Benni McCarthy Explains Why Harambee Stars are Not Far from Competing with Senegal and Co

Harambee Stars coach Benni McCarthy has given reasons why he is optimistic that his team will be ready to compete favourably at the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations.

McCarthy is preparing his team for two friendly matches against Lesotho in South Africa on June 4 and 7 and has called up a number of players, including five foreign-born, set to make their Kenyan debut while Amos Nondi, Kelly Madada and Brian Bwire are among those returning.

The South African coach says he has seen enough to convince him that his team is on the right trajectory and it will not be long before they can face the likes of Senegal without fear after their last meeting against the Teranga Lions saw them thrashed 8-0 in November 2025.

“The progression for this national team is getting better and better as days go by and the main aim is by the time the AFCON gets here, we want to be able to compete against a team the likes of Senegal,” McCarthy said on Monday.

“Give a better account of ourselves than the last time that we faced them [Senegal]. We felt that we were so far behind in terms of quality but that is why you see all these young players. I think this is inspiring for the local players playing in the Kenyan league.”

McCarthy pointed to his side’s good performance against Estonia in March as proof that the building blocks are in place for a strong team.

“We are not too far off where we want to be. The best comparison I can give is when we played our last international against Estonia and Grenada,” he added.

“Estonia were playing in the World Cup qualifiers against Italy, Norway and even though they did not qualify, they gave a good account of themselves and they showed their quality and the levels they were at. I think we were good against them and we drew which I felt hard done by because I thought we were the better team and we lost on penalties unfortunately.

“That showed the levels this team was able to lift itself up so I would say we are three quarters close to where we want to be to make that full circle.”

McCarthy is also confident that the high number of experienced players currently out injured will form the final piece of his jigsaw puzzle ahead of AFCON 2027 once they fully recover.

“We are still missing that last bit because we still have so many injuries,” he said.

“Marcelo [Eric Ouma] is coming back from injury, Amos [Nondi] we are integrating him because he has been injured lately and coming back so we are trying to help players. Michael Olunga still has to come back from injury, Jonah [Ayunga], Daniel Anyembe so we are missing so many top, top players that can come and strengthen this team more than what it is.

“I think once we are at full strength, we have something really optimistic for the AFCON.”