Kewell named captain for Singapore match

Harry Kewell has been given a huge emotional lift by Australia coach Pim Verbeek, who has handed the midfielder the captain's armband for Saturday's international friendly against Singapore.

Harry Kewell has been given a huge emotional lift by Australia coach Pim Verbeek, who has handed the midfielder the captain's armband for Saturday's international friendly against Singapore.

Harry Kewell has been named captain of the Socceroos for the first time in the international friendly against Singapore on Saturday night.

Kewell described receiving the captain-s armband as a great honour and is sure to be a boost for his confidence after a difficult time with his club Liverpool recently.

“It-s a great honour, but for me there are 11 captains out there; we go out there to work as a team and that-s how I am going to treat it,” Kewell said at the official press conference.

"It always is (one of your dreams) to lead your country out. I'm going to take it from there and we-ll see what happens.

"I'm going through a difficult time at the moment and to play this game is very important for me and I'm really looking forward to it."

While the match against China in four days later is the main focus for Verbeek, he is keen for the moment to focus all his energies on the match against Singapore and looking at a host of young players for the first time in a senior international match.

"I wish I had four weeks training camp, which I don-t have, so I, we don't spend energy on what we cannot change," Verbeek said.

"To be very honest, I'm more focusing on the game tomorrow against Singapore because that is the first step, and then we travel on Sunday to China and we go there to try and win the game."

“It-s a preparation game for the China game on Wednesday of course, so it-s a very important game for us and a very important game for Singapore of course also.

“So we are very pleased to be here and so far we have had a good camp; the weather is a little different to what we are used to, but we are happy to be here and looking forward to the game.

“It will be a competitive game; I knew last time Australia played Singapore (before Asian Cup) it was a difficult game for Australia, so it will be a good test for our players.

“The field looks very good, so we have nothing to complain about. No excuses for tomorrow.”

Verbeek insisted that tomorrow-s match was a real chance for players to press their claims for the China match and that their age was not a consideration, although he already had in his mind who will be taking the trip to Kunming.

“Of course, but I don-t look for age, I look for quality. To qualify you have to play 14 games in total and it will be a long trip from now until the World Cup, so we need all our players and it-s good to see the young boys in international games with the experienced boys, both on and off the field.”

Meanwhile Verbeek confirmed that key defender Brett Emerton will not be making the trip to Kunming, with a recurring groin problem forcing his withdrawal.

"He is a very experienced player, but I think we have some good players in the team who can pick up that position, so I have no worries about that," Verbeek said.

"But we will still miss a player with that experience and quality and of course that's a loss."