Benni McCarthy Shares Honest Verdict of Harambee Stars After One Year in Charge

Harambee Stars coach Benni McCarthy has opened up about his time as Kenya’s men’s national football team after marking his first anniversary.

Benni McCarthy officially joined the Harambee Stars on March 3, 2025, transitioning directly from his role as an attacking coach at Manchester United to take his first head coaching job with a national team.

Since his arrival, he has been working to revitalise Kenya's fortunes, though his tenure has seen highs and lows, including a challenging 8-0 defeat to Senegal in late 2025.

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In the most recent 2026 FIFA Series held in Kigali, Rwanda, Benni McCarthy led the team to a third-place finish after a narrow 5-4 penalty shootout loss to Estonia in the opening match.

The Harambee Stars coach concluded the tournament on a positive note on March 30, 2026, overseeing a dominant 3-0 victory against Grenada with goals from Austin Odhiambo, Ryan Ogam, and Zech Obiero.

Benni McCarthy reflected positively on his time in charge of Harambee Stars after their victory over Grenada, noting that his first year in the role had been largely encouraging, with more positive moments than setbacks.

The Harambee Stars coach acknowledged that the experience had also involved important learning experiences, particularly pointing to Kenya’s 8-0 loss to Senegal as a key lesson in his development as head coach.

The former Manchester United attacking coach further explained that his tenure has been rewarding due to the progress made within Harambee Stars, highlighting how several previously unknown players have been introduced and have since grown significantly in confidence and performance under his guidance.

Benni McCarthy added that he is proud of the overall progress achieved, saying the team had generally moved in a positive direction, and expressed hope that the momentum could continue into the following year, especially with major tournaments ahead where he believes the team can make an even stronger impact.

“The first day I came through the door, thank you. No, it's been a very good year. Not a lot of negatives. Learning curves for me, maybe, yeah, definitely. The match against Senegal was definitely a learning curve,” Benni McCarthy revealed.

“But other than that, I've only got fond and good memories about my tenure at the national team at the helm of Kenya, and brought a lot of new faces through that were unknown, you know, in Kenya. And they've just improved and gotten better.

“So, yeah, so... has been more ups than it has been downs for me. So, it's been good, and hopefully I can have another year like this, where, come AFCON, we can even have a bigger impact than what we had in Chan.”