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(FIFAworldcup.com) Togo's team at the FIFA World Cup? finals in Germany will be filled with faces unfamiliar to the sporting public outside of their country. There are a few expected to emerge from the tournament with their profiles enhanced, however, and one such player with the potential to move on to bigger things is the young full-back Emmanuel Mathias, who has emerged as a key player for the Togolese since his debut last March.

Mathias was actually born in Nigeria on 3 April 1986, hailing originally from Kaduna State and starting out as a teenage footballer with BCC Lions. However, he got the chance to play for the Hawks following his move to the country in 2004 to join leading club side Etoile Filante. Along with a Togolese passport came a call-up to the national team and it was an opportunity he grabbed with both hands.

Mathias' debut for his adopted country on 27 March last year proved something of a baptism of fire: still only 18, he was thrust into the heat of battle in a dramatic FIFA World Cup qualifying match in Mali which Togo won 2-1 with a 91st-minute goal from Cherif-Toure Maman.

Mathias' quick immersion into the side was such that in his next match, a friendly against Burkina Faso, he was handed the responsibility of taking the penalty that settled the game. Slotting in at right-back, he went on to play in Togo's decisive final qualifiers as they shocked African football by pipping the 2002 FIFA World Cup quarter-finalists Senegal to a place in Germany. By the end of 2005, the newcomer had five caps to his name ? and that number will doubtless have risen somewhat by the time June comes around.

Not surprisingly, his fortunes have soared at club level as well, in the shape of a transfer to the Tunisian giants Esperance. Sang et Or, as the Tunis-based club are known, have always had an eye for African talent and over the years have enticed many starlets to the club, moulding them into polished performers. Among their alumni is Julius Aghahowa, the flying Nigerian international who now plays for Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine.

Mathias was signed after what Esperance officials termed "difficult negotiations" with Etoile Filante, who were obviously aware of his potential and not keen to let the youngster go on the cheap. The defender immediately slotted into his new club's line-up for their CAF Champions League campaign, making four appearances before their elimination at the group stage.

How long Esperance hold onto Mathias remains to be seen. The youngster should gain invaluable experience at the CAF African Cup of Nations finals in Egypt and by the time the FIFA World Cup comes round, he could well be one of the Togo players catching the eye of European club scouts as well as football fans.