International Appearances - Kevin Muscat
Last updated : 08 February 2008 By Neil Andrews
 | Kevin Muscat |
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Australia
Caps: 4 (of 50)
Goals: 10It has to be said that Kevin Muscat and Millwall were, for many, a match made in hell. The club's anthem of "No one likes us" was rather apt for the tough-tackling, uncompromising Aussie defender who picked up more enemies than did honours during his time in football - and he won a fair few honours it has to be said. But despite his many indiscretions, including picking up a red card for an unnecessary stamping in his second game for The Lions, the crowd at The Den came to love the former Crystal Palace, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Rangers player as he led the club to the FA Cup for the one and only time in their history.
Muscat was one of former manager Mark McGhee's last signings. He arrived at the club at the beginning of the 2003/04 season from Glasgow Rangers - where he was banned from playing in the Auld Firm Derby in case he incited the crowd - and became club captain under Dennis Wise, who took over from McGhee in October following a string of poor results. Under Wise the club began to make steady, if unspectacular, progress in both the Cup and the League and were on the crest of a wave that would lead to the club playing in Europe the following season. And Muscat played a big part in that.
His no-nonsense style of playing - not to mention the odd, aggressive streak - proved popular amongst the fans but lurking behind the "hard man" reputation was a talented player who could actually play the game. Strong in defence, he proved equally useful coming forward and could whip a ball in with alarming accuracy - usually for striker Danny Dichio to nod home - setting up the winner in The Lions' Fifth Round victory over Burnley.
But the later rounds of the FA Cup would prove to be unlucky for Muscat. After missing a penalty that would have negated the need for a replay against Tranmere Rovers in the Quarter Finals, he picked up a knee ligament injury in the semi-final against Sunderland that would rule him out of the final - much to the glee of those who harshly felt that he'd got his come-uppance. Thanks to Wise he still lead The Lions out onto the pitch but his presence was missed on it as Ronaldo run riot (although there is little doubt that the Portuguese winger would have got short-shrift had Muscat played!).
He returned the following year to lead Millwall into Europe and the UEFA Cup but with the club going through turmoil behind the scenes he opted to return to his "native" Australia the following summer to see out his career in the newly formed A-League with Melbourne Victory.
Surprisingly, despite the club enjoying one of the most successful periods in their history, Muscat won very few caps while he was with The Lions, although he did play against the Republic of Ireland a week before he joined the club and took part in the Confederations Cup shortly after he left The Den. And when Guus Hiddink took over he found himself dropped from the national side altogether, missing out on the 2006 World Cup. He would eventually win his place back in the Socceroos side, but like his time with Millwall he missed out on the big occasion when it really mattered. Perhaps the football gods were paying him back for all those rash challenges after all…