SHAKA HISLOP

'Neil Shaka Hislop' (born 22 February 1969) is a professional football goalkeeper.

Contents

Early life

Football career

Club

International

Trivia

External links

See also

Early life

Born in Hackney, England while his father studied law, Hislop moved to Diamond Vale, Trinidad at the age of two. After graduating from St. Mary's College in Trinidad, Hislop earned a scholarship to play college soccer at Howard University in the United States and led his team to the NCAA Final as a freshman starter. During his time at Howard, he interned at NASA and later graduated with honours with an degree in mechanical engineering.

Football career

Club

Shortly after graduating, Hislop was spotted by a scout from Reading at a friendly indoor match against Aston Villa of the English Premier League. He went on to sign professional forms with Reading for the 1992-93 season and remained there for two more. While there, he established himself as a firm fan favourite, twice earning the club's Player of the Year award, he has previously stated his friendship with young fan Daniel Sexton played a big part in him settling into the club so well. In a poll to compile the Royals' greatest-ever eleven, Hislop was voted the best goalkeeper with 46.7% of the vote [1]. He was instrumental in Reading's rise from the old Second Division to second place in the First Division, where he narrowly missed out on the Premier League following a 4-3 defeat to Bolton in the 1995 play-off final. Hislop was one of many Reading players to move the following summer of 1996, signing with Newcastle United for £1.575m, a British record for a goalkeeper at the time.
In the 1996-97 season of the English Premier League, Hislop quickly became entrenched as the starter on Newcastle's way to a second place finish behind Manchester United. In 1997 however, Newcastle signed Irish star Shay Given and a season-long battle for the no.1 spot ensued. Wanting guaranteed football, Hislop moved on to West Ham United on a free transfer in time for the 1998-99 season.
Hislop suffered a broken leg playing against Bradford City in February 2000. During his recovery, the team's manager, Harry Redknapp resigned, which led to Hislop losing his first team place upon his return to fitness. He was released on a free transfer at the end of the 2001-02 season.
Redknapp went on to the position of manager at First Division club, Portsmouth. With the club's new, deep-pocketed owner, Milan Mandaric, Redknapp was able to lure a number of Premiership players over, Hislop included and he quickly asserted himself as the starter in the side that won the Division 1, ensuring automatic promotion to the Premier League. He remained first choice for the next two seasons, despite competition from Harald Wapenaar and later, Jamie Ashdown. In January 2003, following the replacement of Redknapp as manager, his replacement Velimir Zajec, signed Greek international Konstantinos Chalkias and Hislop faced more competition for a place in the team.
Following the appointment of a new manager in Alain Perrin, Hislop failed to regain his starting place, and when his contract expired in June 2005 he was released by the club. On 29 July 2005, he rejoined West Ham where he competed for the goalkeeper's jersey with another summer signing, Roy Carroll from Manchester United. Hislop continued to perform admirably and was a driving force behind his team's appearance in the 2006 F.A. Cup final against Liverpool. The game finished 3-3 before Liverpool won it on penalty kicks.
On 5 July 2006, Hislop signed for MLS team, FC Dallas and will compete for the starting goalkeeper position during the 2007 season.
Hislop has since left FC Dallas and retired from professional soccer, he has returned to Trinidad but has not signed for a new team yet.

International

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 allotted to an English U21 side and was also the substitute keeper in a game for England against Chile in Wembley stadium. After settling a dispute with the Trinidad and Tobago national team management, he went on to represent and captain the Twin Island nation.
In 2005, Hislop was part of the Trinidad and Tobago side that qualified for the 2006 FIFA 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 was the starting goalkeeper for the first ever Trinidad and Tobago national team to compete in the World Cup. He was instrumental in securing a 0-0 draw against the heavily favoured Sweden, making several saves, even with his team down to ten men for almost the entire second half.

Trivia

★ In April 2005 Hislop was named the inaugural winner of the PFA Special Merit Award, for his services to football.

★ He is married to Desha (formerly Moore) and has four daughters and one son.

★ His parents are George and Gina and his brothers are Kona and Kali.

★ In the FA Cup final between Liverpool and West Ham, Hislop conceded a goal from Steven Gerrard from outside the penalty box, denying himself an otherwise certain FA Cup winner's medal. In the World Cup game between Trinidad & Tobago and England, he conceded a similar goal also by Gerrard.

External links

★ Hislop news archive at socawarriors.net

★

★ Profile at 4thegame.com

★ Photos and stats at sporting-heroes.net

★ Profile at premierleague.com

See also

★ List of current MLS players

★ List of tall men