesday, June 10th.
According to FKF, the game, which will kick off at 18.00hrs, will be broadcast live on The Harambee Stars Facebook page and Fanzone TV YouTube channel.
McCarthy could be forced to start the same side that featured on Saturday with Brian Bwire being retained between the sticks while Daniel Sakari, Aboud Omar, Alphonse Omija, and Brian Mandela will provide cover for the Polokwane City custodian.
The midfield could revolve around Alpha Onyango, Brian Musa, and Boniface Muchiri, while William Lenkupae will likely play behind strikers Adam Wilson and Moses Shumah.
Heading into the two build-up matches, Kenya had drawn one and lost one of their last two matches, while Chad had suffered two straight defeats. For Kenya, they had managed a thrilling 3-3 comeback draw against Gambia in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers before losing 2-1 against Gabon.
Meanwhile, in the same qualifiers, Chad had suffered a humiliating 5-0 defeat against Ghana before losing 1-0 against Comoros in their matchday six contest at Stade Municipal de Berkane.
