Bafana Bafana legend Benni McCarthy was finally handed the keys to the Kenya national team job following his colourful unveiling in Nairobi on Monday.
McCarthy signed a two-year deal that will take him to the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, which Kenya will co-host alongside neighbours Uganda and Tanzania, and he is joined by an all-South African technical bench that has assistant coach Vasili Manousakis, goalkeeper trainer Moeneeb Josephs and performance analyst Pilela Maposa.
The 47-year-old admitted Harambee Stars are a sleeping giant but waking them up will be a massive task for the former Cape Town City and AmaZulu head coach.
Afrik-Foot highlights the 10 challenges that await Benni McCarthy as Kenya coach.
World Cup qualification headache
Benni McCarthy’s immediate task is to try and revive Kenya’s qualification hopes for the 2026 World Cup as he walks into a dire situation with the Harambee Stars in fourth place in their group with five points from four matches.
Ivory Coast are top with 10 points, followed by Gabon with nine while Burundi, who have seven points, complete the top three.
With six matches remaining, wins are needed badly and McCarthy admitted there is every chance to qualify, especially if they can win their next two matches against The Gambia and Gabon, which will be played on March 17 and 24 respectively.
Three of the six matches will be at home and maximum points must be achieved in all of them for a change in fortunes but it will not be easy as Harambee Stars have flattered to deceive in recent years.
Bringing back belief in players
McCarthy spoke about changing the players’ mindset, emphasising the need to instill positivity and a winning mentality, and this will be a massive challenge given he inherits a team short of confidence.
Under former coach Engin Firat, the Turkish tactician would come with charts and graphs showing how Kenyan players were not good enough and it did not help when he employed negative tactics on match day.
That is something McCarthy will need to change as the Kenyan team has plenty of talented players who were made to believe that they could not go far.
Style of play
The Bafana Bafana legend is wedded to an attacking brand of football but he takes over a team that employed defensive tactics for the three years that his predecessor was in charge.
Harambee Stars were not good on the eye with nine players behind the ball while striker Michael Olunga always cut a lonely figure upfront.
McCarthy will not just need to change how they play but find the right players to implement his philosophy which needs those good on the ball.
It will take time but Kenya are capable of playing a swashbuckling style if he puts the right players in the right positions.
Clearing out the deadwood
Implementing his style of play will mean McCarthy has to make some tough decisions and that will include dropping some players who have underperformed for many years but still received call-ups.
The former Manchester United first-team coach will face plenty of resistance on this as there are some players, especially foreign-based, who feel they are big enough and should always play, but he will need to be strong.
That will give a number of talented local-based and exciting youngsters a chance in the team and this might be an easy way of getting his message across as the new entrants will be more receptive to change compared to the old guard.
Can Benni handle team selection politics?
Football Kenya Federation president Hussein Mohammed said McCarthy will have a free hand to select his team and fans will hope that he lives up to the promise.
Team selection is an issue that raised eyebrows in the previous regime as some players found their way into the starting XI even when club-less while others did not merit a call-up.
It was believed that the national team was being used to market certain players and the Bafana Bafana legend has to ensure selection is based on merit and not listen to external forces as it will be the beginning of his downfall.
Poor structures & little resources
Benni McCarthy has taken a major shift in his coaching career, coming from Manchester United to coach Kenya and he also admitted to having rejected offers from the MLS.
Kenya shares the same problems as many African countries, and McCarthy might be familiar with them, but he will have to be patient and innovative.
This is because Kenya lacks the right football structures that identify and nurture talent like in Europe where he played and worked as coach.
This is largely down to little resources allocated to sports and corruption that sees the little funds available go to the pocket of a few.
McCarthy needs to embrace the challenges and find a way to get the best out of the pool of talented players available in the country even if they lack the necessary football upbringing that would have come with having good structures in place.
Will McCarthy rue lack of a local coach?
Bafana Bafana’s leading scorer opted for an all-South African technical bench with assistant coach Vasili Manousakis, goalkeeper trainer Moeneeb Josephs and performance analyst Pilela Maposa joining him in Kenya.
There had been rumours that former Kenyan international Nicholas Muyoti would join him but he was not among those announced on Monday.
However, McCarthy faces a daunting task if he opts against working with a local as he has little understanding of Kenyan players and the dynamics of football in the country.
Little margin for error
International football gives coaches very little time to prepare for matches and there is no luxury of playing every week where you have a chance to correct a bad result.
It means the new coach has to get his selections and tactics spot on given one bad result can be catastrophic.
McCarthy admitted he made several mistakes in his first job at Cape Town City but he will not be allowed many in Nairobi, even if this is his first foray into international football.
CHAN 2024 & AFCON 2027 pressure
The former FC Porto and Blackburn Rovers striker will be very much in the spotlight during his stint in Kenya as the country co-hosts the 2024 African Nations Championships and 2027 Africa Cup of Nations with Uganda and Tanzania.
Being hosts means there is pressure to impress and CHAN 2024 will be his first big test in August with Kenya in a tough Group A that has Morocco, Angola, DC Congo and Zambia.
McCarthy said he does not want to fail at home and he needs all his tactical acumen to navigate the CHAN test before a much bigger one comes next, AFCON 2027, which will bring extra pressure to impress on home soil.
Are two years enough to make an impact?
Amid all the challenges that await Benni McCarthy, one wonders if he would have managed to make an impact during his two-year reign.
Granted football is a results business, the reality is that the South African great is walking into a job with problems that need years to fix yet he has a very short window to produce results.
