Harambee Stars head coach Benni McCarthy believes his side were given a soft penalty in the 3-3 draw against Gambia on Thursday night.
Stars were tailing 2-0 at the hands of the Johnny McKinstry side but got a lifeline midway through the second half when they were awarded a spot kick after Momodou Njie was adjudged to have brought down Jonah Ayunga in the box.
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While welcoming the penalty, McCarthy said he would have been furious if the same penalty was awarded to the opponent.
“We were given a penalty because of the positioning of the Gambian defender. He was behind and when Jonah cut in front of him (we were awarded the penalty). Im not sure to say its soft but if the same penalty was given to them I would have been furious. So I’m imagining how the opposing coach would feel about the penalty that was given but yes the captain scored to give us a glimmer of hope,” McCarthy said during his post-match interview.
The South African however hailed the handful of Kenyan fans who made it to Abidjan and is confident that they can topple Gabon and even qualify for the World Cup as there are a lot of games still to play.
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“There are a lot of things to look forward to from the positives Iv seen today (on Thursday). Its going to be tough against Gabon but we are playing in Kenya finally and we are going to get the support finally. The few Kenyan fans who were here today were impressive and I know it will be a hundred times more when we play Gabon.
“We will be fools to give up on qualification (to the World Cup). Teams will drop points and the qualification is still very open. We still have games to go so there are plenty of points on offer,” he added.
Stars who will be landing back in Kenya today has a date against Gabon at Nyayo Stadium on Sunday as they seek to close the gap with the leading teams.
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