SHAKA HISLOP will feel no fear facing Wayne Rooney or Michael Owen at the World Cup — after a miraculous season with West Ham and Trinidad.
The veteran keeper was languishing in Portsmouth’s reserves a year ago and feeling disillusioned with football.
But now, at 37, Hislop is looking forward to his nation’s first World Cup finals as well as a possible FA Cup final and European finish with the Hammers.
No longer twiddling his thumbs at Pompey, where he was ignored by bosses Velimir Zajec and Alain Perrin, Hislop now has a couple of red-letter days in his diary — the FA Cup final in Cardiff and the World Cup meeting with England in Nuremburg on June 15.
He said: “A year ago I would have thought it unbelievable to be in this position, at my age, talking about World Cups, Cup Finals and qualifying for Europe.
“I was out of favour at Portsmouth then and things were bad for me.
“I’m delighted at the way my season is going. If I was just playing reserve-team football, it would be a big step up to the World Cup finals and I wouldn’t be so confident facing the likes of Rooney and Owen.
“But I’m not worried now because things are going well for me and for West Ham.
“Survival was always what we were aiming for but now we’ve got to 40 points we want to have a go at qualifying for Europe.
“We have exceeded expectations, probably even our own. I thought we had the talent to do well in the Premier League but not necessarily the experience.
“Then there’s the FA Cup, a longer run in that would be amazing. If it came to missing some of Trinidad’s World Cup warm-up to play in the cup final, that would be a very nice headache to have!
“We’ve got Everton at home on Saturday and they were the surprise team last year. We’re not going to finish as high as they did but we could be up there if we keep up this sort of form at West Ham.”
Hislop starred in Trinidad’s 2-0 friendly win over Iceland at Loftus Road on Tuesday, his nation’s first match since they qualified for the World Cup with a play-off victory over Bahrain. He said: “It’s the first time we’ve met up since the euphoria of qualifying and then getting England in the draw.
“It was good to train and play together because we are only going to improve the more we are with each other.
“There’s a great camaraderie, we know we are doing something really special for our nation.
“I can tell you that we are not going to Germany to be the whipping boys of the tournament.”
Hislop will face competition from new recruit Tony Warner, whose father was born in Trinidad. The Fulham keeper made his international debut as a second-half sub against Iceland.
And Warner said: “It was fantastic to make my debut, especially with my mum Carol and dad Clive travelling down from Liverpool to watch.
“I’m just glad to get an international game under my belt with the World Cup just around the corner.
“I was first asked about playing for Trinidad about three or months ago when they were close to qualifying. I said yes, definitely.
“It is a fantastic opportunity. Look at some of the top-class players who haven’t played at the World Cup finals.”