Kenyans from all walks of life trooped to various social media channels to vent their frustrations after Harambee Stars failed to beat minnows Chad in an international friendly match. Follow our WhatsApp channel for more newsStars were largely expected to wipe the floor with Chad when the two sides locked horns on Saturday in Marrakech, Morocco and hand coach Benni McCarthy his first ever win since his appointment in March. However, despite dominating possession and creating clear cut chances, Stars were held to a barren draw, a result that did not augur well with Kenyans.##NAJAVA_MECA_8969725##As expected, fans did not mince their words after the final whistle was blasted, with the playing unit, McCarthy and the federation being on the receiving end of the wrath and criticism. Edwin Kinoti took to the Harambee Stars’ Facebook page to register his disappointment with how sluggish the Kenyan boys appeared to be on the pitch. “The team looked poorly organized. Were they playing to win? they didn’t look like they had a purpose to win. just chased the ball around,” noted Kinoti.McCarthy furious after toothless Harambee Stars fire blanks against ChadMore reactions were expressed on the same platform, with Harold Reyshard concluding that the match cast a true picture of the quality of the Kenyan top-tier. “At least local players were given a chance to prove themselves. Now even if foreign-based players are fielded, we will not complain,” he wrote. Darien Sebastian was keen to note flashes of brilliance in Bonface Muchiri and Adam Wilson. He, however, came down on the forwards and lack of creativity in the final third. “According to my opinion, Muchiri and Adam Wilson were best in this match. Strikers yawa! We have a long way to go. Austin Odhiambo was better to connect midfield and Brian Michira from shabana to lead the forward,” he posted.McCarthy remains winless as Harambee Stars are held to dour draw by ChadKeyonzo Chee Keyonzo, on his part, said the solution to Stars’ perennial struggles lies with the U20 team, commonly known as Rising Stars. “It’s time for the Under 20 lads to take over. We saw flashes of good forwards in Egypt from the young boys. Let’s speak out until Benni Mccarthy listens and takes action. The likes of Yamal (Lanime) are only 17 yrs and are doing great for their national team,” he stated.Michael Odhiambo Ogolo took the less traveled road and backed McCarthy to recover from the poor start and restore the team’s lost glory. “Despite the results, I still believe that Benny is the best to change how Kenya plays and with time, we will be there to win matches and the positive thing is that we kept a clean sheet,” he stated.Austria-based forward eyes WAFCON role with Harambee StarletsMozzart Sport Senior Reporter Kevin Teya also shared his frustrations with Harambee Stars through Nairobi’s most popular and football oriented WhatsApp group“It was a flat and uninspiring performance — lacking creativity, riddled with poor decision-making in the final third, and clearly missing a reliable target man up front.CHAD ranks 177th out of 210 in the FIFA standings — one of the weakest footballing nations globally. We should be putting three or four goals past a team like that without breaking a sweat.Now, it is back to our famous drawing board. Again,” wrote Teya. His frustrations were echoed by veteran sports analyst Francis Githinji.“We really struggled to get the ball upfront.When we did it was a painfully slow and predictable process. When we got it to the final third we didn’t know what to do with it.Funny enough we seemed okay with the numerous wastage of build ups,” he stated.Alex Ngare, a long-serving team manager for fan’s outfit Swara FC took issue with the selection criteria.“It’s the first friendly match for the local lads. They need to build on a fast counter attack. I also feel there are better players who were not included in the team but they deserve to be in the team. The likes of Marvin Nabwire,” he said.Ghetto Radio journalist Mohammed Zuberi alias Curtis wa Kijee raised a couple of questions on WhatsApp. “First of all who did the call ups? Which kind of players are these? Deserving Players were left out of this squad. We played as if we just assembled on match day. The choice of opponents was bad if we are consider their ranking.Worse is that we did not win the match, string five passes together or even create chances as usual. This is not the result we wanted,” lamented Curtis. Harambee Starlets head coach resigns ahead of CECAFA tourneyFor Min Blessing, FKF and McCarthy already have their work cut out.“We still have a long way to go before we get it right. This is a new regime and a new head coach. Kenyans have high expectations. Prior preparation prevents poor performance. It all starts from the selection,then preparation and finally execution. No offense to the new call ups but the technical bench should strive to have a consistent first 11,” she remarked.Kenya will face the same opponent on Tuesday, 10 June 2025 in Marrakech, Morocco.
