New Zealand's Tim Payne meets the man who made him famous

[p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/payne-tim/Gd2DkZCC/"]Payne[/a]'s follower count on Instagram ballooned from 4,000 last week to nearly 5 million after Argentinian influencer Valen Scarsini, known as "[i]El Scarso[/i]", called for his fans to boost the unheralded All Whites defender's following.[/p][p]The two met for the first time at [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/new-zealand/rLctHkpU/"]New Zealand[/a]'s training camp in Florida onWednesday, with Payne thanking El Scarso for his support and gifting him with a signed playing top.[/p][p]"[b]It's obviously good for myself and New Zealand football too[/b]," Payne said.[/p][p]"It puts a light on us which is a positive thing but at the same time, for me, I don't change.[/p][p]"[b]I'm still the person I am, so I just keep trying to do what I do which is play football and focus on trying to perform for my country.[/b]"[/p][embed guid="a8bca58e-1b21-49c8-a1ae-298c65cdf0bb" url="https://www.instagram.com/timpayne__/reel/DZIk34Pz-jr/?hl=en" social-type="instagram" /][p]Payne's Instagram account now has more followers than any other New Zealand sporting account, other than UFC star Israel Adesanya's 8.2 million following.[/p][p]He has surpassed cricketer Kane Williamson on 3.3 million and the All Blacks rugby team on 2.8 million.[/p][p]On the field things are going less well for the New Zealand team, who suffered a heavy 4-0 defeat to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/haiti/nk4v10Z1/"]Haiti[/a] in a World Cup warm-up on Wednesday.[/p][p]They play [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/england/j9N9ZNFA/"]England[/a] on Sunday in their final friendly before the World Cup begins.[/p][p]New Zealand plays [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/iran/xrRx85iA/"]Iran[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/egypt/bejDn7NN/"]Egypt[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/belgium/GbB957na/"]Belgium[/a] in their World Cup pool.[/p]