Melbourne Victory star Harry Kewell has been ruled out of Sunday’s Hyundai A-League clash against Perth Glory at Etihad Stadium.
Kewell injured his hamstring in Australia’s recent 1-0 loss to Oman and has failed to recover in time.
The 33-year-old failed to take part in the Victory’s main training session at Gosch’s Paddock in Melbourne on Friday and coach Mehmet Durakovic said it would be too great a risk to play his marquee man against the Glory.
“It’s unfortunate we can’t have him (Kewell) this week,” Durakovic said.
“It is a bit of a pity because he has been really good. But that’s football.”
“We have got some youngsters coming through and we are very happy with the boys that will come in.”
Durakovic is confident that Kewell’s injury will not be a long-term one and that he should be fit to play the following week against Gold Coast United at AAMI Park on November 27.
“Harry was in the gym this morning and will be in the gym this afternoon,” Durakovic added.
“He is a very fit boy and he looks after himself really well.”
“But he has got a bit of a tightness in his hamstring at the moment…but hopefully he will be in full training next week and he should be right for next week.”
While Kewell definitely won’t tackle the Glory, there are still question marks surrounding the availability of Costa Rican international Carlos Hernandez.
Hernandez played 80 minutes of Costa Rica’s 2-0 victory over Panama on Saturday, then came on for the final 10 minutes of their 2-2 draw with Spain some four days later.
But the 29-year-old is yet to arrive back in Melbourne and Durakovic is unsure whether his playmaker will be fit to take on the Glory.
“Carlos is back in Melbourne later today (Friday) and we will see how he goes at training,” an optimistic Durakovic said.
“He didn’t (pick up any injuries) that we know of so fingers crossed he will be ok.”
While the Glory have never picked up three points at the venue of Sunday’s game, Durakovic said it would be foolish to underestimate Ian Ferguson’s side.
“They had a great start to the season with three games for three wins so it won’t be easy,” he said.
“I watched their game last week against Sydney FC and I thought they played really well, especially in the second half when they created a lot of chances.”
“They are a well structured team, so it should be a really good game. But hopefully we can have our tactics right and get the three points at home.”
