At precisely 5.30pm on Saturday in Dortmund, Shaka Hislop had nothing more pressing on his mind than finding a decent spot on the bench to watch Trinidad and Tobago play the first World Cup finals match in their history.

Two and a half hours later, Hislop's world had been turned upside down. A pre-match calf injury to the unlucky Kelvin Jack forced Trinidad coach Leo Beenhakker to place his trust in Hislop, the 37-year-old West Ham goalkeeper brought up within throwing distance of Hackney Marshes. As pre-match build-ups go, it was pretty stressful. But Hislop has admitted it probably the best thing that could have happened. For Sweden though, the news was all bad.

Facing the smallest nation in population terms ever to represented at a World Cup, Sweden expected to stroll to victory. Instead, every time they got near the Trinidad goal they found Hislop barring their way. Time after time, the veteran repelled their threat. Save after brilliant save to deny the Scandinavians their win.

The game ended in a draw but Hislop and his team had won to set up the mother and father of Caribbean calypsos in a little corner of Germany. Not bad for a player who was contemplating retirement 12 months ago before opting to take what turned out to be one of the smartest decisions of his life.
Typically though, Hislop took the all the attention in his stride. "I felt pretty cool to be honest," he smiled. "I knew it was a big opportunity on a big stage and I was looking forward to it. "At the time, there was not a chance of the atmosphere or anything else affecting me. "But looking back now, it was something I have never experienced before as a professional and it`s a memory I will always cherish."

Hislop is not alone in marking a mark during the opening week of competition. The man who ran Hislop closest for the personal accolade award was another player who plies his trade in the Premiership, Australia's Tim Cahill. When he hobbled out of Everton's drab draw with Birmingham at the end of April with knee-ligament damage, Cahill must have feared he would never make it to Germany.

Instead, the spiky midfielder has not only defied medical expectation but also forced his way to the top of the goalscoring charts, coming off the bench to turn the Socceroos first World Cup game in 32 years on its head. However, as Cahill would acknowledge, scoring twice against Japan is one thing. Doing it against Brazil, on Sunday, in Munich, is in a different stratosphere altogether.