Ex-T&T goalie touring with ESPN Caribbean
Former Trinidad and Tobago goalkeeper Shaka Hislop termed the Soca Warriors' failed 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign as an opportunity lost, adding that the country had regressed in the years since competing at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
The 39-year-old Hislop, now a commentator and analyst with worldwide sporting network ESPN, was speaking at a breakfast meeting yesterday at the Hyatt Regency in Port of Spain where ESPN Caribbean personnel shared their goals for the region and exchanged ideas with members of the local media.
Hislop is part of an ESPN team headed by ESPN Caribbean vice-president Bernard Stewart, a 30-year veteran at the renowned sports broadcasting network who is charged with marketing and streamlining the operations of the company's Caribbean channel.
Directing his attention to T&T's bid to qualify for South Africa, Hislop-one of the standouts with the Warriors at the last World Cup-lamented the fate of his former teammates.
"It was a missed opportunity because we did not capitalise on the momentum we gained in 2006...and I won't go into the details of why that momentum was missed or why it was broken, but it was an opportunity that I felt was there for us to take.
"We had acquired a lot of momentum because of not only our performance on the field in Germany in 2006 but because of what we brought as a country to the whole tournament, the whole World Cup experience," added Hislop, who enjoyed an illustrious career with top clubs Newcastle, West Ham and Portsmouth in the English Premier League.
He felt that Trinidad and Tobago failed to make the most from the "professional and playing standpoint and from a fan standpoint.
"I think that was disappointing and I think that cost us and, as a result, we have taken four steps back if in Germany we took two steps forward...and possibly found ourselves in a worse position than we did four years ago."
Hislop also said that, while inactive at the moment, he would like to see the revival of the Football Players Association of Trinidad and Tobago (FPATT), of which he was an instrumental spark.
"It's (FPATT) dormant, is the best way to put it. There is a need for a players' association. I still believe that Trinidad and Tobago players, who will always be dear to my heart, need representation," he explained.
"It is something that I enjoyed myself as a player in the UK and I understood the benefits of. But it's brand new to Trinidad and Tobago (football) and often times when you have something new as this, that has met as much opposition as this, it is difficult to get off the ground. So we're committed to it but right now we're in a dormant state, but it's still very much in our minds and our hearts."
On the issue of the ESPN Caribbean channel, Hislop said his bread and butter would continue to be his on-air commentary and analysis but his involvement in the channel would be to respect the stories of this region's athletes and sportsmen.
"I understand those stories and journeys because they are taken and reveal a lot about what the players and the people like myself have had to overcome to get there," he intimated.
"I hope to bring a realism to West Indian sports in a belief that that realism is respected and everybody benefits."
Stewart, who was named vice-president of ESPN in the Caribbean last March, conveyed this project was the natural progression of the international broadcaster whose network reaches an audience of some 400 million people worldwide in almost 200 countries.