Could this be a Socceroo fan's worst nightmare, come to life (perhaps)? Injuries and the need for a break might dictate Harry Kewell to miss out on Australia's preparations for its World Cup qualifying matches, so says Bernie Mandic, the player's agent. Kewell may miss World Cup qualifiers -- The Age, via the AAP What the AAP article in The Age's online services is implying is that if Kewell is unfit for matches such as those in the Confederations Cup as well as key friendlies, would he be able to jump into the squad for any WCQ contest? We'll have to see about that... Discuss.
AUS has just been Kewelled again !!! Harry Who? hasn't figured in AUS' games for the past two years, so why should we start worrying now ?
I'm going to wait for this to come out of someone else's mouth other than Bernie Mandic. We all know what a great source of reliable info that tosser is.
Not a big loss. From what i have seen of him lately it would be better to play with someone else.A player such as Ahmad Elrich can replace him and provide us with some very good crosses. As long as we play 4-4-2 and Viduka and Aloisi are starting front men i am pretty confident we will be there in 2006!!!
Mandic talks a lot of crap mainly to see his name in the papers. In any case I haven't seen Kewell at his best for some time. If he needs surgury to get back to his best then he should do it in the off season and it doesn't matter if he misses a lot of the prep games. If he gets back to his best then he's the first one picked, regardless of what matches he has missed. If he is playing like he is now then he won't be a great loss.
i think his agent is the root of all this evil, get rid of 'im 'arry! look i want him to be in every match but i would much rather save him for the playoffs and the world cup then a longer time on the outer due to injury.
I'd rather that Harry Who? actually had to put in the hard yards, just like every other member of the AUS team, otherwise get rid of him, along with his scumbag of a manager.
He hides behind him, so you've got as much chance of Harry Who? getting rid of Mandic as I've got of becoming Prime Minister of Australia, and that's Buckley's.
Kewell may be quite useful over the coming year. His form against Newcastle was excellent, and it looks like he's regaining his old class - the sporadic last twelve months have really hurt him. Like him or not, Kewell at his best is head and shoulders above the rest of our midfield - and the midfield is widely considered our strongest area. If he's playing well, I want him on our team.
Very much correct. I cannot see Australia qualifying for what would be its first World Cup finals campaign in 32 years without Harry Kewell playing something of a role. Granted that Frank Farina has a lot of different role players in his platoons along the back line and in the midfield, but Harry's the leader, someone who can score and create goals equally. He's the one who can put his hand up and lead the team to victory, provided that he's healthy. So perhaps him missing matches this winter (the Australian winter, mind you) just to get fit as a fiddle for the important matches ahead isn't a bad thing. Better to have a small sacrifice then for a greater return later, provided that he is ready and match-fit. But if he doesn't make it, I'm inclined to think that the World Cup finals in Germany will be like every other one that has taken place since the last time the final stage of the competition was held in that country-- without Australia playing in it.
Disagree, as he's not turned up or played for most of AUS' games over the past 2+ years, so how can he be even considered the leader ? I'd think that the real AUS captain, Craig Moore (especially after what he gave up for his commitment to AUS football), may have a few thoughts about Harry Who? being termed the national team's leader !!! Bresciano & others (Cahill for one) are playing well in the midfield, so why ask them to give up a place for some-one who (by his past performance) has shown by his actions (not his press-releases) that he has NO commitment to the team. Even the WCQ's (late this year) & the 2005 Confeds Cup games (the German summer, Australian winter), even though they are the MOST important AUS preparation for the H&A games against 5th placed CONMEBOL team? I think not. If he's not there, then he needs to force his way back into the team by his actions, not be given a free pass to the last 2 "important" games, just because he's Harry Who?. Perhaps, perhaps NOT, but some-one who didn't deserve to wear the AUS shirt wouldn't have done so. It's not Harry Who?'s god-given right. He has to earn it, just like everyone else in the team. And NO I don't like Harry Who?. But he's also not a shining example of an AUS National / International sports team player. Can you see him & his antics / commitment being tolerated in the Rugby, Cricket, Swimming, ......Tiddlywinks teams ?
Note that I said that Harry would appear to be a player who is capable of scoring goals and setting them up as well, amid the role players Farina has at his disposal (including the ones mentioned by you here). In the eyes of some, but admittedly not all, the likes of Moore, Bresciano and Cahill, among others, are seen as nothing but role players. The Socceroos will need a talisman, such as a Harry Kewell, who can lift the team to the next level, under the right set of conditions. But Kewell needs to be given the chance to get healthy and prove himself at club level for Liverpool in order to make sure that he has this chance, to get back to being the kind of player who played at the same feared level he was once at, when he was at Leeds United. Agreed that he shouldn't be given special treatment, especially based on past reputations. And his non-participations for the Socceroos in the past is a bit worrysome. However, he should be given the chance to get fit and prove himself. After I made my original post this evening, I was thinking that a healthy and match-fit Harry Kewell is, in a lot of ways, akin to a 1986 Mexico with a match-fit Hugo Sanchez... a star player on a standout team who can lift his teammates with his talents and efforts as well. But we need to see Harry Kewell make those efforts-- no way should he be playing for the Socceroos in the most important matches just on name recognition alone! Absolutely not, indeed. If this was happening with an AFL club, he'd certainly be bound to be crucified (as provincial as AFL footy can be, it might hit home a lot worse than the rest). But like I said, let's exercise some patience and see if he can regain his form of the past. If he can, then seeing him doing well in the green & gold will certainly be a welcome sight.
Seriously, this guy needs to be dropped NOW. Either he wants to play for Oz or he doesn't. ALL the games, not just the high profile ones. It'd be a good example to the other potential egomaniacs. One man doesn't make a team, we'll be better off without him.
Unfortunately, Kewell at his best leaves Bresciano and Cahill for dead, as good as they are. Anyway, they wouldn't be the players to lose their spots. A Kewell playing like he has for the last 12 months needs to earn his place in the team. A Kewell who is in-form and playing at his best, like it or not, can't be left out. It would be like leaving Sheva out of the Ukrainian team. Fact of life - if Kewell keeps playing like he has been the past couple of weeks, then he could realistically miss half the games between now and next November and still expect to walk into the squad. I'm no fan of Kewell's past antics, but the difference with all those sports is the national team pays the player's wages. It's just not a realistic comparison.
Unfortunately, Harry Who? barely turns up and only when it suits him, so his value to the team really can't be measured. Over my, & probably most of the rest of the team's, dead bodies. What a message of consistency, cohesion & value that sends to the rest of the team, NOT. The other AUS teams didn't get to be world champions in their sport without being tough, not only on selections, but also on discipline, commitment & continuing performance. You, along with Frank Farina (unfortunately) are too soft on this matter, and AUS will never get anywhere without the kind of mongrel attitude displayed by the other world beater teams of AUS. Look what happens in the cricket team. No touchy feely there. Who's world champions by miles ??? Jeez, don't you want to win the FIFA Football WC, or anything for that matter ???
Iran, 1997. Like it or not, it would happen. When he's playing at his best, no coach would leave him out of the team for a crucial match. Again, with the other sports the only road to serious financial success conveniently lies in a nice big juicy contract with the national team. The players need the national team just as much as the team needs them - if not moreso. It's not difficult to be tough when you're holding all the cards, and Cricket Australia/the ARU etc have a royal flush. The ASA has to make do with a pair and a lot of bluffing.
Hopefully the FFA will mean what it says, unlike the ASA & SA before it. If Harry Who? doesn't want to totally commit to the upcoming campaign by AUS, then he should retire or be omitted, period.
As should any other player playing for any other team anywhere else who isn't united to the cause at hand. No player should be made to feel that he is a special case, or felt like he is bigger than the goal at hand.
i am no fan of arry's amtics either but he is no question about it THE BEST PLAYER to come from Australia, PERIOD. but i think he is on the way up, as there is only one way when you are rock bottom, and that is up. So i thin 2005 will be a positive year for him. (well i bloody hope so!) but i am a 'arry optimist!
No we WON'T. We bloody-well need some-one who can DEFEND, which he patently CAN'T. We DON'T need some-one who'll PONCE ABOUT like he's important or something but couldn't be ARSED to get stuck in. Now that Frank Farina's gone, maybe he'll get TOLD HOW IT IS by whoever takes over.
So you agree that we will need him then? You really don't like HK, do you Andy? What has he ever done to you? If he gets himself fit and he's in form, I don't see how you could leave him out. (...but that's IF he gets fit. ) By the way, has anyone noticed how dead this forum has been lately? Glorious Fan has taken to trawling through old threads from last year and re-igniting them!
I used to like him a lot, that is until he started getting too self-important for the team. Sending out press-statements of undying commitment then being "injured" or "no-showing" the very next game (which was obviously inconvenient or worse, in AUS) doesn't come over too well, on the third/fourth/fifth time ! No player should be able to pick which game(s) he wants to play or not play. See what Brazil did to Ronaldo, when he pulled a "Kewell" wrt the Confeds Cup ? Totally agree with their approach. I don't think he's any good any more. Even so, he has to WIN BACK a place, as just handing him a starting place sends a real crappy message to those players who HAVE SHOWN THEIR COMMITMENT to the team over the past 2-3 years, unlike HK's LACK OF COMMITMENT.