Christopher Birchall

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Christopher Birchall CM (born May 5, 1984) is a football player, currently playing in midfield for Coventry City. He tends to play in central midfield for his country, and on the right for his club.

[edit] Club career

Birchall was voted young player of the year in 2005 at Port Vale after having a good season at the club he had been associated with since the age of nine.

In August 2006 Birchall was sold to Coventry City for a fee of £325,000 plus a sell-on clause. Chris Birchall scored his first Sky Blues goal v Norwich with a 25-yard (23 m) low drive stunner.

On August 31 Birchall signed with St Mirren until January 2008 depending on his appearances.^[1] He returned to Coventry after suffering an injury in November.

[edit] International career

Although born in Stafford, England, Birchall has represented Trinidad and Tobago at international level. He is eligible for that country because his mother was born in Port of Spain.

Birchall's agent was spreading word around that he could in fact play for his mother's homeland. He was first made aware of the interest in him by current T&T and Swansea City central defender Dennis Lawrence, who walked over to him during a Port Vale - Wrexham (Lawrence's club at the time) league match to enquire if was indeed eligible to play for the Soca Warriors by asking "Have you got any Trini blood in you?". Lawrence then passed Chris' contact details onto the T&T FA, and Birchall was called up to the full Trinidad & Tobago squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Panama and Mexico.

The "Prince of Port-of-Spain", West Indies cricketer Brian Lara, was also credited for helping the T&T FA hear about Birchall after Giles made a comment about having some West Indian blood in his family.

When asked by the press in Trinidad and Tobago why he qualified to play for them he replied ‘Me mum’. This memorable response gave rise to his Soca Warrior nickname ‘Me Mum’.

After making his debut for the national side, Birchall became the first white player to represent the country in 60 years.

Undoubtedly his most important contribution to the Soca Warriors came on November 12, 2005, in their home (first) leg of their 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying playoff against Bahrain. Bahrain's Salman Ghuloom had scored in the 72nd minute and were poised to take a 1-0 lead back home for the second leg, but five minutes later, Birchall fired in a stunning goal from well outside the penalty area to equalise. The Soca Warriors went on to win the return leg of the playoff in Bahrain 1-0 (on a goal from Lawrence) and advance to their first World Cup finals ever.

He has scored 4 goals in 23 international matches, as of October 2006. Following their return from the 2006 World Cup, each member of the Trinidad and Tobago national team was awarded the country's second highest honour, the Chaconia Medal in gold, plus TT$1,000,000 (about £87,500 (one quarter in cash, the rest in unit trusts)). He is therefore entitled to suffix his name "C.M." if he wishes.

[edit] Personal life

Birchall is the cousin of Warwickshire and England cricketer Ashley Giles.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Christopher Birchall career stats at Soccerbase
• Official Coventry City profile
• Official St. Mirren profile
• Interview on selection for Trinidad and Tobago

v • d • e Trinidad and Tobago squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Hislop • 2 Cox • 3 A. John • 4 Andrews • 5 Sancho • 6 Lawrence • 7 Birchall • 8 Gray • 9 Whitley • 10 Latapy • 11 Edwards • 12 Samuel • 13 Glen • 14 S. John • 15 Jones • 16 Wise • 17 Charles • 18 Theobald • 19 Yorke • 20 Scotland • 21 Jack • 22 Ince • 23 Wolfe • Coach: Beenhakker