By AAP
November 6th 2009 @ 1:42am
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Kewell fired by memories of 2007 for Oman clash
An in-form Harry Kewell says desire to “put the record straight” will fire the Socceroos in their looming Asian Cup qualifier against Oman.
Next year’s World Cup remains the bigger picture, but the need to get into the 2011 Asian Cup will be the pressing concern at Muscat’s Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex on Saturday week.
Kewell, one of the 23 players called into camp for the match by Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek, will use the clash to help erase the memory of Australia’s forgettable Asian Cup debut in 2007.
Australia’s attacking lynchpin has been in great form for Turkish club Galatasaray of late – netting goals in the local league and cup competitions plus the Europa League within the space of 10 days.
Kewell is hoping his hot streak will continue in Muscat, where victory for a virtually full-strength Socceroos line-up would go a long way to securing Australia’s passage through to Qatar 2011.
“It’s the Asian Cup qualification, we’re sitting on top of the table with Oman so this is a big game for us,” said Kewell.
“We’ve just come off winning 1-0 against them (in Melbourne last month) so they’re going to be completely up for it.
“We’re going to go for it. We were disappointing in the last Asian Cup and I think a lot of people have ridden that wave a lot now.
“I think this is why they’re still giving us stick because maybe they’re trying to push us to achieve more knowing that were capable of doing more.
“We want to put the record straight.”
Kewell remembers all to well the backlash the fancied Socceroos received for their elimination at the Asian Cup quarter-final stage in 2007 after a disappointing campaign.
“I don’t think we were prepared. I don’t think we knew what was in store for us at the Asian Cup and I think it showed,” said Kewell.
“This time around I think it’s going to be different.
“I think we’re fully prepared and I think we’ll see a different Australian team.”
Kewell accepts the Oman game also has some relevance to the World Cup campaign in South Africa next year.
“You want to go to a World Cup winning all of your games. You don’t want to be coming up to a World Cup losing games,” he said.
“But we’re in a situation where we’ve got to qualify (for the Asian Cup), we’ve got to put the World Cup aside, we can’t think about that at the moment.”
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