Photo Credit - Football Kenya Federation.
New Harambee Stars coach Benni McCarthy has vowed to make Kenya one of the most feared national teams in East African region and Africa.
The 47-year-old former Bafana Bafana striker was unveiled on Monday by the new Football Kenya Federation (FKF) regime led by Hussein Mohammed, and his contract will run until the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament. He will be assisted by Vasili Manoussaki, Joseph Moeneb (goalkeeper coach) and Pilela Maposa (Performance Analyst).
“I want to make Kenya, the best team that East Africa has ever seen before, I strongly feel, if we can fix the national team, then Kenya will go far. For me, it is about passion in people’s faces, and that means they really love the country and so far the national team has not produced what they have desired for a very long time,” said McCarthy.
“The way we want to work, the way we want to achieve things, people will be surprised to see what we will achieve, and with the team I am coming along with, I don’t think anything will stop us from achieving what we want to achieve and make the fans happy.”
On what he wants to achieve during the 2024 Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) tournament to be co-hosted in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, the South African said: “For CHAN, the tournament is in Kenya and we want to showcase our skills and make a good account of ourselves, and we want to succeed, not to be failures, we want to do well, we want to reach the semi-finals and even reach the final, I know with hard work, it is very possible.”
McCarthy further explained his love of giving young players the opportunity to play by saying: “I am a very big fan of giving young players an opportunity, I don’t care what is your age and I don’t see why we should shun young players, I give young players a chance always, and I will do so.
“I want to spend a lot of time to know coaches of teams in FKF Premier League, so we can have an understanding so they can work with us to bring up young players, there must be a good relationship between national team coaches and local coaches, so that we can be able to give young players the opportunity to grow and one day represent Harambee Stars at the highest level, that is how I will do things.”
McCarthy's first assignment will be the World Cup qualifying matches against the Gambia away on March 17th, and the home game against Gabon on March 24th.
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