English-born midfielder John Bostock is anticipating the chance of realizing a childhood dream of playing international football.
And this opportunity could be present to him as early as tomorrow when T&T Soca Warriors face St Vincent and the Grenadines in Kingstown in the first of two back-to-back 2018 World Cup qualifiers on Friday from 3pm.
T&T then returns home for the next match on Tuesday March 29 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo from 8pm
Bostock, now 24, is a past England National Under-17 captain who at one time was touted as a possible England Senior team player.
But now, Bostock is happy to have made the choice of playing for the birth nation of his grandmother.
“ I’m delighted to be called up for T&T. It’s an honour to be named in the squad and I’m very excited to represent the country of my heritage,” Bostock said on the weekend.”
T&T head coach Stephen Hart has been following Bostock for roughly two years shortly after the T&T team initially made contact with the player to invite him for the Caribbean Cup participation in 2012.
“ For a while I’ve known of the interest of T&T and it was of course an honour to be considered to be in the coaches plans. However it was important for me to first be stable at club level. Now definitely feels like the right time and I’m excited to get things on the way,” said the ex-Crystal Palace player who was born in Camberwell, England. He’s followed the progress of the “Soca Warriors” and is looking to make an impression starting with the qualifying matches,
“I know the team has been doing very well, I’ve been following the results and it’s clear to see that there is a lot of quality and great team spirit,” he said.
Bostock, a former England Under 19 player, has been to Tobago before and knows a bit about the country’s culture.
“I spent some time in Tobago a while back and it was an amazing experience. I’m close to my Trinidadian family in London so I’ve grown up around the culture but I’m looking forward to experiencing it for myself.
“Growing up I always spoke to my Grandma about potentially playing for the country she was from, with her recent passing it feels like even more of an honour and I know that she would be very proud of me,” he added.
Bostock’s history is an impressive one. “Bostock was once the golden boy of English football,” the Daily Mail described him as.
A graduate of the Crystal Palace academy, he made his first-team debut at 15. He became the world’s most wanted teenager. Chelsea made a bid when he was only 14. Arsenal sent Cesc Fabregas’ shirt and Barcelona upped the ante by sending Ronaldinho’s boots. Eventually, he settled on Tottenham Hotspur, who paid a £700,000 fee – decided by a tribunal – when he was 16 in 2008.
But in five years at White Hart Lane, he did not make a start except for cameos in the Europa League and had loan spells to clubs Hull City, Sheffield Wednesday, Brentford and Toronto.
In 2013, he was convinced by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink to join to Royal Antwerp in Belgium before he moved to his current club OH Leuven.