Wellington Phoenix captain Alex Rufer and men’s player of the season Kosta Barbarouses have been named in the All Whites squad for next month’s Canadian Shield tournament.
New Zealand will play Côte d’Ivoire and Ukraine at BMO Field in Toronto, one of the host venues for next year’s FIFA World Cup.
Rufer (19 caps) and Barbarouses (67 caps) were part of the All Whites squad which qualified for the World Cup for just the third time in March by helping New Zealand break a halftime deadlock to beat New Caledonia 3-0 in the Oceania qualifiers final at Eden Park in Auckland.
They were both second half substitutes with Barbarouses scoring New Zealand’s second goal and providing the assist for the third.
Phoenix fullback Tim Payne, who started both the Oceania qualifiers semi-final and final, is unavailable for the All Whites next month as his partner is expecting their first child.
The All Whites will play Côte d’Ivoire on Saturday, June 7 (Sunday, June 8 NZT) before playing Ukraine on the following Tuesday (Wednesday NZT).
All matches at the Canadian Shield tournament will have a winner, with games to be decided by a penalty shootout if they’re level after 90 minutes and stoppage time.
Teams will be awarded three points for a win, two points for a shootout win and one for a draw.
The matches can be watched live and free on FIFA+.
