Our Commonwealth friends in New Zealand were, justifiably, having a field day with the Canadian drone scandal on Wednesday.
Thanks to a team analyst being caught using drones, not once but twice, at New Zealand Olympic women’s soccer team practices, this Canadian version of spygate managed to far overshadow the traditional happy news of the country unveiling its flag-bearers for Friday’s opening ceremony in Paris.
That’s a shame for sprinter Andre De Grasse and weightlifter Maude Charron, two excellent choices by the Canadian Olympic Committee who have nothing to do with this debacle.
Why 43-year-old Canadian analyst Joseph Lombardi, who has been involved with Canada Soccer for more than a decade, or anyone associated with the reigning Olympic champs felt the need to spy on a New Zealand squad ranked far below Canada in the FIFA rankings is a wonderful question.
Because of this, Canada has been humiliated on the international sporting stage heading into the women’s soccer team’s now much-anticipated opener Thursday against New Zealand.
“Hardly likely that the Football Ferns are going to threaten the Canadians on form,” former New Zealand men’s international soccer player David Chote said on the Sports Fix podcast in his country on Newstalk ZB. “It is a massive surprise to see them taking to the skies with drones to try to work out what the Football Ferns might be up to. … Cheap shot, really.”
Later, Chote said: “I think the Canadians are embarrassed and the Football Ferns have the moral high ground.”
The COC announced Lombardi and the assistant coach he reports to are being sent home, while head coach Bev Priestman was removing herself from Thursday’s match.
But, frankly, that doesn’t seem like enough. FIFA has opened an investigation and further sanctions could be forthcoming.
It’s hard to fathom why Priestman, whether she had any knowledge of this or not, should coach another game at this Olympics. She’s the head coach, so essentially the CEO, of the program.
David Shoemaker, the CEO of the COC, was asked at least three times during a video news conference on Wednesday why he didn’t suspend Priestman.
“I was persuaded by the fact that Bev Priestman had no involvement, no knowledge of the incident,” Shoemaker said of a coach who guided Canada to Olympic gold in her first major tournament with the squad after getting the job in 2020.
“Those who had direct involvement were removed from Team Canada.”
Perhaps noticing the mood of the Zoom room at the end of the press conference, Shoemaker, unprompted, encouraged FIFA and Canada Soccer (which announced it is conducting an independent review) to “do what they are setting out to do.”
While they do that, New Zealand can have a little chuckle. And, by the way, Shoemaker said New Zealand also has asked the powers that the Canadians not be awarded points in the standings if they win the game.
“If you’re for the Football Ferns, you take it as a badge of pride,” New Zealand sports commentator Elliott Smith said on Sports Fix.
“…I don’t know why exactly Canada would bother.”
No matter what you think of Ben Johnson and the drug-tainted field at the 1988 Olympics, he was seemingly trying to gain an edge on some of the world’s best by using performance-enhancing drugs.
The New Zealand team, conversely, is not an international power. It has never made it out of the group stage at a World Cup and has done so at the Olympics just once. What’s more, New Zealand made an abrupt coaching change just last month.
Canada, meanwhile, has won women’s soccer medals at the past three Olympics before crashing out early at last year’s World Cup.
As for Lombardi being listed originally as an unaccredited analyst, that is simply administrative talk that means nothing. Shoemaker said sports associations are given out only so many accreditations and it simply becomes a numbers game.
Lombardi, who was given an eight-month suspended sentence by French authorities, was listed on the press release when the Olympic team was announced. He also worked under John Herdman with previous Canadian men’s teams, among other assignments. He is not some intern.
For Canada Soccer, this is a return to the bad old days. There was such optimism earlier this month when new men’s coach Jesse Marsch, hired by new CEO Kevin Blue, guided that squad to a surprising semifinal appearance at Copa America.
For years, it was the men’s program spinning its wheels while the women succeeded on the world stage — in spite of constant off-field bumbling by Soccer Canada.
Blue, through zero fault of his own, now has a major problem on his hands.
On Thursday, the soccer world will be rooting for New Zealand.
Canada deserves the scorn.
