Australia striker Harry Kewell has alleged that international referees are biased against the less celebrated teams and that FIFA needs to do something about it.
In an interview for Australia’s News Limited newspapers after the Socceroos’ early exit from the World Cup, Kewell, who was shown a red card in the Group D clash against Ghana, said his country had been treated unfairly.
He said Australia had been on the end of six bad calls in seven World Cup matches, dating back to a foul on goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer in their 2006 World Cup opener against Japan that went unpunished and led to a goal.
“What are FIFA doing about it when teams like us are getting hammered and the bigger teams don’t?” he said. “We’ve been told to play the game fair, and I think we do. Nothing against the bigger teams, but they’re allowed to do it because of who and what they are.”
In the wide-ranging interview, Kewell defended much-maligned coach Pim Verbeek, who has taken most of the blame for Australia tumbling out at the group stages in South Africa.
He conceded Verbeek was “rattled” after the opening 4-0 loss to Germany, but said he regrouped well for the two subsequent matches, the 1-1 draw with Ghana and the 2-1 win over the Serbs.
And he said if Australia had managed to squeeze into the next round, the Dutchman would have been a national hero.
“I do believe the Germany game rattled him and hit him for six,” Kewell said. “I think he was all over the shop for a bit, but he composed himself well enough for the Ghana game. We worked so hard and, to be fair, two decisions killed him, but he can walk away with his head held high.”
“Everyone killed him after the Germany game, but if he got through to the last 16, he would’ve been one of the greats. It’s on a knife’s edge,” Kewell said.
The 31-year-old said Verbeek’s only failing was to misread the mood of the Socceroos, who wanted to play an attacking game against Germany.
“We don’t fare well in defensive organization — we go out there to try and run over teams and that’s probably why Guus [Hiddink] had such a good stint,” Kewell said. “He let us off the leash and let us go wild. I’m not saying that Pim totally restricted us, but sometimes you need to gamble.”
Kewell said he was aiming to play on for Australia until the 2014 World Cup.
The next generation of running talent takes center stage at today’s Berlin Marathon, in the absence of stars including Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge and Ethiopian world record holder Tigist Assefa. With most of the major marathon stars skipping the event in the wake of the Paris Olympics just more than a month ago, the field is wide open in the men’s and women’s races. Since 2015, Kipchoge has won five times in Berlin, Kenenisa Bekele has won twice and Guye Adola once — with all three missing today. Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie and Ethiopian Tadese Takele are among the favourites for the men, while
Japan’s Shohei Ohtani is the record-breaking baseball “superhuman” following in the footsteps of the legendary Babe Ruth who has also earned comparisons to US sporting greats Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Not since Ruth a century ago has there been a baseball player capable of both pitching and hitting at the top level. The 30-year-old’s performances with the Los Angeles Dodgers have consolidated his position as a baseball legend in the making, and a national icon in his native Japan. He continues to find new ways to amaze, this year becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Taiwan’s Tony Wu yesterday beat Mackenzie McDonald of the US to win the Nonthaburi Challenger IV in Thailand, his first challenger victory since 2022. The 26-year-old world No. 315, who won both his qualifiers to advance to the main draw, has been on a hot streak this month, winning his past nine matches, including two that ensured Taiwan’s victory in their Davis Cup World Group I tie. Wu took just more than two hours to top world No. 172 McDonald 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to win his second challenger tournament since the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger in 2022. Wu’s Tallahassee win followed two years of
RSS