Phoenix star back in frame

It is good news for Kosta Barbarouses that he doesn’t appear to be in Anthony Hudson’s five per cent.

All Whites coach Hudson names his 23-man pre-Confederations Cup squad on Friday, following a five-day training camp with mostly Australasian-based players in Auckland.

Fleet-footed Phoenix winger Barbarouses is there, returning to the fold after he was a shock omission for a pair of World Cup qualifiers against Fiji in March.

Barbarouses, capped 37 times at senior international level, responded with a strong finish to the A-League season in mid-April.

Combine that with his efforts during the opening two days of the mini-camp at New Zealand Football HQ at Albany, and Hudson indicated one of his most experienced charges had earned back his spot.

‘‘I’m 95 per cent there with [selection],’’ the New Zealand coach said yesterday.

‘‘I know Kosta well enough to know what he can do. This camp just tells me where [these players’] minds have been in the last three or four weeks. I can tell in the first session where they’ve been mentally.

‘‘[Barbarouses has] done really well and some of the things I was looking for I saw.

‘‘Kosta, at his best, I can’t leave him out but I want him at his best all the time. I’m really pleased with his response. He has a great attitude and he is great around the team.’’

Barbarouses, who has been keeping his activity levels up since the end of the A-League season with the other Wellington-based All Whites, says that chat has been and gone. Whatever was mentioned in that discussion, though, the diminutive 27-year-old clearly took it on board, scoring two goals and setting up several others during the last four games of the Phoenix campaign.

Being dropped from the national team, after playing 12 of Hudson’s first 15 games in charge, had been just the jolt Barbarouses said he needed.

‘‘It was a bit of a wake-up call, and it’s great to be back involved.

‘‘I just want to show what I can do again. I had a good reaction to [not making] the last camp.

‘‘[I feel like] I’ve deserved it and it’s come from hard work. I’ve got to continue that this week and force my way into the team.’’

Barbarouses felt his nonselection was a product of an environment where all players were fighting for their spot and constantly had a point to prove.

Under-20 midfielders Clayton Lewis and Moses Dyer and defender Dane Ingham are all in the running to make the Confederations Cup squad, while uncapped duo Myer Bevan and Noah Billingsley are also on Hudson’s radar.

The All Whites face hosts Russia (June 18), Mexico (June 22) and Portugal (June 25) at the Confederations Cup.

"I just want to show what I can do again." Kosta Barbarouses, above