Having been unveiled eight days ago to take over the vacant role following the departure of Turkish Engin Firat, the South African will begin his reign in charge of Harambee Stars against the Scorpions of Gambia on Thursday, March 20th at Alassane Outtara Ebimpe Olympic Stadium in Ivory Coast before they return home to host the Panthers of Gabon on Sunday, March 23rd at Nyayo Stadium.
Harambee Stars are currently placed fourth in the six-team Group F with five points, five less than table leaders Ivory Coast. Kenya kicked off their campaign with a 2-1 defeat against Gabon, beat Seychelles 5-0, drew 1-1 with Burundi before registering a 1-1 draw against the African champions.
McCarthy must get it right in picking starting XI
Ahead of their matchday five and six fixtures, Taib believes with proper fielding of players during matchdays, the 47-year-old McCarthy - who most recently worked as part of Erik ten Hag’s coaching team at Manchester United - will get off to a flying start with Harambee Stars.
“First of all, he (McCarthy) must get the starting XI right, he must pick the best from the squad he will name. We have had issues previously with coaches naming a good squad, but when it comes to fielding (during matchday), the best players are left out, with reasons best known to them (coaches),” Taib told Flashscore.
“This is one area that McCarthy must stamp his authority, show his true colours, and make sure that it doesn’t resurface again, not only for the World Cup qualifiers or even AFCON qualifiers but in any other tournaments that Kenya will play under him in the future.”
Taib continued: “The type of quality we have in our national team is capable of beating anyone or any team in Africa, but how to use the quality is what previous coaches have failed and McCarthy needs to focus on. We don’t have to play some players out of position, it happened last time when we played against Namibia (in AFCON qualifiers), I guess two players were playing out of position.
“It doesn’t work that way. For a coach to produce good results, stick with the best and let each player play in his rightful position. Also make sure that at least we have cover in every position, we don’t need to keep changing the squad, all the time.
“For example, whichever team plays against Gambia, and if they come out without injury, they need to start against Gabon. This will help build cohesion in the team and keep the consistency which is very vital for any national team.”
Taib further gave the example of Nigeria’s Super Eagles, whom he said their inconsistent results in the same World Cup qualifiers could be partly blamed on coaches not sticking with one squad.
“For example, if you look at Nigeria, they are struggling in the qualifiers. I can blame this on coaches not trusting one team to do the job. We cannot have all players in camp playing in one match, the option is for others to come in as substitutes, but of course after the first team squad has done the job.
“Nigeria has quality players but if you ask me, coaches don’t know how to use them.”
The Super Eagles are currently placed fifth in their Group C with only three points from four matches. Rwanda are leading the pile with seven points, the same as second and third-placed South Africa and Benin while Lesotho are above the Super Eagles with five points.
McCarthy should work on a solid defence
So far in the qualifiers, Kenya have conceded three goals, two against Gabon and one in the draw against Burundi Swallows. However, according to Taib, the defence needs to remain tight as this could help motivate the strikers to move forward and get the goals.
“McCarthy must advocate for solidity in the defence line, there is no doubt about that. We must make sure we don’t concede goals easily, we must make sure we don’t concede first if we have to, but we need a strong defence and I will prefer Joseph Okumu leading the line alongside Johnstone Omurwa,” explained Taib.
“It will be good to have a solid defence and the midfield should also do their part. We should not allow the opponents to dominate, we have struggled in recent matches because of our midfielders losing the ball in the middle of play, I hope McCarthy will work on this area.
“Finally, we have had issues with our goalkeeping department, we have seen cheap goals being conceded. We lost 4-1 to Cameroon in the AFCON qualifier away because of poor goalkeeping, we keep making schoolboy blunders, and I strongly hope that McCarthy will solve the problem once and for all.”
With support, McCarthy will take Kenya places
According to Taib, the choice of McCarthy - who is South Africa’s leading scorer after bagging 31 goals in 79 games between 1997 and 2012 - to lead Harambee Stars was well thought of because he has what it takes to take Kenyan football to even greater heights.
“It was a good choice to bring McCarthy on board, he is one of those few coaches who understand African football, he has won trophies as a player and done amazingly well as a coach, so it was the right decision from FKF to give him the job,” offered Taib.
“But for him to succeed, we must all come together and give him support, we need to make sure that he gets all the tools he needs to execute his duties, FKF should also stop interfering with his work, he should be given a free hand to do his work.”
After playing against Gambia and Gabon, Kenya - who have never qualified for the World Cup - remain with four qualifying matches in the group. They will have to play Gambia and Seychelles at home before travelling away to face Burundi and wind up their preliminary matches against Ivory Coast.
