Twenty-year-old Port Vale midfielder Chris Birchall's heart skipped a beat when he saw the six foot seven frame of Wrexham and Trinidad and Tobago defender Dennis Lawrence striding towards him during a League One fixture on April 26.
Lawrence was not hunting for a brawl, which was just well as his opening question stunned the young Englishman.
"He just came up to me and asked if I had any Trini blood," said Birchall. "I told him 'yeah, me mum'. Then he said that he would need to speak to me after the game. And he was gone."
Wrexham beat Port Vale 2-0 on that night but his subsequent conversation with the lanky defender-although Birchall confessed that he strained to understand Lawrence's accent-might change his life.
Three weeks later, Birchall is off to Trinidad with the intention of representing his mother's homeland in the ongoing 2006 World Cup qualifying series.
The five-foot-nine right side midfielder, who was described as a "pocket-battleship" by his club, is one of 23 foreign-based players selected by new national coach, Dutchman Leo Beenhakker.
However, Birchall is the only one who has never seen chicken foot souse and would not know the appropriate answer if someone asked "wha vibes?"
When he steps off the plane tonight, it would be his first visit to Trinidad and Tobago.
"I heard a little about Trinidad from my mom when I was growing up," he said. "She would always say that life was completely different there and people were more friendly and more relaxed. That is all I know and I have been told that they love their football."
Birchall's mother, Jennifer Birchall (formerly Gilston), lived at Queen's Park West before migrating at the age of 18 to England, where she met her future husband, Phillip Birchall, at her new hometown in Liverpool.
His father Phillip works for Cable and Wireless, while Jennifer is a receptionist at a recruiting agency.
Birchall grew up mesmerised by the skills of Liverpool legend and Jamaican-born England international, John Barnes.
The combative midfielder, who made 37 appearances for Port Vale this season and scored six times, never thought that he might make the opposite journey to his hero.
"I never thought about international football to be honest," said Birchall. "I was just concentrating on being a regular for Port Vale as this was my first full season. But I am really excited about the chance of playing international football."
FIFA vice-president and Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (T&TFF) special advisor Jack Warner discovered the player initially and asked agent Mike Berry to track him down, a job that was sub-contracted to Lawrence.
After a discussion with his parents, Birchall accepted the challenge.
"My father is English and I think he half-expected me to push to get an England call-up," he said. "But my mom said how much it would mean to her if I played for Trinidad.
"So, after a long discussion, my dad basically said that if that is what I wanted to do and where my heart is then he would support me 100 per cent
"I just want to thank Jack Warner for arranging everything. I am very proud for the chance and can't wait to play for the country that my mom was born in, if I am selected."
His trip to Port of Spain is a step in the right direction but the list of overseas-born players who failed to settle in the Trinidad and Tobago squad is a long one-not counting Portsmouth goalkeeper Shaka Hislop, who grew up in Trinidad.
Over the past decade, Englishmen like Bristol Rovers midfielder Ronnie Mauge, Gillingham defender Ian Cox, Peterborough midfielder Andre Boucaud, Watford striker Jason Norville and Brentford defender Kevin Austin and Canadian-based Rick Titus all wore the red, white and black strip without leaving a lasting impression.
Mauge was the only of those players to get on the score sheet as he managed one goal from six caps. He was a part of the 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup squad that qualified for the semi-final stage for the first time, although he broke his leg during the group stage.
Cox made ten appearances but they were spread out over five years. He was also included in Beenhakker's list of foreign possibilities.
Boucaud won three full caps and as many off the substitutes' bench, while A' League defender, Titus, got two outings and Norville and Austin made one each.