Kenya coach Benni McCarthy unhappy with performance in Lesotho friendly draw

Harambee Stars took an early lead thanks to Frank Odhiambo before Lesotho equalised through Thabo Makhele in the second half.

McCarthy, who was returning to his home country for the first time since being appointed Kenya coach, selected a starting eleven that mixed youngsters with experienced players.

While Farouk Shikhalo started in goal, Sylvester Owino, Frank Odhiambo, Ronney Otieno and Stanley Omondi took on defensive responsibilities. Richard Odada led the midfield alongside Clarke Oduor and Zech Obiero.

Simba SC of Tanzania midfielder Mohamed Bajaber returned to the starting eleven for Kenya and played alongside Ben Stanley Omondi, while Lawrence Okoth started up front.

‘I am not entirely happy’

“I think the team needed a match to get going because obviously there were too many new players coming into the team for the first time, so we wanted to have a little look at them,” McCarthy told Flashscore.

“The game was good, but I am not entirely happy or satisfied with the draw, but it is football, you know, a lot of inexperienced first timers coming in but I am happy we know each other from the first game.

“In the second game we will have a complete team against them, and hopefully we can do a bit better than we did today because when you have the chances that we had, and you do not score, then winning 1-0 you start to tread very carefully.”

McCarthy added: “I feel the inexperience on our part was our main undoing, but apart from that I am happy with some of the players that I saw. It has been a long season and some players were not at the game.

“I guess we look forward to coming Sunday and we have a better showcase than we did today, but from what I saw, we have plenty to improve on.”

McCarthy further praised Likuena and said he admired the mentality they displayed while trailing his team.

“I am very impressed. The mentality that these players have, they work extremely hard for each other and they are very honest,” added McCarthy.

“That is always nice as a coach if you manage a bunch of players who are honest, work hard, complement each other and their heads do not drop when they go 1-0 down.

“It is a very good quality to have and I have been really impressed, and I remember watching their match against Nigeria and I could not believe how unfortunate they were to lose by a penalty against the Super Eagles.

“Very recommendable and today I saw a lot of those qualities I saw during the World Cup qualifiers.”

‘Kenya tested us a lot’

Speaking after the game, Lesotho coach Bob Mafoso said: “I think Kenya tested us a lot, in every duel, I think they came out on top and one vs one but that is when we started playing together and became compact.

“When we watched their matches, we wanted to make sure that their wingers did not play but they created a new problem with two number 10s playing in the half spaces loading our fullbacks, and the decision making of our players sometimes which was expected with new players in the team.

“You could say we could have done better, but this is a test we wanted, and we are happy we played this game.”

Both teams used the friendly to prepare themselves for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifying campaign. Harambee Stars have been drawn in Group D of the qualifiers alongside South Africa, Guinea and Eritrea.