England manager Sam Allardyce has joined the Prime Minster and a host of celebrities in providing a message of support for the Great Britain Paralympic team.
The opening ceremony for the Rio Paralympics took place at the Maracana Stadium on Wednesday night, but some noticeable absentees from the showpiece event were the Great Britain Football 7s squad, who face an early start today when they take on hosts Brazil at the Deodora Stadium at 10am (2pm BST).
A few more familiar faces wishing @ParalympicsGB good luck - tweet your message too! #Supercharge #RoarTogetherhttps://t.co/QYz7UbiaBW
— ParalympicsGB (@ParalympicsGB) September 7, 2016
Allardyce’s morale-boosting message was shared with the squad in the athletes village as they entered final preparations for the sell-out match. Despite facing the host nation and second-favourites so early in the tournament, GB coach Keith Webb says the players are undaunted.
“Preparations over the last couple of days couldn't have gone better. The players trust themselves,” said Webb.
The Great Britain squad of 14 is led by England captain Jack Rutter and features nine players from the England team that earned fifth place at the Cerebral Palsy World Championships, which was hosted at St. George’s Park a year ago. In addition, former Liverpool academy graduate Sean Highdale has joined the fold.
If the team take one of the top two places in their group, they will at the very least secure a semi-final berth – and a medal playoff for bronze.
But their group also contains the top two ranked teams in the tournament, Ukraine and Brazil, so there is all to play for from the very start.
Channel 4 will be covering key games live and all games will be available to stream here.
