Soccer-New Zealand's Payne handling viral social media fame well, says bewildered coach

By Ian Ransom

> June 2 (Reuters) - New Zealand defender Tim Payne is taking his sudden social media fame in his stride as he prepares for the World Cup, bringing unexpected ‌attention to the tournament's lowest-ranked nation.

> In less than a week, Payne's Instagram account has exploded ‌from 4,715 followers to 4.2 million after an Argentine influencer decided he was the least-known player at the World Cup and ​urged his audience to give him likes, comments and follows.

> New Zealand coach Darren Bazeley admitted he did not really understand the mechanics of viral social media but said Payne was handling it all well.

> "I'm not very social media-savvy. From my understanding it's obviously a big deal, the numbers they're talking about is huge," Bazeley ‌told reporters in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

> "I ⁠think Tim's dealing with it really well.

> "He's probably the type of person who doesn't get over-excited with too much. He knows why he's here and what ⁠he wants to get from this tournament, from this tour.

> "But I don't really understand the mechanics behind numbers and what that means.

> "I'm sure the boys are giving him a bit of stick along the way. I think ​he's got ​a song and stuff like that."

> Influencer Valen Scarsini, known ​as "elscarso" on Instagram and TikTok, lit the ‌fuse last week when he made a video encouraging his followers to show their support for the Wellington Phoenix defender.

> Payne's Instagram audience has since outstripped most New Zealand athletes and public figures, including cricketer Kane Williamson (3.3 million followers) and the All Blacks rugby team (2.8m).

> Payne posted a video last Friday thanking Scarsini in Spanish and saying it had been a "pretty crazy 48 hours".

> His feed is peppered with good will messages ‌in multiple languages.

> "Our GOAT. No Payne, no gain," wrote one ​follower.

> Scarsini posted on his own Instagram feed that he was ​set to fly to Florida to watch ​the All Whites' World Cup warmup friendly against Haiti and would meet Payne ‌after the game later on Tuesday.

> "Sometimes you think ​you won't see anything ​that's different. It's a game of football, 11 v 11, same pitch, same ball," said Bazeley.

> "But we've come here and something different has happened with this."

> New Zealand midfielder Marko Stamenic told reporters ​he was really happy for ‌Payne and was sure it would not go to his head.

> "It honestly just shows the ​power of social media," he said.

> "He's fully focused on what task we have here."

> (Reporting ​by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)