Benni McCarthy Bemoans Little Time with Harambee Stars as He Makes AFCON 2027 Wish

Harambee Stars coach Benni McCarthy has lamented the little time he gets with his players due to the tight international football calendar.

McCarthy has just completed his latest assignment with Kenya, having been with his team for one week, a period in which they played two matches, the 1-1 draw with Estonia, which they lost 5-4 on post-match penalties on Friday, and the 3-0 thrashing of Grenada on Monday.

The South African tactician feels the tight calendar is holding him back from fully implementing his philosophy and making it difficult for him to correct chronic problems like their weaknesses in defence and attack which are crucial to winning games.

“[Little] Time together with the players because when it is international break and some players play on Saturday or Sunday [at their clubs] and then they travel and arrive Monday evening and then Tuesday, you have recovery session and then you only get Wednesday, Thursday and you play on Friday and then Saturday or Monday,” said McCarthy.

“That is nearly not enough time that you can spend with the team that you can have a bit of camaraderie and work on certain tactics on a team that is wasting chances the way we do.”

“You have to kind of do it step by step, work a little bit of tactical but there is never enough time to work on finishing and then improve so if I can get a bit more time with the team, that will help,” he went on.

McCarthy says he is not able to get across all that he has to his team as they are always preparing for matches but is keeping faith that things will change ahead of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, just like was the case in the build-up to the 2024 African Nations Championships.

“In CHAN, we were together for a month so every single day, I wake up in the morning and I see the players and I can have morning and afternoon sessions. I had more time and that is why we were able to do really well in CHAN,” said McCarthy.

“I think with this [AFCON 2027], hopefully I can get more time in the off-season just so that we can have a scheduled camp for a week or two with the team which would be really nice.”

McCarthy will get his wish later this year as the next international window is from June 1-9, giving way to the 2026 World Cup (June 11-July 19) before a two-week period from September 21-October 6, and then from November 9-17