Harambee Stars coach Bennie McCarthy is in the country as Kenya has already been confirmed for the FIFA Series, joining an international forum meant to give national teams meaningful exposure across different confederations.
Speaking to Radio Generation on Tuesday morning, former Harambe Stars captain Musa Otieno hailed the South African import, saying that his faith in youngsters might be Kenya's solution to exposing players in established proffesional first tier football leagues abroad.
"Bennie is a titan; he is not afraid to risk and give a chance to an unknown prodigy. We need coaches who are able to blend veterans and upcoming youngsters in the national team, and that person definitely has to be a risk-taker like Bennie," praised Otieno.
McCarthy's arrival in Kenya last year in March sparked a lot of excitement among football enthusiasts, with huge expectations that gave Kenyans hope in August during a CHAN tournament that brought all and sundry together, threw the country into a frenzy, an uncontrollable hysteria that even moved His Excellency the President of Kenya, William Ruto, among other top dignitaries in the country.
The South African tactician gave national debuts to little-known players like 20-year-old Mansour Okwaro, currently at Stade De Reims, third placed on the log, a second-tier league football club in France.
Kenya has been drawn in Group A alongside the Estonian national football team, Grenada, and hosts Rwanda, with all matches scheduled in Kigali from 23-31st March 2026.
McCarthy's charges begin their campaign on March 27 against Jurgen Henn's Estonia, the same day that Rwanda will face Grenada, before the losers of the two opening fixtures meet three days later and the winners clash on the same date to determine the group standings.
Harambee Stars head into the series on the back of a mixed 2025 campaign, where they opened their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying run with a thrilling 3-3 draw against the Gambia before falling 2-1 to Gabon, but responding with a commanding 5-0 win over Seychelles in September, to only suffer a 3-1 home defeat to The Gambia later.
The year concluded with friendlies in Turkey, where Harambee Stars narrowly lost 1-0 to Equatorial Guinea before enduring an 8-0 thrashing against the current AFCON champions, Senegal.
In about a week and a half, it will be interesting to see the next surprise call-up to Harambee Stars, coming at a time where pundits have criticized the dwindling standards of Kenya's first-tier football league, with many now questioning the criteria and merit, if the head coach has been in the country for only two weeks to showdown.
