To look at Chris Birchall, the last thing you would expect to hear is that he is a Trinidad and Tobago international.

With his shock of blond hair and white skin, the Stafford-born 21-year-old looks - and sounds - like a regular Potteries lad. But there is more to the Port Vale winger than meets the eye, and that is how he wound up with a seat on the plane as part of the Soca Warriors squad for their first World Cup finals.

It is a story that would not be out of place in a Disney film. The comparisons with the 1993 hit Cool Runnings really are not too far from this remarkable tale. In the film - which starred John Candy - Jamaican sprinter Derice Bannock and his three team-mates overcome prejudice and end up not just competing, but holding their own in the bobsleigh in the 1988 Winter Olympics.

Here, it is the other way round as a white, English League One footballer finds himself helping a nation, where the vast majority of its inhabitants are black, in the World Cup finals.

When Birchall lined up for Vale against Wrexham in April 2005, little did he realise a run-of-the-mill League One encounter would kick-start an international rollercoaster which has already taken in Costa Rica, Panama and Bahrain, and now sees him representing his country at the World Cup finals in Germany.

And Trinidad could hardly have wished for a better start to their adventure at the finals as they held Sweden to a goalless draw in their opening match.Reflecting on how his selection evolved, Birchall recalled: "I was playing for Vale against Wrexham towards the end of last season and their Trinidad defender, Dennis Lawrence, came over to me during a break in play.

"He's 6ft 7in and I was thinking `what's going on here'? But he just asked me calmly `I hear you've got some 'Trini' blood in you'. I was a bit taken aback but apparently word had got round from my agent that I had links to the country and before I knew it, I was in the squad."