McCarthy provides timeline on when Harambee Stars can attain Ivory Coast's levels
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Reading Time: 2min | Wed. 15.10.25. | 14:35
Apart from the heavy loss, Harambee Stars found it hard to cope with the pace and quality of the Ivorians
Harambee Stars head coach Benni McCarthy has provided a timeline on when Kenya can match Ivory Coast's levels after being outclassed in a 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier.
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The reigning African champions hosted Kenya in what was the final match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers on Tuesday, 14 October at the Stade Olympique Alassane Ouattara in Abidjan, with the hosts emerging 3-0 victors.
Apart from the heavy loss, Harambee Stars found it hard to cope with the pace and quality of the Ivorians, who created and missed several goal-scoring opportunities, while Kenya failed to register a single shot on target in the entire match.
Speaking to the press after the match, the South African tactician opened up on Kenya’s performance in the match.
“You look at the quality of the players the Ivory Coast have, all the internationals playing for top European clubs, while in Kenya, we have a young team that is learning.
We were to give everything that we have, but unfortunately, when you play such a strong team like the Ivory Coast, it is always going to be difficult, no matter how tactically you try to set up the game, they always have too many individual players that can change the match,” said McCarthy.
“It is almost impossible to stop those kinds of players; the likes of Diallo (Amad) and Pepe (Nicholas),” he added.
Despite the loss, the former Bafana Bafana striker pucked positives from the match, providing timelines on when Kenya will reach such levels.
“The objective for today was to go out there and try to make it complicated for the Ivory Coast because we are a professional national team. We did not come here to lose the match, but you have to give credit where it is due.
It was a fantastic learning experience for us, and I think in two years time, we will be ready and at a better level to compete with teams like Ivory Coast,” he stated.
The fixture marked Harambee Stars' last official match of the year.
