McCarthy: We were penalized for our errors
Benni McCarthy, the head coach of Kenya, admitted that his team paid a price for their errors during Friday’s 3-1 loss to Gambia at the Moi International Sports Centre.
At halftime in Nairobi, the Harambee Stars were behind 3-0 as the Scorpions took advantage of preventable mistakes to score through Sheriff Sinyan (12′), Yankuba Minteh (26′), and Musa Barrow (38′).
Ryan Ogam gave McCarthy’s team a late comeback on 81 minutes after they had improved in the second half, but it was too little, too late as their chances of making it to the 2026 World Cup were dashed after a third straight defeat.
The South African acknowledged that the opposition had too much talent to penalize them for their errors, but he was happy that his players put up a fight after the restart with their backs against the wall.
“An educational opportunity for our boys.” It wasn’t what we intended or anticipated, but you never gave up, and we didn’t give up despite losing 3-0 in the first half,” McCarthy remarked.
However, when you play at this level and make the same mistakes that we made, you are penalized. It demonstrates the level and quality of the Gambia team when every outfield player and player they have competes in Europe; if we wish to be on that level, we must learn.
“At this point, if you make the mistakes we did, you lose the ball instead of attempting to dribble at the back, and they get the corner. People aren’t just picking up their men and letting players get free headers inside the box, and they play in Europe with the players they have, so they’ll take advantage of the chances.”
“After falling behind 1-0, you attempt to play through the lines with a straightforward pass in an attempt to play outside, but they intercept, putting you one against one. Since Minteh plays in the world’s top league, there is only one possible outcome, and you end up 2-0 and then 3-0 down.”
“We made the adjustments in the second half because of the relationship between Alpha [Onyango] and Manzur [Okwaro], who played together in the CHAN. They gave us a little more fight and energy, and I believe that’s what people want to see when you don the national team jersey.
“People want to see fight and passion, and I think we lacked some of that in the first half. The second half had more energy, and we might have scored more than one goal.”
