Soccer: Paston broken but not bowed

Mark Paston. Photo / Getty Images

Mark Paston watched all 14 episodes of Prison Break Season 3 inside two days.

He's hoping he might receive a few more DVDs for Christmas. Invalided with a broken leg and told to rest for at least six weeks, Paston has become a regular on the family couch at his Wellington home.

There's one DVD, though, the 33-year-old is not rushing to watch - a copy of the All Whites' famous 1-0 victory over Bahrain, when Paston crucially saved a penalty to help New Zealand qualify for June's World Cup.

It was something his father sent him in the afterglow of World Cup qualification.

It's not that he's not proud of what he and his team-mates achieved that night, it's just he hasn't felt the need to re-live it.

There have been plenty of others doing that for him. Even this week, Paston was stopped on the street - admittedly he wasn't going that fast as he grappled with his crutches - and congratulated for the 27,486th time.

Being in the public eye is not something Paston enjoys. He's a reluctant hero and in the days and weeks after that save, he felt uncomfortable receiving so much adulation.

Kids in the playground even stopped pretending to be Dan Carter or Richie McCaw and wanted to be Mark Paston. For a few days, at least.

"I would advise those kids to be a striker," Paston jokes. "They would earn a lot more money and not be blamed as much as goalkeepers are when they make mistakes.

"It's nice to hear, though. Kids growing up don't normally want to be goalkeepers. They are normally lumped there on the pitch because they aren't that good playing anywhere else.

"It's been a crazy few weeks. It's been a bit of a blur. It still seems like it didn't happen. Like it was a dream. It has been good but [receiving all the attention is] not me. A big part of being a footballer is being in a team and relying on each other, whether it's your club or your country. It's not about one person because you win and lose together.

"I deal with the media normally but not to that degree. It was pretty intense and pretty tiring so it was a relief just to get back to training."

It was there, though, that Paston was brought back to earth when he collided with Phoenix skipper Andrew Durante during a training game. Initially it was thought Paston had a dead leg. He missed one A-League game but returned for the next against Melbourne only to pull up afterwards with considerable swelling.

An MRI scan revealed a fracture of the tibia and Paston underwent surgery last Friday. With six weeks of total rest and another six of rehabilitation, his A-League season is over.

"It hasn't really hit me," Paston admits. "I don't feel that low, I just feel disappointed, but life is like that at times. Maybe that will change in a month when I am still on the crutches.

"I have had a few injuries in my career. During my time in England, I had three operations which wrecked my time there.

"I'm pretty positive about this, especially as I was told I was very lucky not to snap my cruciate [ligament in my knee]."

If that had happened, Paston probably wouldn't be going to the World Cup. Recovery from those types of injuries can take a year.

It would have been a nightmare scenario for All Whites coach Ricki Herbert, considering Glen Moss is suspended for the first two games at the World Cup. There's little difference in quality between Paston and Moss but there's a considerable gap below them.

As much as Paston can see the silver lining, he was in career-best form for club and country when the injury hit.

He had played only 10 A-League games in two years, playing second fiddle to Moss, but was in top form after a string of games this season. He was finally the undisputed No 1 at the Phoenix after Moss joined Melbourne and was enjoying the security of selection.

He was excellent in both games against Bahrain, making a handful of important saves, but he will forever be known for the penalty. Images of that save low down to his right, as well as Rory Fallon's header, will play over and over just as Wynton Rufer's strike against China and Grant Turner's header against Australia have been for the past 27 years.

Paston revealed afterwards he had guessed the right way to go. The bench had been trying to get a message out to him, via striker Shane Smeltz, who was pointing to the direction Paston should go. Smeltz didn't want to tell Paston directly because Bahraini defender Sayed Mohamed Adnan might see that and then change his mind.

"I heard before the game that someone had done some research but, at the time, I didn't think about it," Paston says. "There was plenty of pressure out there. Shane Smeltz was pointing which direction I should go but I wasn't looking at anyone.

"I had made up my mind pretty early which way I was going to go and I didn't want any distractions. Sometimes you get a feeling so I stuck to that."

And the ball stuck in his hands.

Paston hasn't given much thought to the World Cup, even though he now has plenty of time to think. His approach to football has always been to not look too far ahead. "Otherwise you can lose focus," he says.

Instead, he will head to Hawke's Bay for a couple of weeks with his wife Amy and four-month-old son Jack because, as he says, he's not much use to the Phoenix.

"My wife says she's looking after two babies at the moment," he says.

Towards the end of January, the hard work of rehabilitation will begin. By that time, he might be so desperate for something to do that maybe he will watch the playoff against Bahrain.

All football fans in this country will agree that's something worth watching.