Dave Pundit on International Football

Hi, I'm Dave Pundit. Nothing makes a footballer prouder than when he gets asked to represent his country. Or in my case the country of their estranged Grandfather. Not just any old Tom, Dick or Harry can play international football, you have to be born in a proper country for a start. I mean pointless little places like Goa, Gibraltar and Uruguay don't have football teams and rightly so. It's not like any of them could ever win a World Cup could they?

When I got the call up to the Northern ireland squad for the first time I was thrilled. It was like I'd finally fulfilled my destiny. I always knew I would play at the top level of the game. Some people are born with natural talent and some people have to slog their guts out to acquire it. I did both. I also had fantastic support from my mother. She encouraged me to play football every night after school. I'd get home and she'd have locked the door so that I wouldn't come in and start watching the telly. And on the rare occassions she'd leave the door open she'd always be entertaining one of my millions of Uncles upstairs and wouldn't want to be disturbed so I'd grab my ball and head down the park.

As I said though it wasn't just hard work. To be an international footballer you also need two things that you're either born with or you're not; grit and determination and I have both in spades. In fact my mother often used to say "Dave, you're a total grit." especially if she'd had a couple of rum-and-peps.

Many people ask me wouldn't I have prefered to have played for England and I reply it doesn't matter which country you play for as long as they're British. Because as we all know all us Brits are the same, just ask the Scots. And anyway, some of the best English players don't play their international football for England. Robbie Keane for instance.

This week we some truly mouth-watering international fixtures. I won't insult your intelligence by predicting the matches, it's obvious the British teams will all win. If anyone can spot a match that could cause any of the home nations any kind of problems they're a better pundit than me. Which of course they're not, because I'm an ex-pro and I've got a diploma in Punditry.