Football friends for years, Perth Glory defender Chris Coyne reminisces the time he used to play with Hyundai A-League’s golden boy, Harry Kewell.
Football friends for years, Perth Glory defender Chris Coyne reminisces the time he used to play with Hyundai A-League-s golden boy, Harry Kewell.
Coyne says that Victory-s marquee man is not only a great asset to the A-League but this Sunday, he will also bring his international class to Perth Glory-s home for the very first time.
“He brings a lot; it was a massive coup for the A-League to bring Harry back. He-s a gentleman and a super-star in his own right and to have him come to nib Stadium is something we wouldn-t have had a few years back, so it-s exciting times,” Coyne said.
Playing for the Australian Joeys (U-17) in their teens, Coyne and Kewell spent a considerable amount of time together as young team mates and he says that he-s looking forward to seeing the former English Premier League player again.
“We were kids and roommates together in the Joeys so we have quite a bit of history, and it will be good to see him again.
“I haven-t seen him for a while and hopefully will wish him all the best, but not too much luck,” he laughed.
Despite Kewell-s incredible resume and respected talent, Coyne sees him as just another ingredient that makes up Victory-s frontline, revealing main man Archie Thompson to be just as much of a threat.
“Archie at the moment because he-s been doing it for a long time now, and when you chuck Carlos Hernandez in there their fire power is awesome, but I think going forward we can really do their back force some damage.”
“It will be a good even game, and they always are with Melbourne Victory, like we saw with the 2-2 draw this year.
The Victory will come to Perth on the back of a 1-all draw with Adelaide United on Friday night and Coyne says he liked what he saw from Sunday-s opponents.
“I thought for the first thirty minutes it was one of the best performances I-ve seen from an A-League team in terms of the pace they played the game at.”
“All credit to Adelaide they came back into it but they looked a very good side for that thirty minutes and it could-ve been two up easily.”
Sidelined with an Achilles injury, the Glory defender is devastated to not be involved in one of the biggest blockbuster games at nib Stadium this season.
“Unfortunately you-ve got me sitting on my back side, but as a footballer these are the ones you want to go out and show people how good you are and prove a point.”
“I think the last week we-ve been doing that collectively and it will be good to go up again at nib and show people what we-re made of.”
With Victory-s new lease under new manager Jim Magilton and Perth Glory-s undefeated run and heightened confidence, Sunday-s showdown is one not to be missed.
“We had a hard trot and people didn-t look at the amount of away games we had at the start of the season.
“So I think we have put ourselves in a really good position, starting with Sydney on Wednesday and then obviously the big one on Sunday.”
Perth Glory will first face Sydney FC this Wednesday in Campbelltown before they play against Harry Kewell-s Melbourne Victory at nib Stadium on Sunday.
Wednesday, 18 January, 2012
Sydney FC v Perth Glory
Campbelltown
Kick-off: 2:30pm (Perth time)
Sunday, 22 January, 2012
Perth Glory v Melbourne Victory
nib Stadium
Kick-off: 4:30pm
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