Harambee Stars head coach Benni McCarthy addresses the media after the team's training session at Nyayo National Stadium on July 23, 2025
Harambee Stars coach Benni McCarthy can learn a thing or two from 2026 Fifa World Cup-bound coaches naming their national squads for next month’s global football show.
Kenyans may be eternally hurting puffed-up, football-loving people with no commensurate trophies to show for but that has not lowered their passionate interest in their beloved Harambee Stars.
In WhatsApp groups, internet blogs, bar counters, bus stops, marketplaces and anywhere else that discerning Kenyan football fans meet, they will discuss the composition of any Harambee Stars squad named ahead of some big assignment.
A case in point was when the team was named in August last year for two 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifier matches against Gambia and Seychelles.
Well-attended press conferences
That Stars squad, announced via a press release, was missing world-class left back Erick 'Marcelo' Ouma, up-and-coming attacking midfielder Mohamed Bajaber, and Gor Mahia’s jewel Austine Onyango.
Fans loudly questioned these omissions and aggressively sounded out McCarthy on his social media handles, forcing him to respond. But announcing squad names via press releases has been McCarthy’s and Football Kenya Federation’s modus operandi.
Harambee Stars head coach Benni McCarthy conducts a training session at Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi on August 21, 2025.
On May 27, last year, the South African shockingly named “internationally retired” Victor Wanyama in his squad without explanation, sparking inevitable debate...and criticism. His latest squad released on Monday and has raised eyebrows.
When you release such a list, the (probable) best 25 football players in the country, you surely must offer Kenyans an explanation of your picks and rejects, to their satisfaction.
Look at how coaches are naming their 2026 Fifa World Cup squads. They are calling well-attended press conferences, and like presidents making national addresses, explaining their selections and omission.
Country’s national treasure
When Didier Deschamps revealed the roster of World Cup favourites France last Thursday, he went to great lengths to explain why he excluded Real Madrid midfielder Eduardo Camavinga, who was arguably the most notable omission. Camavinga was a prominent part of the French team that finished runners-up in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and notably featured for the Les Bleus in March.
Deschamps clarified Camavinga had had a difficult season where he saw less play time. He added that the player was still young and would have another chance. He also went to great pains to explain that he had a choice to make around the squad structure to ensure balance among the defenders, the midfielders, and the forwards.
He went further and explained he had included striker Jean-Philippe Mateta – a surprise call-up if you ask me, because the Crystal Palace man was “…a good, typical centre forward, effective, with two goals in three games with us. Good in the air and a penalty-box striker, who can move around even if he won’t regularly go near the touchline. A different profile and an option that can also be useful.”
Brazil coach Carlos Ancelotti has publicly explained to the Brazilian people what he would consider before making a final decision on whether or not to include the country’s national treasure, Neymar, in the team. By the time Ancelotti was announcing Selecao with Neymar on Monday, Brazilians and infatuated followers of Brazil, like yours truly, were well prepared for the call.
Portugal coach Roberto Martinez has publicly clarified why 41-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo is very much part of his World Cup plans. McCarthy is Harambee Stars coach, but the fans have invested the most -- their emotions in their team and deserve an explanation of the selections.
