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Fri, Mar

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The world's eyes will be on Saints midfielder Jake Thomson this evening as he takes part in his first competitive match for Trinidad & Tobago.

The 20 year-old Academy graduate has previously represented England at Under-17 level, but after a brief chat with former Saints striker Stern John, Thomson is now preparing to take part in the FIFA Under-20 World Cup being held in Egypt over the next three weeks.

Trinidad's first game in the competition sees them line up against the host nation, and the magnitude of the task is not lost on the winger who qualifies to play for the country based on his father's roots.

"It's massive," he said speaking from a hotel in North Africa. "Our first game tonight is in front of 80,000 people in a stadium which was purposely built for the world cup, so it's quite important I think!

"We have already had a couple of weeks out here on a training camp to acclimatise, but I'm just looking forward to playing.

"I've never played in such a high profile game but hopefully my experience will stand the team in good stead. I'll be sort of a role model because a lot of the players in the squad don't play professionally I think I'm one of three that do."

Thomson's previous experiences at international level may not be on a par, but he is all too aware of how much it means to be a part of the competition.

"Having played quite a lot for England as well I can say that yes it is a high pressure and high profile game, but we should forget about that because it is the World Cup and you don't get many opportunities to play in such a big game, so just enjoy it because you'll treasure the memories.

"It's massive for the country as well. I didn't know this until I got over here, but no Trinidad and Tobago team has ever won a game at the World Cup, so it's absolutely massive for the country."

Alongside hosts Egypt, Trinidad are in a qualifying group with Italy and Paraguay which perhaps makes Thomson's side underdogs, but he is hoping that the Soca Warriors will still be in the competition after the group stage.

"I've only seen Trinidad so I don't know too much about the other teams involved, but from what I've seen of our squad I've been impressed," he said. "There will always be big names in the competition, but all I know is that we're up against Egypt, Italy and Paraguay in our group. It should be good though.

"The last group game is on the 1st October but the Final is on the 15th, so if we make it all the way then we'll be here until the 16th."

Having already missed two Saints games with permission of the coaching staff at St. Mary's in preparation for the World Cup, Thomson revealed that he will be keeping an eye on his club's progress for the duration of time that he is away.

"Dean Wilkins said that it would be a good opportunity me to get some games. I'm also speaking regularly with Matt Paterson and checking the website daily. I was pleased to see the team get a win on Saturday and it will be good for the lads."

Thomson will be hoping to make the headlines himself tonight though, and the ever alert winger has warned his opponents that he is keen to repeat his feat of the two long range goals he scored in pre-season at Saints.

"I've already told the boys to watch out and get the Egyptian goalkeeper to come off his line!" he joked. "Hopefully I'll start and we'll see how it goes.

"Personally I think we're going to win tonight because I think they will look at us and think it's Trinidad & Tobago, so we've got a good chance of winning. We're the underdogs and we're fully expected to go out of this group. Egypt will be up for the game but maybe not at their strongest.

"We feel that we're so much bigger and stronger, that we can use our physical side to win. It would be nice to get an early goal to quiet the crowd."

A strike from Jake Thomson would almost certainly do that.