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Olympic Soccer Thread

andyt said:
Apparently, Canada has been cheating for years. They used drones at least as far back as the 2020 Olympics. And women’s head coach Bev Priestman has been sent home.

www.tsn.ca

Canada's men's and women's soccer teams have relied on drones and spying for years, sources say | TSN

Coaching staff and contractors working with Canada’s men’s and women’s national soccer teams have been engaged for years in efforts to film the closed-door training sessions of their opponents, including during the women’s gold-medal winning Olympic tournament in 2021, sources told TSN.
www.tsn.ca www.tsn.ca
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well a few snitches are trying to get back at someone, only in Canada do we self-flagellate like this.

Herdman and Sinclair need to go Carl Lewis and say "I'm not discussing the past"
 
andyt said:
Sinclair released a statement. I didn’t care that players were never shown drone footage. The coaches had it and used it to prepare the team. The gold medal is tainted.


View: https://x.com/meaghenjohnson/status/1816886087106658499?s=61&t=ZT8KDHkGMyk7V3JAuh5_ag
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Drogba said all have done it, Canada just go caught. Who am I to argue with Didier? I am sure though we will end up with some judicial inquiry up here wasting millions to get to the bottom of it like we did with Ben Johnson in 1988-89.

Anyway, who really cares about women's soccer?
 
TheCountofMonteCristo said:
Drogba said all have done it, Canada just go caught. Who am I to argue with Didier? I am sure though we will end up with some judicial inquiry up here wasting millions to get to the bottom of it like we did with Ben Johnson in 1988-89.

Anyway, who really cares about women's soccer?
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Ben Johnson was disqualified 2 days after winning the gold in 1988. Didier Drogba? His opinion means nothing.

And I care about women’s soccer. I coached it, my daughter played and blogged about it. I’ve been to 2 World Cups, my daughter has been to 3. Whether you care about women’s soccer or not, you should care about cheating.
 
andyt said:
Ben Johnson was disqualified 2 days after winning the gold in 1988. Didier Drogba? His opinion means nothing.

And I care about women’s soccer. I coached it, my daughter played and blogged about it. I’ve been to 2 World Cups, my daughter has been to 3. Whether you care about women’s soccer or not, you should care about cheating.
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Johnson failed a test in a race where the guy who lost had failed 3 times that year but they were covered up. He was the sacrificial lamb. As is typical for us up here, we will make a mountain out of a molehill and will demand a pound of flesh. Interesting though that Trudeau hasn't commented. Had it been the men he would have been ripping them but as it was done by a member of the 2SLGBTQIAP++ comm, he has remained silent.
 
Not soccer related but Olympics related. I was in absolute awe of Celine Dion's performance to close the Opening Ceremonies. To know what she's been through and to perform like that? Utterly captivating!
 
FIFA didn’t waste any time. Canada is hit with a 6 point deduction on the tournament and Priestman and 2 staffers pick up a 12 month ban.
 
The US didn't waste much time either ... jumping out to a quick lead and coasting home with a 4-1 win over New Zealand that puts them right back in the tournament. France can clinch a spot with a win over Guinea in a match that's starting just now in Nice. Given that Guinea lost to a pretty poor NZ side, that shouldn't be too much trouble, but we'll see.

Meanwhile Paraguay also came back from the dead with a win over Israel. They'll have all to play for against Mali on Tuesday. Spain continues to cruise, beating the DR 3-1, so the rest of CONCACAF will be scrapping it out for wildcards. As usual with an age group tournament, form game to game is an utter mystery.
 
andyt said:
FIFA didn’t waste any time. Canada is hit with a 6 point deduction on the tournament and Priestman and 2 staffers pick up a 12 month ban.
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That's a big deduction and probably kills Canada's chances of getting to the knockouts. Although with 3 wildcards, you never know, and that was presumably by design. 3 points might get 'em through, but they'll need to go 3-0 and they still have Colombia and France on the schedule. Oof. Hard to argue that Priestman and the staffers didn't get what they deserved, pending appeal. That everybody does it thing only goes so far seeing as they got reported and caught in the act.
 
So much for players not knowing about drone footage. TSN reports that at least 17 men’s players saw footage from a closed Honduran practice before they met in a World Cup qualifier in Toronto last September. A Canada Soccer employee said spying on opposing team practices has been done since at least 2016 at. U16 tournament. Another contractor said they were assigned to film opposing practices during the She Believes Cup last February.

www.tsn.ca

Canadian men's team shown video of Honduran practice during World Cup qualifying, source says | TSN

Seventeen players on Canada’s men’s national soccer team attended a briefing on Aug. 31, 2021 and watched as head coach John Herdman played a video that showed the Honduran national team’s closed practice a day earlier, a source told TSN.
www.tsn.ca www.tsn.ca
 
Yeah, there's also a piece in the Athletic/NYT that indicates that US staff were well aware that Canada had been spying on closed practices for some time. They chose not to take it to FIFA because of the nature of the relationship and the WC effort. But US coaches were aware and acted accordingly.

And look ... I think it's obvious that this stuff leads back to Herdman. It's a matter of whether anybody wants to do something about it. He's probably coached his last international game anyway.
 
Results from the women ... Australia with a wild 6-5 win over Zambia, if you didn't watch you'll absolutely want to find the extended highlights at some point. Zambia led 5-3, and Banda hat a hattie but turns out you need to defend as well. Spain locked down advancement with a 1-0 win over Nigeria. Japan took a 2-1 win over Brazil and Columbia clocked NZ 2-0.
 
jeffbear said:
And look ... I think it's obvious that this stuff leads back to Herdman. It's a matter of whether anybody wants to do something about it. He's probably coached his last international game anyway.
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So if FIFA sanctions Herdman, as seems an obvious result, Garber has no choice.
 
The US women take out Germany, 4-1 and book a spot in the quarters. Sophia Smith had a first half brace, Mal Swanson added a first half goal, Lynn Williams finished it off in the 89th minute. It’s the first time since 2008 that Germany has allowed 4 goals in a competitive match. Australia is up next on Wednesday, the US needs only a point to clinch the group.
 
Canada stormed back to nip France 2-1 in extra time after being dominated for much of the first half. That gets them back to level pegging on points and keeps a slot in the knockouts in play ... barely.

The US was very, very good against a veteran German side. They gave up some looks, but that's going to happen against a team with their quality, but nothing too scary and Naeher probably wants her first step over on the one goal she did allow. Looked to be like she either saw it late or misread the play entirely. The US front line was freaking lethal, and really fluid. Germany worked hard to take away the angles in the midfield so the US just played around them. A solid, smart, determined effort from a side that looks a lot more experienced than they really are. The downside was losing Davidson to a knee to knee knock. Sonnett deputized and was OK, but that's a pretty big step down in class.

Next up for the US ... the Aussies, who looked a real mess defending in transition today. They can score though, even without Kerr. It's no cakewalk, but a draw wins the group so Hayes can make some subs if she wants.
 
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Think they might up the penalty like how if you try to appeal a red card you have no business appealing they'll add an extra game to the ban for the annoyance and to keep teams from just appealing every red?
 
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