Liberato Cacace of New Zealand.
Photo: Andrew Lahodynskyj / www.photosport.nz
The injury list is growing for the All Whites ahead of their next internationals.
There are now six front-line players unavailable for this month’s games against Colombia and Ecuador.
Liberato Cacace, Callum McCowatt, Alex Paulsen and Ryan Thomas have all been ruled out of the squad with injury.
The four join Tim Payne and captain Chris Wood who were not named in the original squad for the games.
In their place James McGarry (Brisbane Roar), Owen Parker-Price (Örgryte), Jesse Randall (Auckland FC) and Nik Tzanev (Newport County) have all been called up.
Defender Tommy Smith has also been added to the squad to provide additional experience on and off the pitch.
“It is normal for us to lose a player or two with injury but it is really unfortunate to lose six regular starters like this ahead of two big games,” coach Darren Bazeley said.
“This is football though and it opens the door for other players to come in and take their opportunities to impress.
“We want to be testing ourselves in as many situations as we could face at the FIFA World Cup and while we always want to have our strongest team available, this will give us the chance to see how we address a challenge like this.”
The All Whites will face Colombia in Florida on Sunday (16 Nov NZ time) and Ecuador in New Jersey three days later.
Colombia are ranked 13 in the world and Ecuador 23.
They are the highest ranked nations New Zealand has played as a part of their World Cup preparations.
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