Canada's Paris Olympic spygate scandal spills over to men's team; CEO 'aware' of Copa America 'drone usage'

Following Canada women's soccer coach Bev Priestman's removal from the Canadian Olympic team due to her staff's use of a drone to spy on opponents, Canada Soccer CEO & general secretary Kevin Blue has revealed that this spying was also attempted by the men's team at Copa America. Blue confirmed that Canadian men's soccer coach Jesse Marsch became aware of attempted drone usage during the tournament after the fact, but he does not believe that it assisted the team in winning matches. The Canucks were the surprise of the tournament where they advanced out of the group stage and ultimately finished fourth.

Blue believes that this was a different use of drones than at the Olympics but that 'the potential impact on the competitive integrity of a match was not at risk' during Copa America. Blue says that Marsch learned about this after the fact which is why he believes that the drone use didn't impact results. Blue doesn't believe that players should be penalized for this but it's also clear that this has been a systemic issue for Canada Soccer.

"I am stating right now that the team has not seen any of that footage, players have not committed any wrongdoing," Blue said.

"I'm aware of an instance of attempted drone usage during Copa America. My current understanding is that the fact pattern of that instance is significantly different than what occurred here, especially as it relates to the potential impact on comPetitive integrity. But we're doing a review to specifically obtain a full understanding of these situations and what others may exist.""  

TSN reported that Canada's men's and women's soccer teams have relied on spying for years, including during Canada's 2021 Olympic gold-medal winning campaign. The analyst at the center of this, Joseph Lombardi was also an unaccredited analyst with the Canadian Women's soccer team despite already having a role within Canadian Soccer as a national youth program director.

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