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Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek favours the idea of multiple captains but says skipper Harry Kewell has been exceptional leading his side to the next phase of World Cup qualification.
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Australia progressed after a 3-1 victory over Qatar in Doha on the weekend, but Verbeek wants Kewell on the pitch for a full 90-minutes against already-eliminated China at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium on Sunday.
The Dutchman arrived in Sydney this morning on a flight from the Middle East and plans to field a core group of senior players against China.
They would be joined by “a lot of very promising younger players who deserve to play this game because they did very well in training camp”, the coach said.
Verbeek said players that would remain in the squad for the China match included Michael Petkovic, Michael Beauchamp, Jade North, Harry Kewell, Carl Valeri and Brett Holman.
Holman and Valeri are sitting on yellow cards, along with Mark Bresciano while David Carney, Mark Schwarzer and Luke Wilkshire are automatically unavailable for the China fixture after picking up two yellows and a mandatory one match suspension during the first round of qualifying.
Cards carry over to the final round of qualifying which starts in September.
Early indications from Football Federation Australia (FFA) were that World Cup captain Lucas Neill, who was slated to feature against China, would now not play given the fixture was a dead rubber.
That at least would seem to knock on the head who will wear the armband for the Socceroos on Sunday.
“He (Kewell) has the respect of all of the players,” Verbeek told journalists.
“I’m very happy with Harry as a captain and also on the field and outside the field.”
But Kewell would not be installed as permanent Socceroo leader, he said, declaring his preference for multiple captaincies.
“I’ve read an article about (Portugal coach Luiz Felipe) Scolari and Scolari has five captains and I think that’s a good idea,” Verbeek said.
“For me Lucas Neill was the captain number one because we didn’t know how it was going to go with Harry and I’m very happy with Lucas. I think Mark Schwarzer did a good job organising the central defenders.
“So I’m very happy I have experienced players who have leader qualities.”
The Socceroos supremo said the most important thing for Kewell was that “he shows that Harry is back, because Harry is back”.
“I took him off in the last five or six minutes because I thought `enough is enough, we need him next week’ and he did a great job,” he said.
“And he will play again and he will play for 90-minutes in the next game.”
Kewell, who has played limited football after an acrimonious split with English Premier League club, Liverpool, says he is ready to last the full match.
“Against Qatar… I knew I could’ve easily lasted 90 minutes, so I’m looking forward to 90 minutes (on Sunday),” Kewell, 29, told journalists.
Kewell arrived at Sydney Airport this morning with the other returning members of the Socceroos squad, who have until Thursday to relax before resuming training for Sunday’s game.
Australia’s mission in the qualifiers was only “partly” complete, 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,” he said.
“Everyone expects us to go straight through to the World Cup but they don’t know how difficult it is.”
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 breathe.”
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