YOU KNOW, I DON’T THINK AN easy-going Caribbean outlook is the first thing managers look for in a goalkeeper, but there is the odd occasion when it is just what you need. At 5.40 on Saturday evening, I was preparing to be on the bench for the biggest match in Trinidad & Tobago’s history, but then my good friend Kelvin Jack suffered an injury in the warm-up.

“Shaka, you’re playing.”
“No worries, boss.”

There was no time for stage fright or pre-match jitters. It was the game that I’d dreamt of my whole life, but I didn’t have to contend with any of these kind of emotions. One minute I was out, the next minute I was in. That suited me fine.

To be honest, though, I did feel something different out there. I’m a guy who likes to soak up the atmosphere in games I play in. I like games to hold lasting memories and maybe that has been to my detriment at times in my career, but here things were happening and they were just flashing by. I don’t know whether it’s a case of being “in the zone”, as they say, but it was different from what I’ve felt for a while — understandably so because of the game and what it meant to us.

What did it mean to a 37-year-old who has been around the block? It meant everything. It was the proudest day of my career. I think it would have been even if I hadn’t played — I was happy with the role I played in the qualifying campaign and I didn’t really expect too much more — but Saturday’s match completed the jigsaw for me. I know now I’ll be a happy man when I retire.

I was always going to be once we qualified, but from the time the first whistle went I knew that a big part of the jigsaw had been fitted. And then for things to go as they did, well, I think I’ll die a happy man.

It was a perfect day. Well, not quite perfect because I really felt for Kelvin, but I was just so proud. For us to get a draw against Sweden in our first game in the World Cup finals and for me to make a few decent saves along the way, it felt great.

But, to me, even more important than the point we won was the point we proved — not only to ourselves, but to the people of Trinidad & Tobago and I think also to people all over the world.

When we went out on to the pitch before the game, it seemed that 75 per cent of the crowd was made up of the yellow of Sweden. The rest of the stadium seemed to be neutral except for a few little pockets of the red, white and black of Trinidad & Tobago. OK, I thought. But then, with ten minutes remaining, it seemed the whole crowd was chanting for us. That was mouthwatering. It told me we were winning some friends, which is what we came here to do.

That probably meant more to me than any of the saves I made. That and the smiles on the faces of my team-mates and our supporters at the final whistle. It was an incredibly proud moment, but more as a Trinidadian than as a footballer.

What do we play football for? Contrary to what you might think, we play to make people happy. To see those smiling faces and then to hear from friends and relatives all over the world what it meant to them, that made it even better.

Apparently, the people were celebrating like mad back home and the scenes on our team bus were pretty frenzied, too, for a while. We were all taking calls from family and friends — Dwight Yorke even got a call from our Prime Minister, Patrick Manning — and the atmosphere was buzzing, with everyone singing and laughing. Luckily, the three-hour drive back to our base in Rotenburg calmed us down a bit before we got back to our hotel just after midnight for some cheese toasties before we went to bed, exhausted but still buzzing with excitement after an amazing day.

WE WILL FACE ENGLAND WITH NEWFOUND SELF-BELIEF

IT’S TOO EARLY FOR ME TO SAY whether I’ll keep my place against England on Thursday, but I can tell you that the sense of anticipation in the Trinidad & Tobago camp is soaring after our goalless draw with Sweden.

People from our part of the world are eternal optimists and there was already a lot of belief in our camp, but this result, especially after we played the last 44 minutes with ten men, has really raised expectations. If we go into the England game with our newfound self-belief, who knows what can happen? It can be done. We know it can. Dwight Yorke said straight after the draw in December that we could take heart from Northern Ireland’s victory against England in the qualifiers.

He’s right about that, but now we can take even more from our performance on Saturday.

A lot of people have asked me about the prospect of coming up against Steven Gerrard again after he beat me with two thunderbolts (and a penalty in the shoot-out, don’t forget) in the FA Cup Final. I joked last week that if I never see that guy again, it will be too soon, but as much as it would be nice to put one over him for a change, this is a totally different ball game and a totally different set of emotions.

Like I said, I don’t know whether I’ll be playing yet. What happened to poor Kelvin Jack on Saturday reminded me that you can’t take anything for granted. But it’s not about me or Kelvin. It’s about Trinidad & Tobago. And if we show the spirit we did on Saturday, who knows what might happen?