Red card costly for Barbarouses
A red card in a World Cup playoff against Costa Rica three months ago has cost Kosta Barbarouses a place in the All Whites squad for this week’s centenary matches against Australia.
The Wellington Phoenix striker started the last time the All Whites played the Socceroos, when they lost 3-0 at the Adelaide Oval 11 years ago.
He would have loved a second crack at the country he called home during stints with Brisbane Roar, Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC, but Barbarouses was told a couple of weeks after the 1-0 defeat to Costa Rica in June that he had been slapped with a two-game suspension for serious foul play.
Following video assistant referee intervention, Barbarouses was shown a red card for a rash challenge which connected with Francisco Calvo’s ankle 10 minutes after coming on as a second-half substitute.
New Zealand Football was also fined 5000 CHF (NZ$8700) following the incident.
Barbarouses said he was absolutely gutted to be unavailable to play Australia in Brisbane on Thursday and Auckland on Sunday, especially as the second game will be the All Whites’ first on home soil since 2017.
‘‘It’s really gutting,’’ Barbarouses said. ‘‘Apart from World Cup qualifiers or a World Cup itself, these are probably the worst games to miss because they’re the best ones to play in.’’
Barbarouses has a strong connection to Australia as he lived there for the best part of a decade.
He said it was a shame the All Whites and the Socceroos have barely played each other since Australia left the Oceania confederation.
Now 32, he hoped it would not be another 11 years before they met again.
‘‘I know they’re playing in Asia now but in terms of a rival they’re probably our main one, and that’s no disrespect to the island teams,’’ he said.
‘‘Historically when we do play against them, like at the MCG before the South Africa World Cup and how fiery that was, I think you, me and everyone would love to see it become an annual fixture if possible.
‘‘I know other codes most of their players are playing domestically so it’s a lot easier but if there’s any way we can make it even a biennial series, I think it’s a no-brainer for me.’’
Barbarouses is one of several All Whites who will miss the two matches, with Marco Rojas opting to remain at his new Chilean club Colo-Colo, and Ryan Thomas, Sarpreet Singh, Tommy Smith, Niko Kirwan and Francis de Vries all nursing long-term injuries.
But despite the long list of absences, Barbarouses said he was still backing the All Whites to beat the Aussies.
‘‘We even discussed it after the Costa Rica game. We’re going into this series to win,’’ Barbarouses said.
‘‘I think the boys are going to go great and we’ll go in expecting a result. That’s how confident we are, and I know [coach] Danny [Hay] and the staff will be going in thinking about getting two wins and nothing less.’’