Hines happy at England choice

Hammers ace insists it wasn't hard to pick England over Jamaica

By Richard Bailey   Last updated: 11th October 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Hines happy at England choice

Hines: Pleased with choice

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Zavon Hines insists it was not a difficult decision to opt to play for England over Jamaica.

The West Ham forward scored twice on his debut for Stuart Pearce's Under-21s on Saturday when he came off the bench at half-time against Macedonia.

Born in Jamaica, the 20-year-old moved to London when he was seven-years-old and although he has now firmly put down a marker for England the youngster could have gone a very different path.

Hines was called up to the Jamaican senior squad for a friendly against Nigeria back in February but failed to feature making him still eligible for England if he wished.

Asked whether it was a big decision to make, he replied: "Not really to be honest, I grew up in England so England is always part of my heart.

"It wasn't hard even though I was born in Jamaica. I came here when I was seven so Jamaica is still in my heart but England have done a lot for me.

"It's just good to be playing for England," he said.

Dream performance

Hines described his performance in the 6-3 win at the Ricoh Arena over the weekend as 'a dream' and admitted he was delighted with his brace.

"It's a dream to be honest, a lot of young kids would like to play for their country full-stop but to get two on your debut is even better.

"Any goal is an important one, it's just good to score for your country."

Hines has impressed as a winger for the Hammers this term, especially against Liverpool where he ran rings around amongst others Jamie Carragher, and he was grateful to Gianfranco Zola for giving him his chance.

"It was unbelievable but at the end of the day when it comes to football everything is possible," he added.

"Not a lot of clubs are producing young players but every year West Ham produce one or two so it's just good to be playing football.

"I just know that West Ham have got belief in their young talent so they will always give you a chance, it just depends whether the young players take it or not."