Former national goalkeeper and ESPN pundit Shaka Hislop was in town on business and was scheduled to fly out earlier in the week but opted to reschedule his flight in order to take in the 2018 World Cup qualifier with the United States on Tuesday night.
Hislop spoke of his feelings on the ten-year 2006 World Cup qualification anniversary which was marked on Monday.
“It is an emotional time especially to be back here in the National Stadium. You remember how it all came about. You remember the relative disappointment in the first game here in the stadium and then how it all changed.
It seems so fresh in the memory and then to all recognise and realise that it was ten years ago. It brings back a lot of emotion,” said the former Newcastle United goalkeeper, who made 26 appearances for T&T including two 2006 World Cup appearances against Sweden and Paraguay.
Hislop said he continues to be impressed by the current senior team as he witnessed the 0-0 draw with United States. To him, what makes the progress even more striking all things considered with the downslide which followed with the “Soca Warriors” after the 2006 World Cup experience and what the team has had to endure since.
“I have to say the more I see this team the more I am impressed with it. As much as we talk about a ten-year spell or a ten-year evolution to have this team to what is today, we have to remember what happened immediately after our qualification and our performance at the World Cup.
I thought we had taken a more gigantic step forward in participating in a World Cup but that was quickly followed by two giant steps backwards.
“And now to have this team back to where it is and playing as we are, to see someone like Kenwyne Jones who played in 2006 as one of the younger players to take on a lot of the lessons and the experiences of not just what happened ten years ago but also what happened with him and to be the leader that he is in this team.
This makes it all the more impressive when you consider not just where we were in 2006 but how far we had fallen by in 2007 and 2008 and not to see where the team is at the moment.”