On Wednesday, FC Dallas departs from north Texas for Trinidad and Tobago, where they will join Brazilian partner Clube Atletico Paranaense plus two all-star teams from the T&T Pro League in honoring ex-FCD goalkeeper Shaka Hislop in the Shaka Hislop Tribute Cup this weekend.
In September, Hislop retired after a 15-year playing career. He joined the Hoops just after the 2006 FIFA World Cup, when he turned in an unforgettable performance between the posts for T&T in a surprising opening-round draw with Sweden. Hislop appeared in 10 games for FCD before back problems forced his retirement earlier this year.
The FCD players making the trip are definitely looking forward to playing a few more games and also to paying homage to their former teammate.
"It will be a nice end of the year trip," said center back Drew Moor. "It's a tribute to Shaka (Hislop), who was a great teammate for us the last few years and was somebody who taught me a lot about the love for the game. He had such a fantastic career and it was an honor getting to play some games with him. It's a great way to pay tribute to him."
On Friday, FCD will face the T&T Pro League Foreign All-Stars as part of a doubleheader. Their second match of the event will be on Sunday, Dec. 2, when the Hoops will square off with the T&T Pro League Local All-Stars.
"It's fun for us to go down and play in his retirement/tribute tournament. It's a fun trip for us to end the season. We have two games but at the same time, are going to have a bit of fun," Abe Thompson said. "We're not going to take it too seriously and this is a good way to kick off the offseason."
FCD head coach Steve Morrow was eagerly anticipating the trip as well, despite the timing of the event.
"These trips are often difficult at the end of the year," Morrow said. "It's a difficult time of the year here in America with the contracts coming up for renewal and that certainly plays a part in everything. It's a little bit of a reward for a season of hard work. We all want the boys to go there and have a little down time as well."
Even though the event will be played in a setting complete with spectacular beauty, Morrow can't turn down the chance to do some player evaluation.
"We're playing against two select teams there and I think they'll have some talent to look at," he said. "There are some of our players to look at as we're already evaluating players for next year. I'll make some of the players aware of that. We've got quite a few injuries and some away with national team duty, so this will be a diverse group."
The FCD traveling roster is a unique mix of veterans and young players. Several top players, including midfielder Pablo Ricchetti, captain Carlos Ruiz, goalkeeper Dario Sala and midfielder Adrian Serioux won't make the trip as they recuperate from injuries.
FCD also has several players currently away with various national teams. Youngsters Abdus Ibrahim and Anthony Wallace are currently with the United States under-20 national team in Argentina while Arturo Alvarez and Dax McCarty are both due in Los Angeles for the U.S. U-23 camp that begins on December 2.
Morrow's traveling party will include forwards Thompson, Kenny Cooper, Dominic Oduro and Ricardinho. Midfielders on the roster are World Cup-winner Denilson, Juan Toja, Aaron Pitchkolan, Scott Jones, Chase Wileman and Marcelo Saragosa, who missed the last half of the season due to injury and will join the team from Brazil.
The Hoops goalkeepers will be Ray Burse and Dan Kennedy, who was a supplemental draft pick of Chivas USA in 2005 and spent time on the MetroStars roster. Defenders traveling for the event include Kenny Bertz, a fourth-round pick of D.C. United in 2006, Michael Dello-Russo, a close friend with Bertz from their time at Maryland, Moor, Andrew Daniels, Bobby Rhine, David Wagenfuhr, Blake Wagner and Alex Yi.
One interesting thing about the trip is that Morrow will be the lone member of the Hoops coaching staff present. Top assistant Oscar Pareja has left the team for a position as an assistant coach with the U-17 national team and Morrow's other lieutenant, Marco Ferruzzi, will be at a scouting combine in Argentina scouting players.
Steve Hunt is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
