Thursday, December 4 2008

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CHRIS BIRCHALL...

LONDON: Two years ago, it was Gerrard and Lampard on the game’s biggest stage in front of 41,000 fans. On Monday, it was the Accrington Stanley reserve left-back at a mostly empty Brunton Park.

If Chris Birchall could pick and choose his opponents, every game would be like the afternoon in the World Cup of 2006 when he lined up for Trinidad and Tobago against England’s finest and performed admirably against unpromising odds.

However, not even a Soca Warrior is immune to the game’s fluctuating fortunes, as Birchall is now discovering as he tries to bring his career back to life at Carlisle United.

While his international exploits brought the midfielder plenty of acclaim and a high-profile move from Port Vale to Coventry, recent times at the Ricoh Arena have seen Birchall cast onto the sidelines after the manager who signed him — Micky Adams — was dismissed.

Frustrations under Iain Dowie and Chris Coleman eventually led to last Thursday’s loan move to United, and the prospect of first-team football again for the 24-year-old, who has been asked a thousand times about his World Cup exploits but prefers now to focus on the future.

“At the time it was just a blur,” he said of his experiences of Germany ’06, which also included matches against Paraguay and Sweden.

“I was only about 22 at the time and when you get an experience like that, you just want to play well — that’s all you think about.

“I think everyone expected us to get whipped every game but we did well.

At the time you don’t realise what a massive event it is.

I’ve played 31 times now for Trinidad and it has been a brilliant experience.

Playing with players of that calibre, going to different countries and playing there — it’s priceless. “But I just want to come and play well for Carlisle now and that’s what this move is all about.” Consultations with Coventry’s former United goalkeeper Keiren Westwood, and two former Vale team-mates now in the Blues ranks (Jeff Smith, Marc Bridge-Wilkinson), convinced Birchall to make the loan move to Cumbria, the place where he hopes his exasperation at life on the margins will quickly end.

Having been starved of first-team involvement for most of this season, yesterday’s reserve outing against Accrington was, Birchall says, the first step towards the kind of sharpness he intends to quickly claim before caretaker manager Greg Abbott unleashes him on League One.

Whilst his claims have been largely ignored at club level of late, Birchall is an automatic pick for his country, and United are certain to lose the 24-year-old to international duty on at least three occasions in the new year.

Trinidad and Tobago are through to the final qualifying stage in the CONCACAF section for the 2010 World Cup, a six-team league also featuring the USA, Honduras, Costa Rica, Mexico and El Salvador.

“The top three qualify and the fourth go into a play-off with a South American team,” said Birchall, who is likely to get the nod for matches in February, March and April.