Nix star on baby watch
The impending birth of his first child could see Oskar Zawada miss Wellington Phoenix’s next match, against Sydney FC in Auckland.
The prolific Pole will be on baby watch this week with his wife due to give birth on Saturday, the day before the Phoenix play the Sky Blues at Eden Park.
The 1.92m-tall Zawada would leave a giant hole in the Phoenix lineup.
Zawada took his season goal tally to 11 after converting a first-half penalty in their 2-1 win over Newcastle Jets at Sky Stadium on Saturday.
The 27-year-old blasted his penalty straight down the middle to double the Phoenix’s lead on the cusp of halftime after his initial header led to the Jets’ handball.
With his 11 goals coming in just 14 games, Zawada is growing a reputation as one of the A-League Men’s most lethal strikers.
That was evident against the Jets, with Zawada limping into the media room after the game with torn socks from all the kicks he had copped to his ankles.
While he seemed frustrated by the lack of protection from the officials, Zawada wore his ripped socks like a badge of honour.
‘‘The defenders take care about me more now than before but this is a compliment and I appreciate that,’’ he said.
‘‘Hopefully I’m still going to score goals and it’s not going to disturb the way I want to play.
‘‘This is normal but what is not normal is the referee doesn’t whistle the fouls. Every game is like this.
‘‘If I touch a defender they whistle everything, even a small foul. But if they kick me and you can see it on my socks, they do nothing.
‘‘But it’s OK, I’m not going to complain. I’m a strong striker and it isn’t going to hurt me.’’
Sitting on four yellow cards, one away from a suspension, Zawada did not let the Jets defenders get under his skin.
‘‘In the last games I cannot fight as much, like I did in the beginning of the season. But there’s only two more games and I can do it again, so I just have to keep control of myself.’’
Zawada has exceeded all expectations in his first season with the Phoenix, including his own.
The former Wolfsburg youth player set himself a target of scoring 10 goals. He managed that in just 18 games.
Now that he has surpassed the 10-goal mark, Zawada said he just wanted to score as many goals as he could.
‘‘There are seven games left so there’s seven chances to score more goals,’’ he said.
‘‘I achieved my goal from before the season. I don’t have a target now but I’m still hungry to score more goals and win more goals.
‘‘Nothing has changed my mentality. I’m still focused and still want to work hard and develop myself and win games for the Phoenix.’’