Shaka Hislop - International Career

International Career

Due to his dual nationality, Hislop has had the privilege of donning the national colours of two countries. During his time at Newcastle, he was one of three over-age players selected to play for the England U-21 side against Switzerland and was also the substitute goalkeeper in a game for England against Chile at Wembley Stadium. After settling a dispute with the Trinidad and Tobago national team management, he went on to play a total of 26 times for the Twin Island nation, also captaining the team in 5 matches. He was very fortunate to have been able to do so before new FIFA regulations had since ruled that players cannot switch national allegiances after they reach the age of 21. However the age limit has recently been scrapped by FIFA.

Hislop had announced his retirement from international football in 2004, citing the long journeys between England and the Caribbean as a factor, but returned to the national team to aid them in the 2006 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers at the request of the Trinidad and Tobago national team management. In 2005, he was part of the Trinidad and Tobago side that qualified for the 2006 World Cup with a victory over Bahrain. The draw for the World Cup placed them in Group 2 alongside Sweden, Paraguay and England.

On 10 June 2006, Hislop made history as the starting goalkeeper for the Trinidad and Tobago national team's first ever World Cup match, replacing Kelvin Jack who suffered a calf injury in the warm-up. He was instrumental in securing a historic 0–0 draw against the heavily favoured Sweden, making several world-class saves, even with his team down to ten men for almost the entire second half. Despite just missing out on the Man of the Match honours to his close friend and captain Dwight Yorke, Hislop still earned rave reviews for his performance. Writing in The Times, he would call the occasion 'the proudest day of his career'. It was another memorable occasion for him when on 15 June 2006, Hislop again started as goalkeeper, this time against his birth nation England having represented them many years ago. In what was to be his last match for the Soca Warriors he put in another brave performance, keeping the scores deadlocked for 83 minutes before goals from Peter Crouch and Steven Gerrard condemned the islanders to a 2–0 defeat.