Socceroos skipper Harry Kewell says he is ready for a full 90 minutes of World Cup qualifying football this weekend when Australia play already-eliminated China in Sydney.
Kewell was substituted late in the Socceroos’ 3-1 victory over Qatar in Doha on the weekend.
“I felt great in the first match when we played Iraq. The second match in Dubai was a lot different. The heat was extremely difficult but we did our best to overcome that,” Kewell told reporters today.
“And against Qatar and it was really good, I knew I could’ve easily lasted 90 minutes, so I’m looking forward to 90 minutes (on Sunday).”
But Kewell said Australia’s mission in the qualifiers had only been “partly” completed.
“Our main goal was to get through to the next phase. We’ve achieved that with a game to go,” he said.
“There’s a very important game on Sunday that we want to win. And then we’ll look forward to the next round.”
Kewell heaped praise on the performance of Netherlands-based Brett Holman after the NEC Nijmegen star’s solid performable against Qatar.
“I think Brett played a superb game the other night and I think he led from the front,” he said.
“I think it was important for him to have a good game.”
Holman’s role in behind Kewell was a key factor in helping the Socceroos devastate the Qatari defence and was decisive in allowing Australia to take a 1-0 lead through Brett Emerton.
Meanwhile, 29-year-old Kewell reflected on his recent lack of football after an acrimonious split with his English Premier League side Liverpool.
“It’s just nice to be playing football again,” he said.
“Once you’ve been starved of something you love, your passion really drives you on. I’m just going out there and enjoying myself.”
Kewell arrived at Sydney airport this morning with the rest of the returning members of the Socceroos squad, who have until Thursday to relax before resuming training for the final group qualifier against the Chinese at ANZ Stadium.
He said celebrations after the Qatar match were borne more of relief than the realisation Australia had progressed to the next stage of qualification.
“Everyone expects us to go straight through to the World Cup but they don’t know how difficult it is,” Kewell said.
Fellow attacker Bruce Djite said the Doha heat had not been as severe as expected but the dusty conditions had proven to be difficult.
“(They were) definitely tough conditions, it was very dusty,” the 21-year-old striker said.
“And if you looked at how dusty your boots got, you’ve got to wonder how much it made it more difficult to breath.”
But he said his team-mates were physically well-prepared and able to handle the conditions to ultimately claim the points.
Djite, who came on for the last five minutes of the Qatar match, said the team was “very happy” with the result in Doha after “we made it a bit difficult for ourselves losing to Iraq”.
“But after our good performance against Qatar and qualifying, some of the boys have some good old holidays,” he said.
“They’ve had a long season and then had to back it up playing for their nation for about another three weeks which they would have had on holidays.”
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