Kenya’s head coach, Benni McCarthy, has pointed to players’ behaviour in hotels during national team camps as a key reason why African football powerhouses like Egypt and Morocco continue to outperform many other countries on the continent.
Since taking charge of Kenya, McCarthy—known for his candid views—has highlighted ongoing challenges facing African national teams at the international level.
He believes the absence of dedicated technical training centres for camps is a major factor holding back the development of football in some nations.
The former AmaZulu FC manager noted that countries such as Egypt and Morocco have a clear advantage because they have established permanent training facilities for their national squads.
“When you’re forever shifting where the team camps, there’s no settled base.
“That’s where Morocco and Egypt got it right.
“When you have a base, players feel at home. You control the narrative, the discipline, everything.”
He added that when camps are held in hotels, players tend to sneak out to club or party, making it difficult to enforce discipline.
“Footballers will always be footballers. They sneak out, go clubbing, partying — because there’s no control when you’re in a hotel.”
McCarthy also criticized other nations like Nigeria, which he feels underperform despite having talented players.
“You can’t tell me with the players Nigeria have, they shouldn’t be top three in Africa or top 20 in the world.
“But they’re struggling to qualify for the World Cup — it’s a shambles.”
