- The Socceroos icon won the Champions League with Liverpool
- Now he is chasing another big trophy with his new team.
Harry Kewell had asked his Yokohama F. Marinos players to summon the spirit that once enabled him to become a European Champions League winner as a player.
And how they complied so that their Australian coach now gave him the opportunity to achieve unprecedented glory as a champion coach in Asia.
“We have given ourselves a wonderful opportunity to do something special for this club,” shouted Kewell on Wednesday night in Yokohama, after the Japanese giants, reduced to 10 men and holding on, barely eked out a shootout victory. penalties against Ulsan. to reach the final of the Asian Champions League.
Kewell (pictured during Yokohama’s victory over Ulsan) is just 90 minutes away from Asian Champions League glory with his Japanese club.
It is also a wonderful opportunity for Kewell, at the age of 45 and after a disappointing start to his coaching career in England’s lower leagues, to show that he can still be as skilful a manager as he was a talented player in his era. The heyday of Leeds, Liverpool and Socceroos.
On the eve of the second leg of the semi-final against the South Korean team, in which they had to overcome a 1-0 deficit, Kewell had asked Yokohama to take a leaf from the book of his Liverpool team that arrived. It is famously the case of lose 3-0 to AC Milan and win the Champions League final in Istanbul on penalties.
Kewell was only able to play a small role that night after being injured, but now has the chance to play the starring role in the Asian version against Al-Ain of the United Arab Emirates, who, ironically, are managed by Argentinian Hernán Crespo, who was on strike during Milan on that famous night in 2005.
Yokohama’s victory on Wednesday was achieved amidst real adversity, as they were unfortunately left with 10 men five minutes before half-time when defender Takumi Kamijima was sent off for a handball, leading to an Ulsan penalty that made it 2 -3 and equalized the overall score. .
The Socceroos icon recalled how his Liverpool team won the Champions League by coming back from 3-0 down against AC Milan as he rallied his team to a brave victory.
From then on, Yokohama were constantly on the defensive for almost the next hour and a half, with Ulsan hitting the woodwork, with one goal disallowed by VAR and another for offside, as they survived extra time to take the match to the penalties. .
Their Japanese goalkeeper William Popp then capped a magnificent effort with their backs to the wall by making the crucial save from Brazilian Eduardo that allowed them to win the penalty shoot-out 5-4.
It meant Kewell had achieved what his Australian predecessors Ange Postecoglou and Kevin Muscat had failed to achieve, having never won a knockout match against Yokohama.
In leading Yokohama to victory, Kewell achieved something his Australian predecessors at the club, Ange Postecoglou (pictured) and Kevin Muscat, had never been able to do.
Indeed, Kewell can become the first manager to lead the Japanese giants to the promised land of a Champions League triumph, with the extra lucrative reward of a place in the upcoming expanded FIFA Club World Championship.
“From the moment I got here, everyone worked very hard to achieve something special,” he said after the game.
“I think tonight showed them that they now believe they can handle any kind of pressure.”
Arriving in the New Year after his last spell in Britain as Postecoglou’s assistant at Celtic, Kewell said: “I’m looking forward to continuing the work Marinos has done over the last five or six years and bringing in some of my own gold dust.” on.
Consider well the first piece of gold dust and really sprinkle it…