Mike Cockerill created some controversy with his article criticising our golden boy Harry Kewell. Kewell understandably reacted quite negatively to that article and the media in general.
I do understand the frustration that Harry has with the media, especially with rumours that he is behind the rift between the players and the coach because he wasn’t picked for the Germany match – which implies unprofessionalism on Harry’s part. If those rumours were untrue, then Harry has every right to be livid by it.
Also, Mike Cockerill’s article criticise Harry’s attitude of not being upset enough about the defeat and mocked Harry’s engagement with the media, which suggested that Mike’s criticism had something personal that goes beyond professional critique. This was confirmed when Mike revealed the testy relationship with Kewell going back to 1996.
However, have all these extraneous issues had covered the underlying question that Mike has asked? Can we really expect Kewell to deliver for us?
During half-time against Germany, Mariana Rudan interviewed some of the fans and they all said: “Where’s Harry Kewell?” like he’s Australia best hope. However, I feel that the expectation of Kewell as our game breaker is mostly due to past deeds four years ago rather than any particular form for the Socceroos.
Mike Cockerill was spot on when he wrote that Kewell hasn’t had a great game for the Socceroos since we defeated Iraq at home. During the qualifiers, when Kewell was playing regular matches for Galatasaray, he looked underwhelming.
In some matches Kewell actually played poorly and the away victory over Bahrain was the worst I have ever seen Kewell play where he repeatedly lost possession, and Australia actually improved their performances when Kewell was replaced by Holman. He lacked the speed of the Kewell of old and he also struggled to beat players.
Kewell was still a benefit for the team with his vision and some of his passing that helped him to have some reasonable performances in the qualifiers, but the attributes that made him a great player was no longer there. The attacking players that helped us qualify to the World Cup the most were Brett Emerton before he got injured, Tim Cahill and Mark Bresciano. Those players consistently had better matches for the Socceroos during the qualifiers than Kewell, and yet Kewell is the person touted as our potential savior.
When Kewell was playing regular football for Galatasaray, his performances for the Socceroos weren’t outstanding, but now that Kewell only has a few minutes of competitive football for this year and of unknown fitness, we are now placing him as our biggest hope. I believe that we are essentially placing way too much expectation on him and that Harry’s status as our golden boy is mostly based on past deeds rather than anything recent.
I hope that Harry will rise to the occasion like he did against Uruguay and against Croatia. However, in the past I expected but now I can only hope.
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