sport news Why Aussie soccer great Harry Kewell is on the brink of one of the biggest ... trends now
Harry Kewell had asked his Yokohama F.Marinos players to summon up the spirit that once enabled him to become a European Champions League winner as a player.
And how they then delivered for their Australian boss to now give him the chance of unprecedented glory as a champion coach in Asia.
'We've given ourselves a wonderful opportunity to do something special for this club,' boomed Kewell on Wednesday night in Yokohama, after the Japanese giants, reduced to 10 men and hanging on, somehow eked out a penalty shoot-out win against Ulsan to reach the Asian Champions League final.
Kewell (pictured during Yokohama's win over Ulsan) is just 90-odd minutes away from Asian Champions League glory with his Japanese club
It's a wonderful opportunity, too, for Kewell, at the age of 45 and after an underwhelming start to his managerial career in England's lower leagues, to prove that he could still be just as adept a coach as he was a gifted player back in his Leeds, Liverpool and Socceroos heyday.
On the eve of their semi-final, second-leg match against the South Korean side, having to battle back from a 1-0 deficit, Kewell had asked for Yokohama to take a leaf out of the book of his Liverpool team that came, famously, from 3-0 down to AC Milan to win the Champions League final in Istanbul on penalties.
Kewell could only play a bit part that night after he got injured but now he's got the chance to play the starring role in the Asian version against
