After shunning the glare of the media spotlight to focus on their preparations of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup, Qantas Socceroos stars Harry Kewell and Lucas Neill took time off from their gruelling schedules to squeeze in an half hour press conference on 28 Jun at the Amara Hotel to share their thoughts and views on their mission to bring Asian Cup glory back to the land Down Under, as well on their respective club duties and targets for the season.

Spotting a seat at the front row of the conference room, UrbanWire personified the Singaporean “Kiasu” mentality by dashing towards it and sitting down. There was no way I was going to compromise on the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see a Liverpool player and well, a boyhood Liverpool fan who then spurned the opportunity to join the club, instead opting to join up with West Ham United.

Both Kewell and Neill looked just the guys they looked on TV screens world-wide on Saturday Night Football and Super Sunday. Sporting well-chiselled looks (and figures), they looked rather jaded, presumably due to the intense fitness session they just underwent at the National Stadium around an hour ago, though relaxed.

With only questions on the AFC Asia Cup allowed, plus, no photographs to be taken after 15 minutes to prevent any injury to the players’ eyes and their concentration, this was truly going to be an interesting press conference.

For the first 3 seconds, no journalist uttered anything.

“Ok then, it’s over!”, Lucas Neill announced, pretending to get up to leave, much to the laughter of the media as well as Kewell himself.

That was the ice-breaker needed, and immediately, Aussie journalists started grilling their arguably their biggest football export, Kewell.

Knowing fully well that the Liverpool winger had been injured for a majority of the session besides playing the last 3 games of the season, including in the Champions League Final, one journalist fired, “Harry, what is your condition like coming into this AFC Asian Cup?”

Kewell diplomatically replied, “I feel fully fit, I’ve been out a long time but I managed to play the last 3 games, which is a real bonus for me and all I need now is match fitness.”

For the next 10 minutes, the press conference could have been renamed “10 minutes with Harry” as the media were basically zoning at Kewell around the fitness angle and Neill was a picture of boredom, folding his hands as if to say, “What about me?!”

However, finally when the question was directed to Neill, it wasn’t about his country but instead his club. The protocol was broken, but no one cared.

“Neill, West Ham just managed to avoid relegation last season, so what is your club’s targets for next season?” a journalist asked.

“We managed to win 7 of our last 9 games last season which was massive and all we need now is a good start to this new season which we didn’t have last year. We’re not going to be champions, but we are capable of challenging for the Top 6.”

Unavoidably, the focus then changed towards West Ham’s new Icelandic sugar daddy, Eggert Magnusson.

Neill responded, “The chairman is a very ambitious man and he want to bring in new players and win trophies, so it’s up to us players to perform, otherwise he’s (Magnusson) is under pressure.

A Singaporean journalist momentarily changed the course of the interview when he asked Kewell about how his 2 children, Taylor and Ruby were doing, and the man nicknamed “Wizard Of Oz” suddenly stood up, with a bright spark in his eyes.

“They’re very good and fine, thank you very much!” he gushed, perhaps glad that someone cared to ask about his loved ones, and in particular, his children. Players, like everyone else, are human after all, and travelling around the globe for glory does come with a huge sacrifice, such as having leave behind family and friends in a quest of trophies and success.

By now, despite my heart thumping heavily, I knew I had to ask Kewell a question. My effort coming down here would be utterly wasted should I not grab this lifetime opportunity. Heck, I thought, I’ll just go for it.

“Harry, do you feel that with the inclusion of the EPL players, your country will have an added advantage over your opponents at the AFC Asian Cup?” I asked.

He looked at me, paused for about a second, “No, I don’t think so. There’s some very talented teams out there and it’s gonna be very hard for us and we also are adjusting to the humid conditions so it won’t be easy for us at all.”

The interview focus soon changed towards Kewell’s future at Liverpool amid frenzied speculation in England that Reds boss Rafa Benitez was prepared to cut loose with the Aussie after he succumbed to injury after injury.

When pressed on his future, Kewell said, “I believe that when the season starts, I will still be a Liverpool player and I’m grateful for the support Rafa gave me when I was injured, and I would like to repay the faith he had in me on the pitch.”

Kewell showed his lighter side when asked about his objectives for the coming season.

“Well, obviously, to complete 90 minutes on the pitch as well as to play in the next match!” he quipped, much to the amusement of the press.

A local journalist then asked Kewell about Liverpool’s transfer plans as well as their bid to break the monopoly of the Manchester United- Chelsea axis in order to win their first title since 1990.

The Socceroo star commented, “I’m excited about new players coming to the club but every time I come for training, there are 2 or 3 new faces whom I don’t even know!” once again drawing the giggles of the media.

“But we want to improve on our position next season and with new players coming in this season, we are confident we can challenge the likes of United and Chelsea for the Premiership.”

Though the interview went rather smoothly, there was once where Neill showed a hint of anger to a question regarding the future of current Socceroo coach, Graham Arnold.

“With rumours stating that the tournament could be coach Arnold’s swansong before he steps down, how motivated are you guys in wanting to win the cup for your departing coach?” someone asked confidently.

Neill’s face showed a rather subtle anger as he asked, “Is he leaving? I don’t know about that. Is he leaving?”

The reporter, obviously unexpected by the question, stammered, “Hmm… Yeah several reports said so…”

“But do you know whether is he leaving?” Neill once again asked, with a hint of exasperation before adding, “We are a strong unit and we are 100 percent behind the coach.”

Before, the conference came to an end, Kewell showed a patriotic element to his character after being asked on Australia’s chances, as well as his own hopes of playing a key role with doubts of his fitness creeping on his mind.

He announced, with a certain fire of defiance in his eyes, “I come from the land Down Under and we as a population always fight, that is the only thing we know how to do and that’s what we’ve been doing all these years. That’s the same thing we’ll be doing to ensure we are the champions.”

With that, the press conference drew to a close and both players immediately stood up from their chairs and bolted straight through the door to join their team mates for lunch at the adjacent, but of course closed, dining hall.

And as I caught a final glimpse of Kewell, I was left to reflect on my unforgettable experience of the winged wizard, who, in my eyes, despite revelling in the glitz and glamour of the EPL, was simply just another fighting lad from Down Under.