RICKY Shakes is a step closer to his World Cup dream today after earning an international call up from Trinidad and Tobago.

The 21-year-old is included in the Soca Warriors squad for the warm up game against Iceland at Loftus Road on February 28.

Coach Leo Beenhakker watched Shakes during Town's draw with Blackpool in December and told him that he was in mind' for the Iceland match.

That call finally came this morning and the youngster will find himself rubbing shoulders with the likes of Dwight Yorke, Shaka Hislop, Stern John, Kenwyne Jones and Chris Birchall when Trinidad take to the field in just over a fortnight's time.

Town boss Iffy Onuora was delighted to hear the news as the team headed north for Bradford this morning.

He said: "Ricky has come on leaps and bounds and has been in a rich vein of form so I'm delighted for him.

"It's a well deserved call in my view and it should be a great experience for him.

"We all wish him well obviously."

Shakes, pictured, is one of five new faces in the squad, joining the regulars from Trinidad's successful World Cup qualifying campaign, which culminated with a play-off victory against Bahrain.

The Soca Warriors will play against England, Sweden and Paraguay in Group B in Germany.

Coach Beenhakker told his federation's official website: "Since the qualification in November we have done a lot of scouting activities to see many players who until now were not involved in the team within my period as national coach.

"As a result of this I will give a fair chance to the new players Ricky Shakes, Anthony Warner, Anthony Noreiga, Nigel Henry and Kevon Neaves based on what we saw in training and matches."

Beenhakker will eventually name a 23-man squad for the World Cup finals in Germany and says the door is not closed on anybody.