Harry Kewell slams former team-mate in TV rant

SYDNEY (AFP) – Australia’s star forward Harry Kewell launched a furious attack on former Socceroos team-mate Robbie Slater on live TV, accusing him of lying in a newspaper column.

Kewell, speaking by telephone to Fox Sports FC late on Tuesday, slammed Slater in an outburst so bitter the show’s presenter cut in to stop the exchange becoming too “heated”.

The 31-year-old former Liverpool man was incensed over Slater’s article suggesting he quit international football and that fellow players were annoyed at the media “circus” around him at the World Cup in South Africa.

“There’s no circus that surrounds me. The only circus that is created by me is the circus that you people run, like you and the likes of your friends. No one else,” Kewell fumed.

Kewell, who now plays with Turkey’s Galatasaray, also said Slater was “lying” over an account of a clash with a fellow Socceroo.

“What gives the right to you Robbie, to make that kind of statement without knowing the actual facts?” he said.

Slater defended the story and said he had spoken to more than one player who witnessed the incident.

Kewell lashed out at a journalist during Australia’s disappointing World Cup, when he struggled for fitness and played just 25 minutes before being sent off against Ghana.

“You all are supposed to be here to support the team, make us feel good, and make us go out there and do it for our country,” he told reporters at the time.

Australia went out in the group stages of the World Cup and now have a new coach, Germany’s Holger Osieck, who has been charged with bringing in younger talent.