The Gambia national team head coach Johnny McKinstry has backed Benni McCarthy to thrive with Harambee Stars ahead of their 2026 World Cup Qualifiers faceoff tomorrow.
Speaking ahead of the game, the former Gor Mahia coach admitted that he knows Stars as a team that has drawn a lot of games but was sure that their new manager would change that by deploying an attacking approach.
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“We have Kenya game coming up and they are an interesting team because they have drawn a lot of their recent games. But they have a new coach in a new era for them. Historically, Benni’s teams whether it was AmaZulu, whether it was Cape Town City, have wanted to press more, wanted to be more attacking, he was an incredible footballer himself,” McKinstry said.
The Irishman admitted that he knew what to expect from Stars’ former head coach (Engin Firat) who didn’t let his ‘team come out and play.
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“If you had asked me six months ago, I would say we were expecting a Kenyan team, who will settle on a low block, defend and try to win off a corner or set-pieces, that is what the former coach’s strategy was, he didn’t let the team come out and play. They were a very defensive-minded team and you could even call them previously a counter-attacking team, they very much wanted to get a goal off a corner or free-kick,” he added.
Gambia are currently placed fifth in the six-team group with three points from four matches. Ivory Coast are leading the pile with 10 points, Gabon are second with nine points, Burundi is third with seven points, Kenya is fourth with five points while Seychelles are rooted bottom with zero points.
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