Canada’s women’s soccer players have insisted that they had ‘nothing’ to do with the team’s drone spying scheme at the Olympics.
The scandal, which has seen three staffers – including head coach Bev Priestman – sent home from the Olympics, also resulted in the reigning gold medalists being docked six points ahead of their second game vs. France.
Canada, though, dramatically scored in second-half stoppage time to beat the hosts and keep their hopes alive, and firmly rejected the notion afterwards that they’re cheaters.
‘It’s been 72 hours where we have no control over anything,’ Vanessa Gilles, who scored the winning goal, said via ESPN.
‘We’re not part of any of this, and we’re getting sanctioned as if we just got caught doping. We did nothing. We’re just so tired of defending ourselves over something we have no control over.
Canada – who were handed a six-point deduction over the scandal – kept their Olympic hopes alive with a last-gasp win vs. France
Suspended head coach Bev Priestman apologized to her players on Sunday in a statement
‘We got no advantage,’ Giles continued. ‘We go out there, we play our hearts out, we work for this all year round, day in and day out. So it’s just the uncontrollables that are the biggest anger and biggest frustration.’
It was revealed prior to Canada’s opening match in the Olympics vs. New Zealand that the team had used drones to spy on their opponents, with assistant coach Jasmine Mander, ‘unaccredited’ analyst Joseph Lombardi and head coach Priestman all ultimately being sent home.
The trio was also each suspended a year by FIFA from any football-related activities.
Beyond these Olympics, questions have arose around Canada’s gold medal in Tokyo, with TSN reporting that Canada’s men’s and women’s teams have tried to film their opponents’ training sessions ‘for years’ – including in 2021 in Tokyo.
Priestman, who apologized to her players on Sunday, was adamant however that spying played no role in the team’s Tokyo triumph.
Vanessa Gilles of Canada said the players are ‘tired of defending ourselves’ over the scandal
Giles added on Sunday that she had ‘never felt so many emotions going into a game,’ with her teammate Kailen Sheridan adding that ‘there’s so much negativity directed toward us.’
‘We feel like we have nothing to do with what all these things that are gone on,’ Sheridan said. ‘We’re under attack right now. We’re the dart board. We unfortunately had to take that. For us to take that. In order for us to come together and really shut the world out was a really hard decision.’
The players’ denial of involvement in the drone spying has been echoed by Canada soccer CEO Kevin Blue, who said In a press conference on Friday that the players at the Paris Olympics had not seen any drone footage from Lombardi.
A man matching Lombardi’s description was arrested last week by French authorities after it was discovered a drone was flying over New Zealand’s practice.
Nonetheless, Canada now have a chance to advance despite their points deduction after beating both New Zealand and France.
They’ll face Colombia on Wednesday with a chance to move on.
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