Mohammed Bajaber: Harambee Stars Forward Reveals Why He Enjoys Working With Benni McCarthy

Harambee Stars forward Mohammed Bajaber has expressed his delight at working under coach Benni McCarthy, whose methods he has termed modern.

Bajaber has become the starboy under McCarthy since the South African coach handed him his Harambee Stars debut against The Gambia in a 2026 World Cup qualifier in March.

The Kenya Police attacker is in awe at McCarthy’s tactics and man-management skills which he says have made it easy for the players when in camp with the national team.

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“Our local coaches are not in tune with technology like coach Benni and others in Europe. He knows how to handle players either one-on-one and in front of others. He is friendly, he knows when to joke and be serious,” Bajaber said on Radio Jambo.

“His training is intense but not long like we do here. It is one hour or one-and-a-half hours, not two or three hours like we do in Kenya,” he added.

Bajaber then went into details regarding his dream debut against The Gambia when he came in while Kenya were 2-0 down, before scoring the equaliser after Michael Olunga had pulled one back.

The match would witness a frantic finish as Johnathan McKinstry’s men went ahead shortly before William Lenkupae ensured a share of the spoils with the last kick of the game, the playmaker explaining the conversation he had with McCarthy before he came on and after the game.

“In the game against The Gambia, he told me to go and enjoy and leave everything on the pitch. After the game he told me; ‘well done and I trust you’ and I felt nice because it is something I had been working on.”

Bajaber is among players who were named by McCarthy in the preliminary squad for the 2024 African Nations Championships and is confident that he will be fully recovered from an injury by the time they begin camp.