Harambee Stars frustrate McCarthy in goalless draw with Chad

Kenya head coach Benni McCarthy expressed disappointment with his team’s performance in their 0-0 international friendly draw against Chad at Stade de Marrakech in Morocco on Saturday.

The South African legend remains winless in his first three matches in charge, despite Kenya dominating the friendly in both halves. Speaking after the game, McCarthy criticised his players for failing to capitalise on their chances.

“It’s our first match together for most of these players, so you could see […] we need to understand each other better. “But when you dominate a match like this, you have to be very disappointed that you didn’t win or score,” said McCarthy.

“It was so easy for us to play. Chad sat very deep, defended the central areas, and then we were just not patient enough. 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 expectand we didn’t create enough chances to win by two or three goals.

“It is something for us to go back and work on. We didn’t lose, but for me, failing to win a match like this is devastating.

“This is international level, so you have to maintain the intensity and pace of the game. You have to keep it quick and move the ball quickly and create chances. I think we did not do that a lot and that is what cost us, and we ended up drawing a game we should have won easily.”

McCarthy will have another chance to claim his first win as Harambee Stars head coach when they face Chad again at the same venue on Tuesday.