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Australia's Harry Kewell, center, is cheered by teammates after he scored their side's second goal during the Croatia v Australia match at the World Cup Gottlieb-Daimler stadium in Stuttgart, Germany, Thursday, June 22, 2006. AP Photo/Winfried Rothermel
So much football went on this past weekend, it was hard to know where to look. From an entertaining FA Cup final at Wembley to the Scottish and German equivalents, to a bell-ringer of a finish in Spain’s La Liga – and we’ve still got the UEFA Champions League final to come.
But for all the exciting action in Europe, it was a story on Socceroos talisman Harry Kewell that hit somewhat closer to home.
With less than a month to go until the World Cup kicks off in South Africa, Channel 9’s once vaunted current affairs program “60 Minutes” decided to dip its toes into the football world with a typically inoffensive fluff piece on Australia’s main man.
It’s no surprise that we’ve recently seen a spate of mainstream media stories on “our Socceroos,” although I’d rather watch those than the scaremongering they had running on Channel 7 – where Mike Munro helpfully informed viewers that South Africa has a high crime rate, as if the fans travelling to the World Cup weren’t already aware.
At least Tara Brown’s light-hearted “60 Minutes” piece on the Galatasaray star offered one snippet of information, that being that Kewell’s troublesome groin injury was seemingly exacerbated by the Istanbul giant’s club doctor.
It’s that groin injury that has Socceroos fans anxiously biting their nails, with claims and counter-claims swirling across the globe that the former Leeds United and Liverpool man may not be fully fit for Australia’s opening World Cup game against Germany in Durban.
The Germans themselves are sweating on the fitness of team captain Michael Ballack, although given the depth spread throughout Joachim Löw’s squad, it’s hard to argue that Ballack’s potential absence is as significant as a Socceroos side missing Kewell.
Yet, for all his undoubted talents, there are some in Australia who question whether the 31-year-old still has what it takes to make his mark on the greatest stage of all.
It’s a harsh assessment of a player who has been at the heart of Australia’s best performances over the past decade, and Kewell’s lung-busting display against Croatia in 2006 is a reminder that alongside Schwarzer and Cahill, the Socceroos have often called upon the mercurial midfielder to make the difference.
I still think that he can make a significant contribution in South Africa – provided he’s somewhere close to fully fit, and his blistering pre-injury form for Galatasaray suggests that Kewell is once again enjoying his football and the sound of leather thwacking against the back of the net.
And if takes the wholesome, family-friendly Kewell to get mainstream Australia more interested in football, then so be it – the Galatasaray star is a humble, well-spoken ambassador for the round ball game in this country.
I just hope that he can shake off this niggling groin injury that has seen him barely feature at club level since Christmas, not least because he’s no doubt an integral part of Pim Verbeek’s attacking plans.
After all, a half-fit Kewell is better than no Kewell at all, and with the Socceroos already utilising a conservative game plan, we’ll just have to cross our fingers and hope that Harry can once again prove himself our star man in South Africa.