Having achieved their record total of three wins at the 2015 Cerebral Palsy Football World Championships in Burton upon Trent, England, where they finished the tournament in 10th place, Canada’s team will be hoping to continue their progression in front of a home crowd.

Their hopes at the Pan American Games could rest upon the form of Trevor Stiles, who scored their last six goals at the World Championships, while Liam Stanley, Samuel Charron and Vito Proietti will also be hoping to contribute in attack.

Cory Johnson, Joe Resendes and Damien Wojtiw are the three goalkeepers listed in the squad and they are set to be protected at the tournament by defenders Kyle Payne, Matt Brown, Nick Hefferman, Dustin Hodgson, Lucas Bruno, Matt Gilbert and John Phillips.

"The players and staff are looking forward to this great competition, and the fact that it is on home soil in Toronto makes this a very exciting opportunity to compete and bring home a medal for Canada," Drew Ferguson, head coach of the Canadian team, said.

"The competition will be very stiff, as three of the teams we are competing against are in the top seven teams in the world, but we will be prepared to compete for a podium position.

“This is also a great opportunity to promote the sport of seven-a-side football here in Canada.”

The host’s pursuit of a podium finish is likely to come under threat from World Championship bronze medallists Brazil, with the United States and Argentina also expected to provide tough opposition throughout the competition, due to take place from August 7 to 14.

The players who will take to the Pan Am/Parapan Am Fields at the University of Toronto either have cerebral palsy or a similar neurological disorder.

Matches are set to last for one hour halves lasting for 30 minutes, while there is no offside rules and teams will be required to have a line-up featuring players which features players from four different classifications.

"Our football seven-a-side team shows consistent progression year after year," said Elisabeth Walker-Young, Canada's Chef de Mission.

"It is going to be exciting to see them play some of the top teams in the world at the Games."

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