The CP World Championships were held in San Luis, Argentina this year and it was one to remember for my England team. We created history by being the first CP England team to reach a World Cup semi-final and finish in 4th place.
It was my 4th year as Captain of the team and I just knew something special was brewing, every training camp had gone to plan and all the boys were looking sharp and ready to go!! We began the competition by comprehensively beating Japan 11.0, Venezuela 9.0 and our arch rivals for top spot Holland, 5.0. It was the first time we had ever topped a group in any major competition and in doing so scoring 25 goals along the way.
Next up was USA who like ourselves were the most improved team in the World and what a game it was. They took an early lead and we were 1.0 down at half time but we rallied together superbly in the 2nd half, managing to come back to defeat the Americans 2.1. I managed to score the winner after running the full length of the pitch before smashing it into the bottom corner. We were into a World Cup semi-final and what a feeling it was. My best yet in my sporting career!!
We were drawn against the Paralympic silver medallist Iran who we knew would be a huge test for us. We unfortunately lost the game 3.1 but the score didn't do us any justice. We dominated the game in terms of possession, passes completed, shots on goals, attacks and corners but they were absolutely ruthless on the counter attack, scoring 3 goals from 4 shots on target. It was a bitter pill to taste as we deserved to reach the final but fair play to Iran, they showed their experience for big games and we learnt a lot.
The sadness quickly changed to excitement as we were now playing Russia in the final game of the tournament for a Bronze medal. The Russians, in my opinion are the best footballing team in the World, they are like Barcelona in terms of how they move the ball around, their movement, combination play and speed. We had lost by at least 4 goals in the 3 previous attempts.
However we were unbelievable on the day. We competed for every ball, worked tirelessly, created opportunities and held them until 3 minutes to go in extra time before they finally broke our defence down to score. We lost 1,0. We were devastated!! But the improvement is there for everyone to see and the experience was once again life changing. We will win a medal very soon.