Kevin Muscat (born 7 August 1973 in Crawley, England) is an Australian football (soccer) player. After beginning his professional career in the Australian National Soccer League, he played ten seasons in Britain with Crystal Palace, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Glasgow Rangers and Millwall Football Club. A number of incidents earned Muscat a reputation as a "hard man". He has played over 50 times for Australia, and currently plays for Melbourne Victory in the Australian A-League.

[edit] Club career

Muscat began his career as a junior at Australian National Soccer League (NSL) club Sunshine George Cross, making his first senior appearances for that club in 1989-90.^[1] He moved from Sunshine to the Australian Institute of Sport in 1990 and was awarded the Weinstein Medal as the Victorian Junior Player of the year.^[2]

He continued playing in the NSL for Heidelberg United in the 1991-92 season and then spent four seasons with South Melbourne Hellas.^[1] In 1995-96 he was trialled at Sheffield United under manager Dave Bassett but stayed at South Melbourne.^[3] But in August 1996, Bassett having taken the helm at Crystal Palace, signed Muscat to the south London club^[3] for £35,000.^[4] Muscat was part of the Palace team that subsequently won promotion to the English Premier League, defeating Sheffield United in the 1997 play-off final at Wembley.^[5] Muscat made nine Premier League appearances for Palace before moving to First Division Wolverhampton Wanderers for £200,000 in October 1997.^[4]

Muscat remained at Wolves for five seasons before moving to Scotland to join Glasgow Rangers on a free transfer in July 2002.^[1] He was part of the Rangers squad which won a treble of domestic trophies in 2002-03. Muscat's final British club was Millwall, for whom he played two seasons from 2003 to 2005. In 2004, he captained Millwall to the FA Cup Final for the first time in their history. He missed the final itself, after suffering a knee ligament injury in the semi-final against Sunderland, although the Millwall manager Dennis Wise insisted on him being presented with a medal. He left Millwall to return to Australia to become Melbourne Victory's inaugural captain in the 2005-06 season. Under Victory manager Ernie Merrick, Muscat, a defender for virtually his entire career, moved to midfield for the 2006-7 season. He remains Victory's captain, now in his fifth season for the Melbourne-based club.

[edit] International career

Muscat made his international debut for Australia on the 24 September 1994 against Kuwait. He represented Australia in the U/23 football competition in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. He also represented Australia in the U/20 1991 World Youth Cup Finals in Portugal and the 1993 finals in Australia.^[6] He represented Australia in the Confederations Cup tournaments in 1997, 2001 and 2005.^[6]When playing for Australia in 2001, they faced Uruguay in a playoff for a spot in the 2002 FIFA World Cup. In the first leg in Melbourne, Australia won 1-0 thanks to a penalty from Kevin Muscat. However Australia went down 3-0 in Montevideo to miss out on qualifying for the World Cup.

Muscat was dropped from the squad when coach Guus Hiddink took over in 2005 and played no part in Australia's subsequent qualification for the 2006 World Cup. In August 2006, Graham Arnold recalled Muscat to the national team for an Asian Cup qualifier against Kuwait. Muscat captained Australia in its 2-0 win which ensured qualification for the 2007 Asian Cup. In January 2008, newly appointed Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek selected Muscat in a squad of 22 A-League based players to train at Marconi Stadium in preparation for Australia's 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign.

[edit] Reputation

Muscat was branded a “lowlife” and a “nobody” by ex-England striker Ian Wright, then of Nottingham Forest, in September 1999. Wright claimed he was about to shoot when he heard Dougie Freedman, Forest's other striker, shout "leave it". Wright stepped over the ball to allow Freedman to hit it, but instead Muscat (who had, according to Wright, merely impersonated Freedman) appeared to clear the ball.^[7]

Muscat was dubbed the "most hated man in football" by then Birmingham City player Martin Grainger in 2000.^[8] He seriously injured both Craig Bellamy and Christophe Dugarry, the latter in a friendly international between Australia and France in 2001 with a sliding tackle from behind.^[8] The French manager Roger Lemerre dubbed the tackle "an act of brutality".^{[8] [9]} Dugarry was sidelined with a serious knee ligament injury for several months. There was speculation that Muscat’s temperament was the reason he was never selected for inclusion in an Old Firm encounter during the season he was at Rangers.^[10]

In 2004, a lawsuit on Muscat brought by former Charlton player Matty Holmes resulted in a settlement of £250,000 plus costs in favour of Holmes, bringing the estimated settlement to around £750,000. Holmes had to have four operations on his leg following a tackle by Muscat in 1998, and there were initial fears that his leg might have to be amputated. The claim was settled at the High Court without any admission of liability. ^[11][12] In a Carling Cup tie while at Millwall, he grabbed the throat of Liverpool striker Milan Baros.^[13] Also in 2004, Iwan Roberts admitted he deliberately stamped on Muscat in a match against Norwich City in revenge for his attempt to injure Craig Bellamy in 1999. Roberts was subsequently fined and suspended by the FA for his comments.^[14][15]

In December 2005, he was the first A-League player to appear before a FFA disciplinary hearing and was subsequently suspended for two matches for "violent conduct".^[16] At an A-league game in October 2006 Muscat clashed with then Adelaide United coach John Kosmina, knocking Kosmina from his chair while retrieving the ball. Kosmina responded by grabbing Muscat by the throat, an action for which Kosmina was suspended for four matches.^[17][18]

Muscat's dominant personality and aggressive style has equally won him admirers and detractors in the A-League, with former England international Terry Butcher stating "Every manager in the A-League would love to have Kevin, and I'm no exception".^[19]

[edit] Honours

With Australia:

• FIFA Confederations Cup: 1997 (Runners-Up)
• OFC Nations Cup: 2000, 2004

With Melbourne Victory:

• A-League Championship: 2006-2007, 2008-2009
• A-League Premiership: 2006-2007, 2008-2009

With Rangers FC:

• SPL Championship: 2002-2003
• Scottish Cup: 2002-2003
• Scottish League Cup: 2002-2003

With Millwall:

• FA Cup: 2004 (Runners-Up)

Personal Honours:

• FFV Weinstein Medal: 1990
• NSL Papasavas Medal (U-21): 1991-1992
• Melbourne Victory Victory Medal: 2005-2006, 2006-2007, 2008-2009

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Melbourne Victory profile
• Oz Football profile
• Kevin Muscat career stats at Soccerbase

v • d • e Australia squad – 1996 Summer Olympics 1 Jurić • 2 Lozanovski • 3 Moric • 4 Babic • 5 Muscat • 6 Horvat • 7 Tsekenis • 8 Corica • 9 Viduka • 10 Vidmar • 11 Tiatto • 12 Spiteri • 13 Foxe • 14 Agostino • 15 Casserly • 16 Enes • 17 Aloisi • 18 Petkovic • Coach: Thomson

v • d • e Australia squad – 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup Runners-up 1 Bosnich • 2 Horvat • 3 Lazaridis • 4 Ivanović • 5 Tobin • 6 Zelić • 7 Slater • 8 Foster • 9 Viduka • 10 A. Vidmar • 11 Kewell • 12 Bingley • 13 Hooker • 14 T. Vidmar • 15 Skoko • 16 Trimboli • 17 Mori • 18 Aloisi • 19 Tapai • 20 Kalac • 21 Muscat • Coach: Venables

v • d • e Australia squad – 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup 1 Schwarzer • 2 Muscat • 3 Moore • 4 Okon • 5 T. Vidmar • 6 Popovic • 7 Skoko • 8 Lazaridis • 9 Aloisi • 10 Emerton • 11 Zdrilic • 12 Bolton • 13 Bresciano • 14 Murphy • 15 Foxe • 16 Horvat • 17 Corica • 18 Chipperfield • 19 A. Vidmar • 20 Zane • 21 Thompson • 22 Sterjovski • 23 Jurić • Coach: Farina

v • d • e Australia squad – 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup 1 Schwarzer • 2 Muscat • 3 Moore • 4 Neill • 5 T. Vidmar • 6 Popovic • 7 Emerton • 8 Skoko • 9 Viduka • 10 Cahill • 11 Chipperfield • 12 Petkovic • 13 Wilkshire • 14 Colosimo • 15 Aloisi • 16 Zdrilic • 17 McKain • 18 Kalac • 19 Čulina • 20 Miličević • 21 Elrich • 22 Thompson • 23 Sterjovski • Coach: Farina