At the conclusion of Wednesday's training session, and with most of the FC Dallas players already inside for conditioning work, a visitor made his way to the practice field adjoining Pizza Hut Park. It was none other than Shaka Hislop, who starred in goal for Trinidad and Tobago in the 2006 World Cup and was signed to a contract last month by the Hoops.
Accompanied by an FCD official, Hislop ventured over to one side of the practice field to meet with several members of the coaching staff, including head coach Colin Clarke and goalkeeping coach Alan Knight, whom he worked with for three years while playing in Portsmouth several years ago.
Hislop arrived in Dallas on Tuesday evening with his wife and four daughters. Clarke expects him to begin training on Thursday and added that he also intends to include the veteran goalkeeper on the 18-man roster for Saturday's game at Houston, as a backup to starting 'keeper Dario Sala. Normal backup Jeff Cassar remains out with an injured quadriceps muscle and the only other 'keeper on the roster is rookie Ray Burse.
Clarke is happy to have Hislop join his squad but knows it will take some time for him to get acclimated to training in the stifling Texas heat, which was near 100 degrees on Wednesday.
"He'll get involved a bit (in training) tomorrow," Clarke said. "It's going to take him time to climatize and get acclimated to the heat. It will take him a week or two to get used to it, find his legs and to get acclimated."
Hislop was happy to land with his new team and is looking forward to joining them for training on Thursday morning even making a joke about the gridlock Dallas is infamous for.
"It's been a hectic couple of days but I'm glad to have my feet on the ground now," he said. "I need to make my own way in (to training tomorrow). I'm going to rent a car and leave at midnight so I can get here by 9 a.m. tomorrow morning."
The veteran 'keeper also offered some insight about how he has been keeping in shape since the World Cup.
"I've not been playing but have been training with West Ham," he said. "I had a couple of weeks off right after the World Cup but have been working out with them. Doing that has allowed me to keep myself in some shape."
Hislop also described how he actually came to sign with FC Dallas, what a crucial role Knight played in that decision and how close he came to re-signing with West Ham.
"I left Portsmouth the same year he did, in 2005, and we just remained friends and kept in contact ever since," Hislop said. "We had been swapping text (messages) for the weeks leading up to the (World) Cup final and he said there was a chance that Dallas might be interested.
"I told him it was something that I would think about. I had a big few weeks ahead of me with the World Cup coming up. I told him I would think about it over that period of time and let him know."
Hislop thought about his decision, and in the end, it was his instincts that told him what his choice would be.
"The more that I thought about (coming to FC Dallas), it felt right," he said. "That is the only way I can describe it. It just felt like the right move for me at the time. West Ham offered me another year, which I was very tempted to take. But the more I thought about this move and coming out here, the more it appealed to me. Eventually, I had to turn West Ham down and they were quite understanding about it all."
Hislop also admitted that a big part of his signing with FCD was because he needed a change of scenery and a new challenge.
"I just felt that I needed a new challenge," he said. "I had been playing English soccer for 14 years and felt it was time for a new challenge. I can't describe it any better than that. It's just one of those gut feelings you get and I've always been one to follow these gut feelings throughout my career."
After speaking with the media, Hislop went into the Hoops locker room to meet his new teammates. He will make his first appearance on the practice field on Thursday but won't likely see game action for a few weeks. Clarke also ruled out him playing in Sunday's reserve game between FCD and Dynamo, stating that he would like to give Shaka more time to get adjusted to the heat before putting him between the posts.
Steve Hunt is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
