Benni McCarthy’s potential appointment as Harambee Stars coach meets resistance

South African legend Benni McCarthy has been widely reported as the man Football Kenya Federation (FKF) has settled on for the Harambee Stars job.

McCarthy was supposed to have been unveiled in January but his appointment has delayed, owing to a number of issues within FKF.

The Hussein Mohammed-led federation is believed to be keen to put its house in order before unveiling the Harambee Stars tactician and the former Manchester United first-team coach is considered the hot favourite for the role.

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McCarthy’s potential appointment has received mixed reactions, with a number of current and past players as well as coaches supporting it, while others are opposed as they feel a Kenyan coach would be best suited to the role.

Among those who would like to see a local taction take over Harambee Stars is veteran school football coach Peter Mayoyo, who is also concerned with how long it has taken to appoint the national team mentor, as he believes the delay could be catastrophic.

“It is very important to have a coach in place because we need proper preparations for the World Cup qualifiers and CHAN,” Mayoyo told Citizen Digital.

“This country has coaches who can handle the national team instead of going for a foreign coach who will need time to understand players. I recommend that FKF should just hire a coach who understands the local league with CHAN in mind.”

Kenya have two 2026 World Cup qualifiers against The Gambia away and Gabon at home coming up in March and there is hope that a new tactician would have been appointed by then, while the country will co-host the 2024 African Nations Championships alongside Uganda and Tanzania in August.

Harambee Stars are in a tough Group A that includes Morocco, Zambia, DR Congo and Angola and will need proper preparations to advance to the knockout round.

Francis Kimanzi is currently holding the Harambee Stars job in an interim capacity but it is not known if he will continue until the World Cup qualifiers which are one month away.