DOHA: Tim Cahill and Harry Kewell weighed in with three of Australia's four goals against India in their Asian Cup opener, and the duo, who have played together up front so rarely for Australia, can't wait to cement their partnership in their crucial Group C match against South Korea on Friday (12.15am Saturday, Sydney time), a match Kewell yesterday labelled as being akin to a cup final.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
While both have been regular fixtures in the Socceroos line-up for the past six years, they have never, before this tournament, started together as Australia's frontline strikers. Normally, Cahill plays behind a main forward as a ''shadow striker'', while Kewell has been employed either as a left-sided midfielder or, more recently under Pim Verbeek, as a lone striker.
''It's exciting. He's such a brilliant player,'' Cahill said of Kewell. ''It's a shame that in the past we have not had that game time together. We have got a great understanding on and off the pitch.''
Socceroos coach Holger Osieck is set to field the same starting line-up that cantered to a 4-0 win over India, but the stakes this time are much higher, as Kewell acknowledged.
''I think every game's got to be a final for us now,'' he said. ''There's a lot of pressure on us, everyone's talking about us getting to the final and especially with what happened last time as well [when Australia bombed out in the quarter-finals in 2007 when they were red-hot favourites].
''We thought we were going to get there and we got kicked out quite early on. The boys are taking it very serious this time. We know what's at stake, and we're going to take every game as a final. This is obviously going to be out first big test. I think it's going to really show what we're capable of doing, if we can progress further on throughout the tournament.''
Kewell said his combination with Cahill offered Australia several routes to goal in open play or from set pieces, and was a reflection of a general understanding that both had worked towards.
''I think both of us are good in the air, both of us are quite strong, both of us are quite quick, and we both know where the goal is so it's a good partnership,'' Kewell said. ''It needs work on [it], and we both know that, and if the manager keeps it that way, we're very fortunate we can both work together … I've known Tim for a long time and he knows me, and we both know the way we've played throughout our career but we've never had games together to try and build a partnership, and this is a perfect opportunity to create some thing special.''
The importance of the game, in which either Australia or South Korea can stamp themselves as favourites for this tournament, has not been lost on Kewell, who is looking to gain some sort of consolation for the wretched World Cup he experienced last year.
''I think everyone's going to take part in this, every coach, every team member, every player is probably going to watch this game … and they're going to take notes, a lot of notes, about it,'' he said.
