Big blow for the Canadian team.
Canadian Team in serious trouble
- Thread starter Zaphod2319
- Start date
Herdman traded one hell for another.
There is plenty of blame to throw around at the higher-ups at Canada Soccer and everything they did for a year now has been nothing short of shameful. However, becoming the manager at Toronto FC is another kind of problem because their designated players are some of the worst primadonnas any club can have in this league.
Bad news all around. The CSA needs to be dismantled and rebuilt. It's a joke.
Maybe they can rebrand it Hockey sur pieds and try to snatch funding from Hockey Canada (which has its own issues right now).
Now in trouble for a whole other reason. Not a good look at all. Apparently goes back years and Herdman was well involved.
Canada have gotten away with a very light tap on the wrist considering how systemic this has been for multiple years.
Here I thought Canadians were always our sweet and innocent northern brethren.
I think two things are being conflated in this discussion. You're arguing that it's exciting to see your nation competing at a tournament, and giving a decent account of yourselves against stronger nations. JProuve is arguing that the football you played was not exciting. Both can be right.
Looks like the new season of Fargo is sorted, then. The murky underground Canadian WNT!
Both NTs, according to the reports, not just the women's. More Fargo material!
Pretty damning news on Canada's NT. I wonder how many other teams are guilty here..
!!
Behind that winning smile and open friendliness lies a dark, Machiavellian heart, eh!
@Cheimoon @Dr. Dwayne
I'm not saying the Canadians are evil, but...
Kinda sheds a new light on all the praise Herdman got for having his teams so well prepared.
Also, report on ESPN suggests the US Soccer Federation knew but didn’t want to rock the boat by reporting it since they were working with the Canadian Federation (and Mexico) on the WC26 bid.
Also, report on ESPN suggests the US Soccer Federation knew but didn’t want to rock the boat by reporting it since they were working with the Canadian Federation (and Mexico) on the WC26 bid.
I wonder how much it really helps and how common it is. I'd be surprised if this were really specific to the Canadian NTs - although perhaps they were most systematic at it. There's some discussion of that at this CBC article: https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/summer/soccer/canada-soccer-drone-risk-reward-1.7276924.
I see Herdman has said he wasn't aware of any drone stuff while he was head coach of the NTs and a few ex-players have said never having seen drone footage. Let's see what stands up of that over time as this is investigated.
Also, the guy that got caught is incredibly stupid for thinking it's a good idea to fly a drone illegally at a highly secure event like the Olympics.
I see Herdman has said he wasn't aware of any drone stuff while he was head coach of the NTs and a few ex-players have said never having seen drone footage. Let's see what stands up of that over time as this is investigated.
Also, the guy that got caught is incredibly stupid for thinking it's a good idea to fly a drone illegally at a highly secure event like the Olympics.
We're not sorry this time!!
Behind that winning smile and open friendliness lies a dark, Machiavellian heart, eh!
@Cheimoon @Dr. Dwayne
To be fair, it seems he was only caught because the New Zealanders spotted the drone and reported it to the police. The French anti-drone measures seem to be concentrated at official event venues, not at individual team's training camps.Also, the guy that got caught is incredibly stupid for thinking it's a good idea to fly a drone illegally at a highly secure event like the Olympics.
That is the opposite of this reportI wonder how much it really helps and how common it is. I'd be surprised if this were really specific to the Canadian NTs - although perhaps they were most systematic at it. There's some discussion of that at this CBC article: https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/summer/soccer/canada-soccer-drone-risk-reward-1.7276924.
I see Herdman has said he wasn't aware of any drone stuff while he was head coach of the NTs and a few ex-players have said never having seen drone footage. Let's see what stands up of that over time as this is investigated.
Also, the guy that got caught is incredibly stupid for thinking it's a good idea to fly a drone illegally at a highly secure event like the Olympics.
Guess that's a first lie caught already then!
Geez, when you're so far gone that you feel the need to not only cheat for games with true stakes, but also do it for a feelgood tournament...
That is so Canadian.
Kind of destroys our reputation of being a nice polite people.
Drones did you say?
*Bielsa likes this post*
*Bielsa likes this post*
Finally some dirt on Canadians. American's have been waiting for this for over 100 years.
Some more news on the spying scandal: https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/...-womens-soccer-appeal-denied-emails-1.7280924. In particular, the article says this about an e-mail from an analyst to WNT head coach Bev Priestman:
Which led Priestman to follow up with an e-mail to an undisclosed recipient within Soccer Canada, which included the following:
That's pretty clear in terms of Canada's practice of drone spying, and makes it hard to see how Herdman can continue to insist he wasn't aware of anything as head coach of the WNT and MNT. (Although he only says that 'these actions were not undertaken' at a few specific tournaments. I wonder what that phrasing might try to obscure.) The 'all top 10 teams' comment also makes me wonder which other countries are hoping this dies quickly, before FIFA extends its investigation beyond Canada only.
Do they seriously expect us to believe that they haven't slept or eaten for three days, that they have only been crying, and then they went on to beat France through nothing but the power of friendship? Does this lady not understand that nonsense hyperbole like this makes other statements coming out of her mouth, like, let's say "none of us had any knowledge about the cheating" also less believable?
Not that that was a very believable take from the start, at least not in my opinion. Things like this don't happen for so long, with so many people involved, being so careless as to send each other emails about the topic, and no player ever notices. The report linked in this thread according to which seventeen players watched the illegally aquired footage in a pregame briefing session sounds much more in line with what would be likely to happen.
Really interesting is the last bit:
It confirms that the six points deduction really is just in response to the one single drone incident, and that further things being uncovered might result in more consequences.
Teams will have to train indoors in the not too distant future.
You don't have to be so literal you know. The players didn't write a scientific treatise on their time-use post-incident, it's something the player said emotionally right after a match. Obviously the point is simply that the whole thing has been very distressing for all of them and has really disrupted their routines.
Despite starting with minus points they are through. That save last game in last minutes only to score after was so important. One of favorites.
You can shove yer points deduction up yer arse, FIFA!
Incredible togetherness and grit from the Canadian women. From minus six points to plus three. The scandal is stupid and embarrassing and Canadian soccer deserves all the opprobrium it's getting and will continue to get, but I do respect the players a lot for winning all three games in their group, the only way they were going to make the quarter finals.
Yea, quite an impressive way to deal with a situation were the coach and a few of the players are about to ruin it for everybody.
And I'm wondering if there's any precedent in a major tournament of a country advancing from its four-team group after being docked six points. I have to admit, if it's true that the players were unaware of the spying, I have great admiration for their solidarity in this tournament. It's not easy to win three straight games at the best of times, and France (second in the world rankings), Colombia, and New Zealand are not pushovers.
I do suspect there will be more sanctions, though, as you say (or imply). This was for one instance of spying, so if they have evidence for other instances (men's and women's teams), Canada could still get a lengthy tournament ban, which would make the country's cohosting of the 2026 World Cup very strange indeed.
Soccer Canada's report on this matter is coming out next week. The CEO had said this in advance:
There is a little more information here, but nothing specific just yet: https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/...soccer-drony-spying-review-olympics-1.7378812. Will be interesting!
More came out today, but not because of the report, but due to investigative reporting by Radio-Canada. This article summarizes the findings: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/obsessional-culture-of-spying-canada-soccer-1.7380308.
In short, this was a big undertaking that was apparently brought to the Canadian national teams by Herdman, who forced his staff to help out (those who didn't, didn't get other opportunities). Priestman then happily continued it. They apparently obsessively spied on everything and everyone, even St Kitts and Nevis, which is about at the level of Andorra.
Of course, after previously having provided various elusive comments, Herdman and Priestman now had nothing to say.
More to come when the Soccer Canada report comes out, but this is pretty damning. I don't know what the consequences can be though. Priestman is already suspended and will get fired I suppose, but Herdman is with Toronto FC in the MLS, which might means he's out of reach of Soccer Canada. And all the staff point to Herdman and Priestman as the ones in charge who forced everyone else.
To be continued!
In short, this was a big undertaking that was apparently brought to the Canadian national teams by Herdman, who forced his staff to help out (those who didn't, didn't get other opportunities). Priestman then happily continued it. They apparently obsessively spied on everything and everyone, even St Kitts and Nevis, which is about at the level of Andorra.
Of course, after previously having provided various elusive comments, Herdman and Priestman now had nothing to say.
More to come when the Soccer Canada report comes out, but this is pretty damning. I don't know what the consequences can be though. Priestman is already suspended and will get fired I suppose, but Herdman is with Toronto FC in the MLS, which might means he's out of reach of Soccer Canada. And all the staff point to Herdman and Priestman as the ones in charge who forced everyone else.
To be continued!
Give us Davies and we’ll call it even
I'll talk to my colleagues.
Do you want Priestman instead? She's really good in opposition analysis.
I guess the only real remaining question is how widespread the knowledge was, and which consequences Canada Soccer will derive from this. I for one have a very hard time believing that the knowledge of these practices was contained within the coaching staff and analysts, and has not spread to players and Canada Soccer officials.
And then there's of course the question if and what FIFA might do going onwards.
And then there's of course the question if and what FIFA might do going onwards.
It says the executive was aware, and that players must have understood where certain types of information where coming from (but probably didn't care to question anything).
The early line with both articles appears to be that they (seemingly everyone within soccer in Canada) want to shift all blame to Herdman and Priestman, with everyone else being being guilty only by being feeling to cooperate or staying quiet. As you say, that sounds unlikely, but it's a 'good' setup for very limited consequences outside those two.
I wonder if it sets up the national teams for punishments from international federations though.