IBRAHIMA Diallo, from Kingswood, admits meeting his England heroes inspired him as Great Britain won a silver medal at the BT Paralympic World Cup.
Diallo and his cerebral palsy seven-a-side team-mates got the chance to meet Roy Hodgson's squad as they trained at the Etihad Stadium ahead of last Saturday's friendly against Norway.
Hours later, Diallo netted twice as Great Britain thrashed the United States 7-0 at the City of Manchester Arena on their way to the final, where they lost 4-2 to Brazil.
Despite only joining the squad in September, Diallo has become a key player and he ended up as top scorer in Manchester with seven goals. He also insisted meeting the likes of Steve Gerrard had played a huge part in his and the team's success.
"It was a great inspiration for me to meet the England squad," said Diallo. "It gave us a great lift – I just enjoyed watching them train and tried to copy them on the pitch!
"I was just really happy to see all the players, especially Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, because I'm an Arsenal fan.
"If you'd told me before December I would be playing for Great Britain and meeting the England squad, I would've just laughed, so I'm looking forward to London (Paralympic Games) and, hopefully, getting on the podium.
"A paralympic gold medal would be my greatest achievement, and if we keep training as we are and everyone follows their programs, then I reckon we've got a great chance of doing it. We do have to play Brazil in our group, though. They're a typical Brazilian team – 'you score one and we'll score five' is their philosophy. They've just got so much confidence.
"But the Brazilians are beatable, we just need to defend a bit better against them and then we can get something against them, hopefully in London."
When he's not finding the back of the net for Great Britain, Diallo studies IT at Filton College as he eyes up a degree in business management at university.
He has final-year exams coming up – and might have to worry about his class-mates' results as well as his own.
"Apparently, everyone at college weren't studying, they were all just watching me play at the BT Paralympic World Cup on Channel 4," added Diallo. "My friends all said they're really proud of me. They were even texting me that the teachers were watching it, too. I'm planning on going to university, but I just want to keep playing as much as I can and concentrate on my game. Hopefully, it will pay off."
The BT Paralympic World Cup took place in Manchester from May 22-26, with elite international athletes competing in athletics, football seven-a-side and wheelchair basketball. Go to www.btparalympicworldcup.com for more information.
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