Moses Shumah Forcing His Way into Benni McCarthy’s Harambee Stars Plans as He Leads Scoring Chart in Zambia

While Football Kenya Federation (FKF) and Harambee Stars coach Benni McCarthy are on a charm offensive to lure foreign-born players to Kenya, some of their solutions could be found locally.

FKF vice president McDonald Mariga is leading a Kenyan delegation in Europe aimed at convincing a number of players who were born abroad but are eligible to play for the country to turn out for Harambee Stars.

The team has since been joined by McCarthy with reports indicating that up to nine players have been sounded out as Kenya looks to build a strong squad for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations.

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However, when it comes to attack, McCarthy could have solutions from within given the form of Moses Shumah, who is enjoying a good debut season with Zambian giants Power Dynamos.

Shumah joined Power Dynamos from Kakamega Homeboyz at the end of last season after finishing as the FKF Premier League’s top scorer with 17 goals and the transfer happened just after McCarthy had handed him a call-up for the 2024 African Nations Championships.

That saw him leave camp with the tactician not able to see his qualities but he must be noticing what he is doing in Zambia.

After 22 games in the Zambian Super League, Shumah is the leading scorer with 12 goals, two more than the second man on the list Albert Kangwanda of Red Arrows. That includes a hat-trick last Sunday as his team came back from two goals down to win 3-2.

His goals have driven Power Dynamos to the top of the standings where they have 48 points from 22 games, five more that second-placed Red Arrows, who have played a game more.

With 12 games to go, Power Dynamos are in good stead to defend their crown while Shumah will be central to their success as he still has enough time to increase his tally and force his way into the plans for McCarthy ahead of AFCON 2027.

Besides his 12 league goals, Shumah also has two in the CAF Champions League, having scored for his side before their campaign ended at the group stage.

That is a healthy tally that should put him in the frame for a national team call-up given captain Michael Olunga has not been as prolific at his Qatari club Al-Arabi while Ryan Ogam is not playing at Austrian Bundesliga side Wolfsberger AC.

It remains to be seen if McCarthy will hand Shumah a call-up for the upcoming FIFA Series which will see Kenya play against Estonia, Grenada and Rwanda in a mini-tournament between March 23 and 30 in Kigali.