Great white hope
By Stewart Fisher (Sunday Herald)
TRINIDAD and Tobago will be relying on the loyalties of some unorthodox Soca Warriors this summer. Not only can the island Caribbean nation already lay claim to the support of the Tartan Army, they can also be sure of the efforts of a wholehearted 21-year-old from the Midlands when they take on Group B rivals England in Nuremberg on June 15.
Four years after watching his beloved England take on the world from his local in the Staffordshire town of Stone, Chris Birchall has blazed an unlikely trail to the epicentre of world football. Not only is he the first white player for 60 years to play for Trinidad and Tobago, the country of his mother Jenny’s birth, but he is also the first Port Vale player to appear at the World Cup finals.
“I still can’t believe it,” said the winger, who plays in a more central role for his country. “Me playing on the biggest stage against the best players in the world. In particular, I can’t wait for the England game. I still want England to do well – if they don’t knock us out. I think they have one of the best squads they have ever had and with the players they’ve got they could go far.”
A stunning 30-yard strike in the playoffs against Bahrain means there is little doubt that Birchall has earned his place in Germany, but as late as April last year the player was still pottering around in the Potteries. During a routine Championship League One match against Wrexham, mammoth T&T defender Dennis Lawrence sidled up to him for confirmation that he was indeed eligible for the Soca Warriors. When he answered in the affirmative, the conference duly continued after the game, and before long Lawrence had put him in touch with Mike Berry, who liaises with all Trinidad’s British-based players.
A call-up for the qualifying matches against Panama and Mexico soon followed, fortunately co-inciding with the arrival of veteran Dutch coach Leo Beenhakker and an unlikely upturn in the nation’s fortunes. Birchall has found the entire qualifying experience, clinched with a two-legged play-off against Bahrain, a humbling one. After the away leg victory, Dwight Yorke and Russell Latapy were in floods of tears, and Birchall already regards both Latapy and Rangers defender Marvin Andrews as good friends.
“I didn’t realise just how important the game was to him [Latapy],” Birchall said. “He is coming to the end of his time as a player, and after it he just said it meant so much to him, and thanks to me for playing a part. When I was first introduced to the lads it felt a bit like a screen test, but people in Trinidad, they always seem so relaxed. I am also good friends with big Marvin, he is such a friendly guy.”
At the time of his change of allegiance, Birchall’s father Phil had expressed concerns about whether his son would be accepted by the Port of Spain home crowd, but there is little doubt at the moment. Aside from a minor controversy when he had to have the words to the T&T national anthem written down for him to learn, such worries have been overcome with the minimum of fuss.
“That was one of the main things I was worried about, but everything has been fine,” Birchall said. “Not only was I a white guy playing for Trinidad and Tobago for the first time in 60 years but I was also from England – so that is why it has been so great the way I have been accepted. I have been to the local nightclubs and met a lot of the local people.”
His mother was even flown out as guest of honour to the qualifying game against Mexico, at the behest of Trinidad and Tobago’s Concacaf boss Jack Warner.
T&T have no pedigree in the world game, but Beenhakker is the kind of coach who can use that as a weapon. “I don’t think anyone expected us to qualify in the first place,” Birchall said. “I think even the lads were a bit surprised but Beenhakker in not the kind of guy who is going to go anywhere just to make up the numbers. He has brought a lot of confidence to the team so who knows? Nine times out of 10 you would expect England and Sweden to get through but if we can get a point from England or Sweden then who knows what will happen?”
At his age, and stage of his career, Birchall himself can hardly lose after a three-week training camp in Austria is out of the way. “For the month or so that we’re going to be there I am just going to enjoy it all, drink it all in,” he said. “Most of our experienced players know this will be the last chance, the youth set-up is not quite up to standard. In the last four games he [Beenhakker] has been playing Stern John as a striker, with Dwight Yorke back in midfield so I just do his donkey work.”
