Bafana Bafana legend Benni McCarthy has expressed his disappointment at his Kenyan team’s inability to beat an easy opponent in Chad after a goalless draw in a friendly match on Saturday.
The Harambee Stars of Kenya, placed 111th on the FIFA rankings, could not beat Chad, ranked 177, as they created numerous chances but fired blanks.
It was the third match for McCarthy in charge of Kenya and the wait goes on for his first win but he was left furious that his players fluffed their lines on Saturday.
Why is Benni McCarthy furious with Harambee Stars?
“It’s our first match together for most of these players so you could see there is still a bit, we need to understand each other better but when you dominate a match like this, then you have to be very disappointed that you did not win or did not score goals,” McCarthy said after the match.
“It was so easy for us to play, they [Chad] sat back very low, defended the middle of the pitch and then we are just not patient enough and the biggest disappointment is the fact that we didn’t score because we had so many opportunities.
“I don’t want to say the referee didn’t give that penalty, the game was so far beyond them, it was so easy for us to not blame the referee because we were that dominant and then you don’t take your chances, don’t score the goals you expect and don’t create enough to win by more than two three goals.”
Bafana legend unimpressed by players’ mentality
The former Cape Town City and AmaZulu coach was also not impressed by his player’s mentality, something he hopes to change, before they play Chad again on Tuesday.
“The biggest learning curve is to be a little bit more clinical, aggressive in front of goal and to play a little bit more with intensity because I think at times, especially when they went one player down, a lot of our players stopped, thinking that we are playing in the Kenyan league,” he added.
“This is international level so you have to maintain the intensity and pace of the game. You have to keep quick and move the ball quickly and create the chances and I think we did not do that a lot and that is what cost us and we ended up drawing a game we should win easily.”
McCarthy, who became Kenya’s coach in March, had seen his team draw 3-3 with The Gambia and lose 2-1 to Gabon in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers that month, and hoped to record his first win against Chad.
