Brighton & Hove Albion winger Jose Izquierdo expressed his delight at receiving a call-up to the Colombia squad for their forthcoming friendlies against France and Australia.
Izquierdo hopes that the call-up will see him included in Colombia’s World Cup squad for this year’s finals in Russia.
He said, "I'm very happy and proud. It's a result of all the work I'm doing here and all I've done until now.
"The hard work has given me the motivation and power to keep dreaming.
"It's not a secret that it's a dream for me to play in a World Cup, but also to stay in the Premier League.
"I have the ambition to fight for that dream, but also I know the experience will be a big test for me to grow myself as a person and a professional player."
The winger feels that his quick start to life in the Premier League has been another contributing factor for his recall, and highlighted how he his overall game has improved.
"Playing at this level has helped me so much. I'm playing with players who are World Cup level. It's so different and training every day is at a big level, you get better and better.
"You start to adapt to the movement, the fast football, the physicality, so you start to choose better decisions on the pitch. And also the feeling you have with your team-mates grows each training session and in each game."
Following Colombia’s match against France on Friday, the South Americans will face Australia at Craven Cottage on 27th March, and Izquierdo is looking forward to facing team-mate and Australian shot-stopper Mathew Ryan.
"I've spoken with Maty. I said I will try to score. It's something special to play against a team-mate but next week we will be enemies!”