The Canadian women’s football team arrived in France as the reigning Olympic champions after winning gold in Japan three years ago, but even though the Games in Paris haven’t officially opened yet, the Canadian women are already put themselves in quite a predicament. Due to spying on the first rival in the tournament, the New Zealanders, Canada’s coach Beverley Priestman and two of her assistants were expelled from this year’s Olympic Games.##NAJAVA_MECA_8237054##The drama began when the New Zealand team spotted a drone flying over their pitch during a training session that was closed to the public. It was quickly tracked down who was flying it, and the police even detained analyst Joseph Lombardi, with whom the aircraft was found during the investigation, as well as videos from two training sessions of the opposing team and correspondence between members of the Canadian coaching staff, writes the Globe newspaper. In addition to Lombardi and Priestman, Jasmine Mander, assistant to the Canadian coach, was ‘kicked out’.To make everything even more bizarre, the game between Canada and New Zealand was played on Thursday, and the Olympic champions won 2-1.Classic. pic.twitter.com/u8Z9lqDcsx— Jason Pine (@pineynz) July 23, 2024 Beverley Priestman did not lead the Canadian team in that game on her own initiative, in order to alleviate the situation with that gesture, but it did not help her. The Canadian Olympic Committee decided to dismiss Priestman, under whose leadership the country’s female footballers reached Olympic gold three years ago, and remove her from the Games. In the continuation of the tournament, the team will be led by assistant coach Andy Spence, former strategist of Everton’s women’s team.
