Soccer: Sigmund ready to build on life changing year

Ben Sigmund. Photo / Getty Images

A football should weigh between 420 and 445 grams. A newborn baby should weigh about 3.2kg (7lb).

Ben Sigmund's baby boy weighed closer to a football at just 715 grams (1lb 9oz) when he was born 16 weeks prematurely last year.

To make matters worse, he was born a week before Sigmund was due to fly out with the All Whites for the World Cup in South Africa.

The greatest adventure of his footballing career was played out against the backdrop of uncertainty at home.

But, much like the way his father plays football, Cameron Sigmund has fighting qualities and is now letting everyone around him know he's there.

"He's found his lungs, so he must be healthy," Sigmund says a little ruefully.

"He's still not out of the woods and picks up bugs and viruses very easily because his immune system hasn't quite kicked in. But, apart from that, everything is hunky-dory.

"It's challenging. It's life-changing. But I think we have adapted pretty well."

It was the biggest thing to happen in a big year for Sigmund. It began with the Phoenix's great run in the A-League playoffs and culminated with the World Cup but the 29-year-old played little part on the field in either.

A three-match suspension for striking Melbourne Victory's Adrian Leijer saw him lose his place in Wellington's starting side and he was restricted to cameos off the bench. The emergence of Winston Reid and Tommy Smith also scuppered his chances of playing at the World Cup.

"It was hard," he says. "When I was suspended, the week before I came back, the team clicked and won away from home against Central Coast. From then on, the team didn't change much. It's always tough to watch from the sidelines but the good thing was I still travelled with the team.

"I still played a big part in the Phoenix. I think that's why we were so successful last year. Every-one was ready and focused, whether a sub or coaching staff. It takes a whole outfit for a team to succeed."

Wellington are showing signs of getting back to that place this season. Sigmund has played a large part in that resurgence and has been excellent in recent weeks.

It started with a man-of-the-match performance in last month's 2-1 victory over Adelaide in his hometown Christchurch - "I don't know what happened there," he says, "I think someone gave me a bit of magic for about 45 minutes" - and has continued since.

He's never going to be able to play the libero role mastered by 'Der Kaiser', Franz Beckenbauer, but he has played with confidence and authority and has helped the Phoenix look more assured at the back.

Earlier in the season, they looked leakier than some of Auckland's homes and conceded 32 goals in 19 games. Since that Adelaide result, they have let in a more respectable four in five games, including two clean sheets.

"It was pretty disappointing personally [when things weren't going well] because you pride yourself on stopping goals and that's what our job is," Sigmund says. "It was frustrating. The worst thing was we didn't really know what was going wrong and where it was going wrong.

"We have done well in the last six weeks. We haven't conceded too many goals, especially in the last four.

"We are pretty passionate about the way we defend at the Phoenix and we want to keep that consistency going."

It has helped that coach Ricki Herbert has had a more settled side from which to choose. The squad has been dogged by injuries, suspensions and international call-ups and, while still without Paul Ifill (ankle) and Jade North (Asian Cup), Herbert is expected to put out an unchanged side against Perth in Wellington today.

It is a must-win match. With six games remaining and three of them on the road, Wellington have to pick up maximum points at the Cake Tin to maintain their push for the playoffs.

But those six games will be played in the space of only three weeks and Sigmund isn't the only one suffering from a niggling injury. He picked up a foot injury in the last match against Central Coast and will have to monitor it for the rest of the season.

"You get to the end of the season and everyone is buggered," he says. "But you know your chances of getting in the top six are there, so you just give it everything."