i KECHI Anya may be unique as a footballer who has pleased a country at the risk of disappointing his father.
When Anya emerges at Craven Cottage tomorrow night it will be as a Scotland internationalist. It would not have taken a huge twist of fate for him to be turning out instead for Nigeria.
His father, Chinasa, is Nigerian and Ikechi was therefore eligible to play for them, yet he was born in Scotland and spent the first seven years of his life in Castlemilk.
It felt natural for him to choose Scotland. In the squad hotel on the southern outskirts of London yesterday the Glasgow-born Watford player filled in the details of his eligibility (his mother is Romanian and he was eligible for them, too).
Anya has been a refreshing addition to the scene for Scotland this season and it has clearly given the 26-year-old a lot of satisfaction to be turning out in dark blue. But tomorrow's game is a low-key friendly for Scotland, while meaning something more to Nigeria, who will be in Brazil next month for their fifth consecutive World Cup finals. Had Anya ever been close to giving his father the satisfaction of seeing him play for them?
"When I was in Spain [he played there between 2009 and 2012] Nigeria showed a little bit of an interest, but I was at Celta Vigo and their chairman said it wasn't the best time because Nigeria play in the African Cup of Nations during the La Liga season," said the wide player. "My love of football developed in Scotland and Glenn Hoddle tried to put me in touch for the under-21s, so it was always going to be Scotland.
"To be fair, my dad is a typical Nigerian man, all about education, so football-wise it was my mum who pushed me on and when she knew Scotland were interested, she was happy. My dad takes more of an interest now, but he's a big academic [he is a professor of metallurgy who has taught at Oxford]. My brother's a doctor and he tried to put me down that same route.
"But I schooled in Scotland and that is where I learnt everything. I was in Nigeria when I was young and appreciate their side from my father and the Romanian side from my mother, but I chose Scotland. Nigeria are very good and this is the fifth time they have qualified for the World Cup. They have a few English Premier League players and that's a good standard. We'll need to be at our best to get anything from the game. Apart from Wednesday night, I'll support Nigeria.
"This Scotland thing is still quite new to me, so as soon as I knew I was in the squad for this friendly I kept going into the training ground to stay fit. Every time you get a call-up for your country it's a privilege, and you need to try and be at your best. I've been in with the physios. Even when I went on holiday, I was doing fitness work on the beach."
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