What were you doing on June 12, 2006? These words might bring back a few memories: “Has it got there? Harry Kewell? No, it’s poked home by Tim Cahill. Australia have done it! Six minutes to go and it’s a landmark moment for Australian football.” Five minutes later there was this gem: “Aloisi, Cahill, Cahill! Tim Cahill has done it again! What a goal by Tim Cahill! 2-1 Australia … Oh, it’s a wonderful moment in Kaiserslautern!” Three minutes later: “Aloisi … Viduka’s in an offside position. Aloisi might go on his own. Aloisiiii … 3-1! It’s all over, three points for Australia. What about that!” Over eight minutes and three goals, Simon Hill roared his way into Australian sporting folklore. His voice is as etched on our memories as the image of Cahill shadow-boxing the corner flag. On the eve of the Asian Cup, we nabbed a morning coffee with the man whose well-modulated, Mancunian tones will be part of Fox Sports’ exclusive coverage of the comp.

Will the Socceroos win the Asian Cup?
By rights, yes. If you look at the quality of Australia’s squad on paper, there isn’t another team in Asia that can match them. Possibly the closest, I’d say, would be Iran. They have some real quality in their team. Particularly Mehdi Mahdavikia [striker] who played against Australia back in 1997. They’ve also got Ali Karimi, who plays for Bayern Munich in midfield. He’s a brilliant talent. So they’ve got some standout players, and I’d say they’d be the next favoured team behind Australia. There are only three things that could prevent Australia from winning the Asian Cup: conditions, consistency and complacency. It’s going to be hot. Whether the players are tired after long European seasons. Whether they take the opposition lightly. Frankly, I can’t see any of those things happening, and by rights they should at least get to the final.

Do we need Kewell on the field?
He’s vital. Look back at the major tournaments over the years: in ’86, Argentina won the World Cup on the strength of Maradona. In ’98, France won it on the strength of Zidane. You’ve got to have that one special player, and Australia’s special player is Harry. You saw that in the World Cup against Croatia. Whether he’s fit, whether he’s in form, I don’t know. Even if he’s 60, 70 per cent, I’d take him.

Can soccer become the dominant sport in Australia?
No. And, to be honest, it doesn’t have to. I’ve never understood this fascination with being the No. 1 sport in the country. It doesn’t really matter. What football wanted – and what it’s now got – is respect and credibility. The thing that annoyed a lot of people was that football was always treated as a second-class citizen. It was always disregarded as being an inferior sport watched by ethnics and hooligans – the old sheilas, wogs and poofters mentality. That’s not entirely disappeared, but it’s a lot less than it was. That’s all football fans really wanted.

How does Australian football compare to the storied culture of the European game?
I remember calling the Socceroos match against Turkey back in ’04 – the first home game the Socceroos had played in three years. We went down to the Telstra Dome in Melbourne. There were 28,000 people there, and I reckoned 25,000 were Turks. I remember looking out over the stadium and thinking, “We’re screwed, the game’s got no chance.” Now I can look back at that and smile. When you go to Telstra Dome and there are crowds of 50,000 for domestic games, it’s a very special feeling. I get the same buzz going to A-League games as I used to get going to Premier League games. That’s the biggest compliment I can pay. In fact, a bigger compliment is that aside from Man City, who are my first and undying love, I’m probably more interested in the A-League than I am in the Premier League. I’m more excited now being involved in Australian football than I was being involved in English football. English football has 100 years of history. This is something new and we’re helping to build it. I’ve almost become evangelical about it.

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