Shaka Hislop

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Shaka Hislop
Personal information
Full name	Neil Shaka Hislop
Date of birth	February 22, 1969 (age 38)
Place of birth	Hackney, London, England
Height	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Nickname	Tallman
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	FC Dallas
Number	1
Youth clubs
1988–91	Howard University
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1992–95 1995–98 1998–2002 2002–05 2005–06 2006–present	Reading Newcastle United West Ham United Portsmouth West Ham United FC Dallas	104 (0) 053 (0) 105 (0) 093 (0) 016 (0) 004 (0)
National team2
1999–present	Trinidad and Tobago	026 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23:26, 19 December 2006 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 23:26, 19 December 2006 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Neil Shaka Hislop (born 22 February 1969 in Hackney, London) is a football goalkeeper who currently plays in the United States' Major League Soccer for FC Dallas.

Hislop is one of the keepers for the Trinidad and Tobago national football team. Though born in Hackney, he qualified for the Trinidad and Tobago side as his parents are Trinidadian and he returned to Trinidad at a young age; he had previously played one game for the England Under-21 side.

Hislop played college soccer for Howard University in the United States, leading that team to the NCAA Final, while studying for a degree in mechanical engineering. While at college, he interned at NASA.

He signed professional forms with Reading for the 1992-93 season and played for the club for three seasons, becoming a firm fans' favourite. In a vote to compile the Royals' best-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, where he narrowly missed out on the Premier League after a 4-3 defeat to Bolton in the 1995 play-off final. Hislop was one of many Reading players sold off in following summer, being signed by Newcastle United for £1.575m.

At first a regular in the club side, he soon found his place under threat in a four-way battle for the first choice goalkeeper position with Pavel Srníček, Shay Given and Steve Harper. Wanting guaranteed football, Hislop signed for West Ham United on a free transfer for the 1998-99 season.

Hislop broke his leg playing against Bradford City in February 2000. While recovering his manager Harry Redknapp resigned, which led to Hislop losing his first team place on his return to fitness. He was released on a free transfer at the end of the 2001-02 season.

Redknapp then signed Hislop for Portsmouth as long term replacement for Alan Knight. Hislop quickly asserted his place in the side that won Division 1 and was promoted to the Premier League. He remained first choice for the next two seasons, despite competition from Harald Wapenaar and later Jamie Ashdown. Following the replacement of Redknapp as Portsmouth manager by Velimir Zajec he lost his starting place to Ashdown. In January 2005 Zajec signed Greek international Konstantinos Chalkias, and Hislop was pushed further down the pecking order.

In April 2005 Hislop became the inaugural winner of the PFA Special Merit Award, for his services to football. Following the appointment of new manager Alain Perrin that month, Hislop failed to regain his 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.

In 2005, Hislop and the Trinidad and Tobago side 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 started as the goalkeeper for Trinidad and Tobago against Sweden. Although it was greatly speculated that Hislop was a replacement for other goalkeeper Kelvin Jack, who injured himself in a warm-up, Hislop was originally chosen to start. He led his team to a first round draw against heavily favoured Sweden. In this first ever World Cup match for Trinidad and Tobago, Hislop kept a clean sheet as he made several key saves even with his team down a man in the second half. He was subsequently voted the man of the match.

On 5 July 2006, Hislop signed for MLS team FC Dallas and will compete for the starting goalkeeper position for the 2007 season.

[edit] Trivia

• In the FA Cup final between Liverpool and West Ham, Hislop conceded a goal from Steven Gerrard from outside the penalty box, denying him 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.

• Shaka has four daughters.

[edit] External links

• Hislop news archive at socawarriors.net
• Shaka Hislop career stats at Soccerbase
• Profile at 4thegame.com
• Photos and stats at sporting-heroes.net
• Profile at premierleague.com

[edit] See also

• List of current MLS players

	Trinidad and Tobago squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup
1 Hislop | 2 Cox | 3 A. John | 4 Andrews | 5 Sancho | 6 Lawrence | 7 Birchall | 8 Gray | 9 Whitley | 10 Latapy | 11 Edwards | 12 Samuel | 13 Glen | 14 S. John | 15 Jones | 16 Wise | 17 Charles | 18 Theobald | 19 Yorke | 20 Scotland | 21 Jack | 22 Ince | 23 Wolfe | Coach: Beenhakker

FC Dallas - Current Squad
1 Hislop | 4 Gbandi | 5 Saragosa | 7 Thompson | 9 Miña | 10 Núñez | 11 Goodson | 12 Alvarez | 13 McCarty | 14 Moor | 15 Serioux | 16 Wagenfuhr | 17 Pitchkolan | 19 Rhine | 20 Ruiz | 21 Yi | 22 Dello-Russo | 23 Wagner | 25 Oduro | 26 Wallace | 27 Daniels | 28 Križanović | 29 Jones | 30 Burse | 31 S. Gbandi | 33 Cooper | 48 Sala | — Ibrahim | — Toja | Coach: Morrow