Harambee Stars captain Abud Omar has stated that the team posts better results every time one of them is red-carded.

Speaking at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, after beating Morocco 1-0 on Sunday, August 10, 2025, Omar said they may do better to minimize the chances of getting more cards.

“All I know is that every time we get a red card, we have a positive result. I don’t know if we are going to work on that, rectify our mistakes, and do better next time,” Omar said.

“The coach told us that this was one of the difficult games, but he believed that we could do it, and we did just that.”

Aggressive tackles

During the post-match interview, Harambee Stars head coach Benni McCarthy indicated that while he wants his players to go aggressively into tackles, they are not intended to harm their opponents.

Kenya has so far been red-carded twice in two matches, with the first one on Marvin Nabwire during Kenya’s game against Angola, which ended in a 1-1 draw.

The second red card came during the Sunday, August 10, 2025, game against Morocco, when Chrispine Erambo was shown a straight red for a tackle.

“This is football; it is a gentleman’s game played by hooligans, as the saying goes. I don’t want my team to be hooligans, but we need to show a little more aggression,” McCarthy stated.

Not pushovers

“When we played against the DRC, we were too open and we were too nice, and they were playing through our midfield. I encouraged the players to be a bit more aggressive when we are going to challenges so that we come out on the winning side, but today was unfortunate because the ball was there to be contested. He went for the challenge, not with malice or to injure or to take the Moroccan player out. He went for the ball, and unfortunately, the VAR showed otherwise.”

Mcarthy equally indicated that he does not want his players worrying about picking a card, as it could slow them down and expose them to defeats.

“I want my team to play football as it should be and also be strong because we are not going to be pushovers. I don’t want players worrying about picking up a yellow card or red card, and then you just let players pass you and score against us,” he observed.

“I want them to have the aggression with fairness, but unfortunately, it has cost us two red cards in two matches. I would, however, not tell my team to change the way they play because that is perfect.”