Bafana Bafana legend Benni McCarthy wants to elevate the Kenya national team and is not ruling out taking the East African country to the 2026 World Cup.
McCarthy was unveiled as Harambee Stars coach in Nairobi on Monday and he outlined his vision for the country, while explaining why he accepted the job among a host of other offers that came his way.
“A new regime that was very transparent and honest and if there are difficulties, they say it as it is,” McCarthy said on the reasons he accepted to work with Football Kenya Federation, whose new president Hussein Mohammed was elected last December.
“That has always been Africa’s challenge, there is no transparency. People say it is okay but when you go there, it is not. I have been to Europe and learnt from experience and I have seen the success and I want these players to understand it.
“That is what the president and deputy president told me. I accept the challenge but I want to make this the best East African football nation. I believe if we can fix the national team, the federation will always prosper.”
World Cup qualification possible – Benni
McCarthy knows he has taken over a big task as Kenya have been struggling in the region and are yet to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations since their last appearance in 2019.
He admits there will be criticism but he is ready to use it as fuel to fire his team to success, starting with the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, which will resume this month.
“It is about feeling the noise, what you see is the passion on the faces, it is about feeling the country. I can understand where the passion and negativity is coming from, but we want to turn negativity into positivity and we have a good coaching team and I don’t see why we cannot succeed,” he added.
“We are not very far behind Ivory Coast, Gabon and Burundi,” McCarthy further said regarding Kenya’s standing in their World Cup qualification group, which sees them fourth with five points from four games, while Ivory Coast top with 10, followed by Gabon (nine points) and Burundi (seven points).
“We have two games to change the players’ mindset to prepare to change it into positive. If we win two games, you have 11 points, so I have not given up hope, even if it looks like it is done, and come the end of the qualifiers, hopefully we can be closer to Ivory Coast and if not, then second and go to the playoffs.”
Who is McCarthy working with in Kenya?
Kenya will also co-host the 2024 African Nations Championships (CHAN 2024) alongside Uganda and Tanzania and they are in a tough Group A that has Morocco, Angola, Zambia and DR Congo but the South African legend is staying positive.
“We want to win every point available to us. It is not easy but not impossible, we have to have a positive mindset and players must see the coaches are winners and it can give them a push,” he added.
“The CHAN tournament is in Kenya, we want to showcase our best, we don’t want to be failures, we want to make Kenyans proud of their national team. With hard work it can be possible.”
McCarthy has signed a two-year deal that will take his stint in Kenya up to the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, which the country will also co-host with neighbours Uganda and Tanzania.
He will be joined by Vasili Manousakis as assistant coach, Moeneeb Josephs as goalkeepers coach, and Pilela Maposa as performance analyst with his first match being on March 17 when Harambee Stats face the Gambia in a World Cup qualifier.
