Melbourne Victory superstar Harry Kewell is considered a 50-50 chance to take on Perth Glory on Sunday, according to team-mate Leigh Broxham.
Melbourne Victory superstar Harry Kewell is considered a 50-50 chance to take on Perth Glory on Sunday, according to team-mate Leigh Broxham.
Kewell, who injured his hamstring in the Qantas Socceroos’ 1-0 loss to Oman on Saturday morning, arrived back in Melbourne on Sunday and will be given every chance to prove his fitness for this weekend’s clash at Etihad Stadium.
“I think he’s 50-50 at the moment. I saw him in the change rooms this morning and he’s got a bit of hamstring tightness I believe and they’ll assess him later in the week,” Broxham said on Tuesday.
“Hopefully he does play, but they’ll make the right decision either way.”
Broxham hit back at Kewell’s critics and said he will be a massive loss if he doesn’t get up this week.
“He’s still finding his feet obviously, he’s a world class player. You’ve seen glimpses of it so far and I think once it all comes together he’ll be unbelievable for us,” he said.
“Of course it’s a bit of a disappointment (if he doesn’t to play), our fans love to see him play. He’s an asset team, but he’s only human so it’s bound to happen throughout the year as it does with everyone so hopefully he gets up for the game.”
Meanwhile, captain Adrian Leijer is confident the team can manage with the constant changes to the starting XI.
Victory made five forced changes for last week’s loss to Central Coast, but can expect to regain Carlos Hernandez from international duty, Ante Covic from suspension and potentially Kewell as well.
“You don’t want to be making wholesale changes week in, week out. But we have to respect the guys that were doing well, whether they still warrant a place or not that’s up to Mehmet to decide,” Leijer said.
“The best thing about the weekend was the depth in the squad and you look at the team we still had on the park it’s a very good team.”
“The squad that we’ve got as the season goes on that’s where you really see the benefit of that. During the year players will get injured and boys will step in and do the job.”
