Did the Canadian men’s soccer team use drones to spy on opponents during 2024 Copa America?
With the Canadian women’s soccer team now embroiled in a spying scandal involving drones, it may be the men’s team is also culpable. Here’s what we know.
Though there is clearly much more information to come in relation to what is now being referred to as ‘Spygate’, it’s becoming increasingly apparent that both the Canadian women’s and men’s teams engaged in an illegal activity where their opponents are concerned.
Canadian men’s soccer team allegedly used drones to spy as well
On Thursday, the Canadian Olympic Committee announced that it had taken the decision to dismiss women’s national soccer team coach Bev Priestman from the Olympic squad, something that you can read more about here. Indeed, our previous report sheds light on the fact that along with two other members of staff, Priestman engaged in spying on opponents via the use of drones. Needless to say, it was a shocking turn of events but now it seems that there is more to come.
With that, Canada Soccer CEO & general secretary Kevin Blue has now revealed that this spying was also attempted by the men’s team during the recently concluded Copa America. Blue confirmed that Canadian men’s soccer coach Jesse Marsch became aware of attempted drone usage during the tournament after the fact, however, he does not believe that it assisted the team in winning matches, which of course raises eyebrows when considering the idea that the Canucks were the surprise of the tournament, advancing out of the group stages and all the way to the semifinals where they lost to eventual champions Argentina. Canada ultimately finished fourth in the tournament.
To be clear, Blue indicated that he believes the drone usage by the men’s team was of a different nature to that which the women’s team allegedly performed, stating that ‘the potential impact on the competitive integrity of a match was not at risk’ during Copa America. Going further he stated that Marsch learned about it after the fact, further supporting the notion that whatever was learned could not have been used to affect the outcome of matches. “I am stating right now that the team has not seen any of that footage, players have not committed any wrongdoing,” Blue said. Incidentally, it has also been suggested that both of Canada’s soccer teams have been engaging in spying for quite some time now, which does indeed cast a shadow over their credibility and moreover begs a question as to whether their should be more severe punishment.