NAIROBI, Kenya, June 5, 2026 – Harambee Stars head coach Benni McCarthy believes their inexperience proved costly in Thursday’s 1-1 draw with minnows Lesotho in an international friendly in Pretoria.
The South African reveals debutant Caleb Kramer should not have come in goal just before their opponents took their decisive free kick in the 70th minute.
“The fourth official made the substitute…we said for him to just play on with the free kick and then make the substitution afterwards. They were on the free kick and the goalkeeper got in and boom! It’s a goal. That’s a bit of the inexperienced part,” McCarthy said.
The visitors dominated proceedings for large swathes of the game but could not find the incisive moment despite Frank Odhiambo’s opener in the 12th minute.
They were made to pay in the 70th minute when Thabo Makhele pounced on a rebounded free kick to level the scores.
It was the first piece of action involving the Dutch-born Kramer who had replaced Faruk Shikhalo in goal, among other changes leading to the hosts’ equaliser.
Considering the rawness of his squad, McCarthy is content with the result of the day albeit he acknowledged they could have done better with their offensive superiority.
“I think the team needed a match to get going because obviously we had so many new players that was coming in the team for the first time. The game was good…not entirely happy and satisfied with the draw but it’s football you know a lot of young inexperienced first-timers coming in,” he said.
The two sides butt heads once again on Sunday evening at the same venue (Lucas Moripe Stadium) and the former Manchester United forwards coach is promising a better show from his charges.
“We know we know each other now from the first game so second game we’ll have a completely different team against them and hopefully you know we can do I think a bit better than what we did today,” the former Porto striker observed.
The double-header friendly is the start of a busy period ahead for McCarthy and Co who will also be competing in the qualifiers for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon), which Kenya will co-host alongside Uganda and Tanzania.
