Brilliant Hislop denies Swedes

Trinidad & Tobago 0 Sweden 0: When the Longford Town manager Alan Matthews learned his unsettled defender Avery John had been in South Africa playing a trial game for the Orlando Pirates under the cunning pseudonym John Avery - and not, as he had told the club, in Trinidad looking after his sick mother -Matthews was moved to observe that the left back was "not only positionally naive but also geographically inept".

Three years on and, to be fair, the 29-yearold defender has successfully found his way to Germany for this World Cup, though his debut on the game's greatest stage over the weekend was not exactly what might be described as an absolute triumph.

Booked after 15 minutes for a decidedly clumsy challenge on Sweden's Christian Wilhelmsson, he had little complaint when, just 30 seconds after the break, a second tangle with the same player led to a another yellow card and, inevitably, dismissal.

The sending off, as it turned out, merely served to set up an enthralling drama, the Caribbean underdogs holding out - despite their numerical disadvantage and all-round inferiority - for an unlikely draw against a strong Swedish side.

Lars Lagerback and his men threw everything at them over the 90 minutes, and in particular during the last 15, but with Shaka Hislop outstanding in goal, Dwight Yorke excelling in the unlikely role of sweeper, and veteran Dutch coach Leo Beenhakker pulling the strings masterfully from the sidelines, the "Soca Warriors" held out to the considerable delight of their travelling support.

"I was just hoping and praying that we didn't lose," observed an obviously relieved John afterwards. "In a situation like that it's very easy for people to just point at you and say because of you we lost the game. So for me personally I'm very happy and very proud of the guys . . . that we don't concede, that Shaka didn't concede and we held on for zero-zero."

An amiable character who apparently sees the Lord's guiding hand at work both in his career and wider life, John maintains his years at Bohemians, Shelbourne and Longford was timewell spent, even if it all did end a little sourly when he decided to move on.

"In Ireland," he says, "it's a very different style of football. Everything is direct. (In Trinidad) it's all about you taking your time playing the ball and then you come to Ireland and you're just going back and forth.

"But there are a lot of good things in Ireland. You were competing against guys who had been in England, you had the weather, the jumping, the pace of it all. All of those things were a big plus and I'm glad I had the experience.

"I mean look at the game today. The Swedes are a good team but a lot of the time they were trying to find Ibrahimovic and the guys were trying to run on. Like everything else I have done, my time in Ireland played a part in making me the player I am and in the first half I think I did well today so I'm grateful for it."

The sending offmeans he will miss Thursday's game against England in Nuremberg, a particular blow given he was hoping, after being passed on by Wycombe Wanderers and Colchester United a couple of years back, to impress some watching club managers.

The consolation is there should still be the Paraguay game next week for him to catch the eye of somebody whomight offer a move back to Europe from Major League Soccer, where he has a year left on his contract with New England Revolution.

"Over the last eight or nine games I feel I've done well and I don't think the manager will punish me for one (his first in international football) red card. It's possible but I hope not." Providing a rival with the chance to impress is, however, dangerous, as the team's goalkeeper, Kelvin Jack, was reminded on Saturday.

Beenhakker's first choice of late, the 30-year-old admitted to feeling less than 100 per cent after the warm-up and was replaced by Hislop.

The West Ham veteran turned in a great performance, the highlight of which was a superb save from Henrik Larsson, and can only narrowly have lost out to Yorke for the "man of the match" award. Quietly accepting he may not now feature at this tournament, Jack said while he was happy about the result, it was "his saddest day in football".