With Melbourne Victory facing a hectic schedule over the next couple months, forward Kosta Barbarouses revealed that he has been selected for the New Zealand national side ahead of a friendly on March 3rd.
New Zealand will travel all the way to Japan for an international friendly sandwiched between two massive games for the Victory, the derby on March 1st and Central Coast Mariners on March 7th.
Barbarouses admitted that it was a bittersweet decision but his loyalties lay with the All Whites.
“I think because its a FIFA window you can’t really [skip international duty], but obviously I’d love to stay and help the boys as much as I can,” Barbarouses said.
“I’m big on helping the team but those things just happen and you can’t really do anything about it.”
The Kiwi also conceded that coach Kevin Muscat did attempt to persuade him otherwise, but he was determined to join his fellow national teammates in Japan.
“Its good to play for your country as well, if I could make everyone happy I would but you just can’t sometimes,” he said.
The timing is hardly ideal for Victory with the 24-year-old adding more distance to travel on top of the expected 62 000km for Melbourne over the next few months.
In a positive for the Victory, the forward has been recovering well from an ankle injury he had sustained only three weeks ago, and has eased his way back into the squad after successfully completing 65 minutes in last weeks Asian Champions League play off tie.
“[It] feels good, obviously the boss eased me into it, played 65 minutes last weekend so the next few games I just have to ease into it a bit but I’m feeling pretty good,” he said.
“They were looking at maybe more [weeks out] so we actually took good care of it and I’m happy to be back pretty soon.
“[There is a] little bit [of soreness] but [I’m] dealing with it and getting through it so its all good.”