McCarthy unbothered by Harambee Stars selection storm

The Harambee Stars head coach says public criticism of his squad picks will not alter his vision for Kenya football as the side prepares to face South Africa in a double-header Afcon qualifier.

By Martin Weche

Benni McCarthy has dismissed mounting criticism over his Harambee Stars team selection, declaring that outside noise will never dictate how he builds Kenya’s national football programme. The South African head coach made the remarks yesterday ahead of Friday night’s 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against South Africa in Soweto — a fixture that places his selections under immediate and unforgiving scrutiny.

McCarthy has faced persistent questions throughout his tenure over his preference for certain players who have struggled for consistent club minutes. His answer to those questions has remained consistent: the players he calls up fit his philosophy and possess the mental strength his project demands. Yesterday, he went further.

“In Kenya, they say whatever they want to. Freedom of speech is really freedom of speech. People say whatever they want to,” McCarthy said. “I think if I had listened my whole life to what people have said, do you think I would be sitting here or I would have achieved whatever I have achieved?”

The former Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers striker, who won the UEFA Champions League with Porto in 2004, has never been a man easily rattled by opinion. That psychological resilience, forged across a playing career that made him one of South Africa’s greatest footballers and a coaching career that has taken him through three continents, appears to be the frame through which he manages Kenya’s expectations as much as its tactics.

“I think the noise outside is always the noise, and you’re never going to be able to please everyone,” he said. “We know, the players know, what we’re building and what we’re trying to do. Of course, not everybody’s going to like it if your favourite player is maybe not selected. And then, of course, you criticise the coach or you criticise the team.”

He added: “That comes with this job — being a manager, making decisions that not many people will be able to make, the difficult ones. You’re going to have to be prepared to be criticised for it.”

The timing of those remarks carries particular weight. Friday’s fixture in Soweto pits Kenya against the nation McCarthy grew up in — a psychologically layered encounter that he will be expected to navigate both tactically and emotionally. The two sides meet again on Tuesday, 17 November, at Nyayo Stadium in Nairobi, giving the double-header the character of a mini-series rather than a single qualifier. For McCarthy, both legs are an opportunity to demonstrate that his vision is producing a team capable of competing at the continental level.

Kenya’s qualification for the 2027 Afcon is already secured by virtue of co-hosting the tournament alongside Uganda and Tanzania. That removes the existential stakes from these qualifiers but introduces a different kind of pressure: the obligation to show that Kenya belongs among Africa’s elite, not merely as a host nation granted passage but as a side prepared to compete. A heavy defeat in Soweto — or across both legs — would reignite questions about readiness that squad selection debates alone cannot answer.

McCarthy’s response to that pressure is to accelerate the building process rather than retreat into caution. His insistence on players who embody his football philosophy over those with higher public profiles reflects a coaching approach that prioritises system over reputation — a method that requires time, patience, and an acceptance that the results on the pitch must eventually make the argument that words cannot.

Harambee Stars have shown flashes of genuine progress under McCarthy’s watch. The question that Friday night in Soweto will begin to answer is whether that progress is structural or superficial — whether McCarthy’s vision is a plan or simply a posture.

He remains unconcerned by those asking the question. The coach who lifted the Champions League trophy with Porto and helped fire South Africa to Afcon glory has heard louder doubters than the ones currently filling Kenyan football’s online commentary sections.

They did not stop him then. He is betting they will not stop him now.

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