Harambee Stars’ one-week tour of Turkey started with the squad licking icing off a birthday cake on Thursday last week, but ended with them wiping eggs off their faces after losing 8-0 to Senegal on Tuesday.
Harambee Stars arrived in Antalya, Turkey, on Wednesday last week for their two friendly matches, against Equatorial Guinea (November 14), and Senegal (November 18). The following night, they gathered to surprise their coach Benni McCarthy, with a birthday cake.
The squad teased him to dance and give a speech after he blew out the candles on his cake. “I can bench the whole team,” McCarthy joked. “Thank you, I appreciate you all,” he said.
Besides celebrating McCarthy’s birthday, the Stars squad also bonded over beachside walks. The hotel they stayed is just 300 metres from the beach.
Antalya, situated along the Mediterranean Sea, is considered Turkey’s “capital of tourism” with its yacht-lined harbours, beachside resorts, and historical sites dating back to the Roman Empire.
Some resorts have up to 10 Fifa-approved pitches on their properties, giving the city supplementary attractions that appeal to European clubs seeking warm-weather training locations and organisers looking for venues for friendly matches.
Perhaps the team first made a promise to McCarthy, to give him a fitting birthday present with victory over Equatorial Guinea the following night, but that never happened. The central Africans won the match 1-0, the same margin with which Stars lost in Nairobi in May 2018 in their only previous meeting before Friday’s.
Harambee Stars' Austine Odiambo (10) vies for the ball with Equatorial Guinea's Iban Salvador as Ovella Ochieng’ (17) and Sylvester Owino (2) watch on during a friendly match at the Emir Sports Complex in Antalya, Turkey, last week.
Photo credit: Pool
Jonah Ayunga, the St Mirren striker who led Stars’ attack, was concerned about the officiating. Later, Kenya Police FC midfielder Marvin Nabwire expressed a desire to move on, stating: “We did not utilise our chances against Equatorial Guinea. We want to correct that against Senegal.”
Stars’ captain, Yanga midfielder Duke Abuya, had words of encouragement for the new call-ups. He also admitted that Harambee Stars would be the underdogs against Senegal, but playing them would motivate them to compete at the highest level.
Anthony Kimani, one of Harambee Stars’ assistant coaches, gave a promise of raising a confident team to face Senegal, the Afcon 2021 winners who have qualified for four Fifa World Cups.
“We are just as good as them,” he said. “Our boys are hungry and motivated to show the world what we are made of,” he said.
It never happened. Senegal landed on Harambee Stars like a hurricane during their first-ever friendly match. The Lions of Teranga won 8-0, inflicting Stars’ worst loss since Zambia defeated Kenya 9-0 in 1978.
Football Kenya Federation (FKF) President Hussein Mohammed termed the loss “a bad day in office” and “a wake-up call to us”.
Hussein apologised for the result and promised revolutionary fixes to bring better days to Kenyan football. “To play and compete against the best in the world requires investment in a serious and professional technical team and player development programmes,” he posted on X. “We’ll review our policies, operational procedures and key performance indicators of all staff .”
Reflecting on a night to forget for Harambee Stars, Athanas Oballa, FKF’s head of National Teams and Projects, confessed to the gulf between Harambee Stars and Senegal. “The match was between two teams of different levels and quality of players. One ranked 18th and another 109th. Senegal was superior in every department,” Oballa said.
“There was a bit of stage fright from our players. We have to get over this as soon as possible,” Oballa added, promising a reboot.
Harambee Stars physiotherapist Musa Hamisi leads players in a work-out during their training session at the Nyayo Stadium, Nairobi, on November 11, 2025. The team plays Senegal tonight in an international friendly match in Turkey.
Photo credit: Chris Omollo | Nation
Senegal’s coach Pape Thiaw told RTS, a Senegalese media station, that his team is “competitive, hates losing, and wanted to bounce back from losing 2-0 to Brazil on Saturday.”
He described Harambee Stars as “‘a team we respected because they could give us problems". “We analysed Kenya very well.”
Ibrahim Mbaye, 17, told RTS he felt “proud” on his second appearance for Senegal with his first international goal. Also speaking to RTS, Everton attacking midfielder Iliman Ndiaye, who did not feature in the match, said the result made him “very happy”.
Turkey’s thriving hair transplant clinics have made the Euroasian nation the land of “before and after”. People arrive with balding craniums and leave with heads full of hair – their looks transformed and pride restored. For Stars, Turkey made their hair stand on end and instilled in them a burning desire for a pride-restoring transformational reboot of Kenyan football.
