United States men’s national team captain Tyler Adams chimed in on the spying scandal that has hit North American soccer. Just before the beginning of the 2024 Olympics, French authorities arrested a Canada women’s soccer team staff member. Joseph Lombardi picked up an eight-month suspended sentence for using drones to capture video of New Zealand practice. However, this was not an isolated incident. Reports soon broke of Canada spying ahead of the Copa America and men’s World Cup qualifying.
Yet, Adams is not necessarily surprised by the spying that has come to light. The Bournemouth midfielder, who joined the Cooligans podcast this week, went so far as to say every team does it. While it may not incorporate drones to get an aerial view, it is hard for teams and confederations to regulate and control closed practices, like New Zealand’s was ahead of the Canada game.
“Every team does it,” Adams said. “I know for a fact every team does it to some capacity, I don’t know about drones, that seems a little crazy. There are always people when you train in stadiums the day before a game. Someone will be acting like a worker, and they’re working for a different federation or something. It happens consistently, I am positive of that.”
If that is the case, it is a major point of contention when it comes to modern soccer. Anyone can purchase a drone, which makes it more difficult to regulate who can see practices. French authorities had success in tracking down Lombardi during training ahead of the Olympics. Still, the fact that Adams is saying this happens regularly, and there are no surrounding reports of these spies being caught, shows problems.
Even if it is regular for teams to use spying in some capacity, authorities clearly take it as an issue. Canada picked up a six-point deduction in women’s soccer at the Paris 2024 Olympics. That hinders the defending Gold Medal winner’s chances of escaping the group stage mightily. However, the team will have a chance to advance after winning both of its first two games to eliminate the initial deduction.
Canada appealed this penalty but to no avail. There was evidence against Canada that the spying was not a one-off incident. Emails between one Canadian analyst and head coach Beverly Priestman outwardly mentioned spying.
“Morally, my own reputation within the analysis field, potentially being unable to fulfill my role on a matchday,” the analyst wrote in an email to Priestman, as listed in FIFA documents accusing Canada Soccer of spying. “Moving forward I will have a discussion with Joey [Lombardi] and reach out to the wider tech team with regards to how we could potentially look for other solutions. But just wanted to confirm that you will not be asking me to fulfill the role of ‘spying’ in the upcoming and future camps.”
Therefore, the Court of Arbitration for Sport did not accept Canada’s appeal. The six-point penalty stands, and Canada is without several coaches and analysts for the rest of the Olympics.
Regardless, if Tyler Adams is correct, and Canada spying is just one instance of a widespread problem, FIFA must investigate the issue further.
PHOTOS: IMAGO
