In a one-sided affair, the Lions of Teranga tore Kenya into pieces with the first half ending with a 6-0 lead. Led by former Liverpool star Sadio Mane, Senegal raced into a 3-0 lead within the first 15 minutes. Bayern Munich star Nicolas Jackson, who is on loan from Chelsea, opened the floodgates with only eight minutes played.
Senegal doubled their lead when Ibrahim Mbaye took advantage of a mistake from Kenya custodian Brian Bwire to set up El Hadji Malick Diouf, who powered his effort into the empty net.
It was 3-0 for Senegal in the 14th minute Abdoulaye Seck set up the unmarked Jackson to tap home, before Mane finished off a counter-attacking move in the 17th minute. Mane then scored from the penalty spot to make it 5-0 in the 30th minute before the Al Nassr star completed his hat-trick four minutes later.
The second half saw the former African champions add the sixth two minutes from the restart courtesy of Mbaye before substitute Cherif Ndiaye put the icing on the cake with a calm finish in the 80th minute to seal the emphatic victory.
The defeat summed up a poor performance for Kenya in recent years. The worst defeat in history came in 1961 when they lost 13-2 against Ghana during a friendly to celebrate Jamhuri Day. At the time, the Black Stars had a very strong team with a dangerous striker in the form of Ben Acheampong.
Kenya paid for poor squad selection
According to former AFC Leopards and Harambee Stars player Reginald Asibwa, the South African coach should take the blame for his poor selection and fielding during matches.
“For some time, I have advised the technical bench to widen their scope and include more different players but that advice has fallen on deaf ears. I think the desire to improve can be derived from competition world over,” a fuming Asibwa, who played for Kenya in late 80s and 90s told Flashscore.
“If you keep rotating the same players with a big portion of them called from one club, it defies the simple logic of why the team should then be called Harambee Stars or the national team.”
Asibwa added: “As if one has a weighing scale or a yardstick that separates the difference in skill or performance that would sieve out one and not the other player in terms of quality especially when one doesn’t get an opportunity to showcase their talent is indeed a mystery.”
Since taking charge of Kenya, McCarthy’s biggest defeats came in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. The first was against Gambia, a 3-1 defeat on home soil, and the 3-0 away defeat against African champions Ivory Coast.
Asibwa maintained that the decision by McCarthy and the Harambee Stars technical bench to overlook other exciting players for selection, was the biggest mistake affecting the team’s performance.
“To subject other players from the many teams featuring in the league to a big blackout or omission is the biggest mistake our technical bench is making. Without competition in the team, Kenya will stagnate in our standards of football,” explained Asibwa.
“I expect that in the next call ups, the manager will have a mind to give a chance to other new faces to help create competition within our national team. Give a chance to the many Kenyan footballers that have the skills, are eligible and can perform.”
He concluded: “As of now, we are yet to develop a database that can be used to give detailed information about a player let alone even positioning scouts in our league matches to watch a player with potential to be considered for national team call ups.
“Lost to Gambia at home, Equatorial Guinea emerging better against us and being taught a lesson by Senegal is hard to stomach.”
McCarthy recorded his first win in charge with a 2-1 friendly victory over Chad, and later guided Kenya to an unbeaten group stage run at the African Nations Championship (CHAN), finishing with three wins and a draw.
