Kosta Barbarouses says Socceroos have fighting chance against Peru in Russia

The All Whites were vanquished by Peru, but Kosta Barbarouses has some vital intelligence for the Socceroos — and two of his Melbourne Victory teammates.

New Zealand and Victory star Kosta Barbarouses.

KOSTA Barbarouses says the Socceroos have a great chance of beating Peru at the World Cup.

And the New Zealand international has wasted no time feeding Melbourne Victory teammates Mark Milligan and James Troisi intelligence about one of Australia’s group stages opponents for next year’s tournament.

The All Whites lost 2-0 to Peru over two legs last month in a last-ditch playoff to make it to Russia.

Defensive midfielder Renato Tapia (in red) is one player the Socceroos need to be wary of at the World Cup. Picture: Getty Images

Now the Socceroos have been drawn alongside the South Americans.

Barbarouses said it was heartbreaking to fall short of making the World Cup, but he has been happy to channel some of that disappointment into helping Victory teammates, and Socceroos, Milligan and Troisi.

“Since the draw has come out I’ve already told them some things I noticed in playing against them. Every little bit can help,” Barbarouses said.

Defender Christian Ramos scored against the All Whites, but at the other end of the pitch he may be a player the Socceroos can exploit. Picture: AFP

“I think they’ve got a great chance to get three points from that game.

“Peru try to stabilise the midfield quite a bit. It was one thing that was tough to notice on the videos that we watched coming up to play against them.

“The midfield looked ordinary on the footage we saw, but in the game it’s actually quite structured and the defensive midfielder (Renato Tapia) is quite a tidy player.

“Definitely their weakness is their two centre halves (Christian Ramos and Alberto Rodriguez). Their fullbacks are decent, but in the centre of defence, if you can get balls in behind them in the channels or even centrally I think you can hurt them.”

Originally published as Kosta Barbarouses says Socceroos have fighting chance against Peru in Russia