Birchall reveals World Cup torment:

ROTENBURG: Should World Cup minnows Trinidad and Tobago pull off another upset against England on Thursday, expect the Caribbean islands to party like never before.

Just don’t expect Chris Birchall to join in the celebrations though.

The Stafford-born midfielder is the first white player to represent Trinidad and Tobago in 60 years, as well as the first Port Vale player to appear in the finals.

“If I score against England, I won’t celebrate,” said Birchall. “I respect England — it’s the country where I’m from. On the off chance I score against them, I won’t disrespect England by celebrating.”

Birchall’s appearance at the finals in one of the quirkier stories of the tournament.

It all started during a routine fixture in the third tier of English football between Vale and Wrexham last year. Wrexham’s Trinidad defender Dennis Lawrence sidled up to Birchall and asked him where his mother was born.

“Port-of-Spain, Trinidad,” a puzzled Birchall replied and the rest was history. Lawrence put Birchall in touch with the TT squad’s British liasion officer and soon he was drafted into Dutch legend Leo Beenhakker’s squad.

Soon Birchall had established himself in the islanders’ midfield.

Now the 22-year-old, who cheered England to the World Cup quarter-finals in 2002 from his local pub in Stone, has swapped Stoke-on-Trent for Germany.

Birchall’s last outing for Port Vale, who finished 13th in League One, was in front of a crowd of 4,478. Trinidad and Tobago’s opening group game with Sweden on Saturday — a shock 0-0 draw — attracted a 67,000 crowd. “It’s still sinking in,” added Birchall. “I’m used to playing in front of crowds of 5,000 in League One and I’ve only just completed my second full season at Port Vale.

“Now I’ve got a chance to play against England on the biggest stage in the world.”

Birchall admits he could have found himself facing Trinidad and Tobago if things had gone to plan earlier in his career.

He attracted a lot of interest while emerging as a star of Port Vale’s youth team and was watched by England scouts at under-18 level.

“Who knows what might have happened if I’d been selected for England then?” said Birchall.

“But it never happened. I knew scouts from the England youth team watched me, but that’s as close as I came to being picked for my country.”

Birchall has praised his ‘‘Soca Warriors’’ team-mates for welcoming him into the Trinidad and Tobago set up. He admits he was worried how he would be received by players and supporters when he first joined the team in training for the first time before making his competitive debut in the 1-0 World Cup qualifying win over Panama last October.

But those fears were quickly dispelled when he scored in a 1-1 draw with Honduras in the CONCACAF Gold Cup before his memorable goal in the 2-1 aggregate play-off win over Bahrain, which booked Trinidad and Tobago’s ticket to Germany.

“I half expected a bit of animosity when I was first called up,” added Birchall.

“I expected players and fans to be asking who is this English lad who’s in our team?

“But I can’t believe how everyone has taken to me. The players and fans have all made me feel very welcome.”

Birchall is also pleased to have acquired a degree of respect from his Vale team-mates since his international career began. “I used to get plenty of stick from the lads when I first went over,” he added.

“They would say ‘Why are you going over? You’ll never qualify!’ “But to be fair, they have been great, they have wished me all the best and are now asking me for tickets all the time!”

(AFP)