HARRY KEWELL has been cleared to play in Australia’s crucial group F match against Croatia tomorrow. Fifa had charged the Liverpool forward with verbal abuse of Markus Merk, the referee, after Australia’s 2-0 defeat by Brazil on Sunday, but the case was dropped yesterday because of inconsistencies in the official report.
This is understood to relate to a statement by Merk in which, having cited Kewell, he attempted to explain why he had failed to show the player a yellow card. The news comes as a huge boost to Australia, who are guaranteed a place in the knockout stages if they beat Croatia and would even progress to the last 16 with a draw in Hamburg, barring an improbable three-goal victory for Japan over Brazil the same evening.
Kewell expressed his relief yesterday and thanked Fifa for its act of clemency. “The result is brilliant,” he said. “I could not have expected anything more. I am glad Fifa realised the incident was totally spur-of-the-moment. I had prepared myself for the worst. Now we have to move on to the next important decision — the game against Croatia going our way.”
Guus Hiddink, the Australia coach, intends to restore Kewell to the starting line-up against Croatia, having kept him on the bench for the first hour against Brazil as he sought to protect a niggling groin problem. As a precaution, the forward sat out a training session on Monday.
There are few clouds on Australia’s horizon, but even if they progress to the knockout stages, it appears that Tony Popovic may have made his last appearance in the competition. The Crystal Palace defender suffered a calf injury in the early stages against Brazil. Graham Arnold, Hiddink’s assistant, has described the injury as “not great”, adding that it is the type of problem that would usually require a fortnight’s rest.