Tips for Harambee Stars: Benni McCarthy’s Brutal Honesty That His Players Must Be Ready For

Harambee Stars coach Benni McCarthy has been termed as a tactician who is always straight up with his players.

McCarthy, who has been Kenya national team boss since March 2025, has been lauded for instilling professionalism and discipline among his players with most of them praising his man-management skills.

The South African legend has had a challenging spell in his one-year spell with Harambee Stars, recording some impressive wins as well as huge defeats, like the 8-0 thrashing by Senegal last November.

PAY ATTENTION: Follow us on Google News, Stay informed with Latest Sport News

While most coaches prefer to take their players through clips of what they have done wrong and where they can improve after matches, one of McCarthy’s former players says the Harambee Stars boss gives his judgement instantly whether favourable or not.

"I can compare him with coach Benni McCarthy," Mozambique defender Edmilson Dove said on SoccerBeat when comparing McCarthy with his other ex-coach Nasreddine Nabi at Kaizer Chiefs.

"He [McCarthy] is the type of guy where, if you’re having a bad first half, he doesn’t wait for the game to finish to analyse videos. He will tell you straight. That is where they are similar."

Dove, who played under McCarthy at South African side Cape Town City, says that approach gets the best out of players as they are always determined to raise their game to avoid being singled out for criticism at halftime.

McCarthy’s approach served him well at Cape Town, the team that offered him his first job as head coach, taking over his hometown club in July 2017, and he led them to fifth place in the South African top flight in the 2017-18 season.

In that year, he also won the MTN8, the club’s second trophy following their Telkom Knockout win in 2016, and since then, the Citizens have not won another piece of silverware and got relegated last season.