Benni McCarthy: Mourinho's student making Kenyans dream of football glory at CHAN

Benni McCarthy once learned defensive tactical plans from Jose Mourinho himself.

He said he borrowed from the Portuguese tactician’s playbook in Kenya’s improbable 1-0 win over Morocco on Sunday at the African Nations Championship (CHAN).

Kenya are making their debut at the tournament as co-hosts alongside Tanzania and Uganda but their campaign so far has sent disbelief across African football. They have notched two wins and one draw in one of the tournament’s toughest draws.

The Harambee Stars played for the entire second half a man short against tournament favourites and two-time winners Morocco, a nightmare for any other team, but it was their coach’s brand of pragmatic football that saw them pull off a famous win.

“I played under a certain manager — José Mourinho — the master of such game management,” McCarthy told journalists at the post-match press conference on Sunday.

“To play with 10 players is hell, but we used to do it as if it was routine. I learned the trade from him: where to tighten, who to sacrifice.”

“That’s what I learned from José — when you lose a player, you send off a striker, keep one workhorse up front, and the others ‘park the bus’… or in our case, park a train and a bus in front!”

The 47-year-old McCarthy played for Mourinho at Porto FC and was part of the team that won the Uefa Champions League title in 2004.

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