Canada's own goal is emphasised by the ridiculously unnecessary nature of the situation
Bev Priestman won't be on the touchline against New Zealand on Thursday and two other staff members have been sent home, in a situation which never should have happened, but also didn't need to...
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Here we are again. The football hasn’t even started and once again the women’s game has been placed in the firing line of a story which never, ever needed to happen.
If you haven’t been paying attention, here’s a rough summary of the lunacy which has unfolded over the past 24 hours, before we get into the fallout and emotions of sadness, anger and frustration that have been expressed singularly and plurally in the last day or so.
Before a ball has even been kicked in earnest, this is why Canada’s defending gold medal-winning coach won’t be on the touchline against New Zealand on Thursday evening.
On 22nd June, a drone was spotted flying over a New Zealand training session in Saint-Etienne, the base for both teams in the early days of these Olympics, and obviously immediately security was alerted and the session was stopped.
It turned out the pilot was someone working with the Canadian team, as an unaccredited analyst by the name of Joseph Lombardi, leading to the New Zealand Olympic Committee lodging a formal complaint against their Canadian counterparts.
Today, 24th July, the Canadian Olympic Committee confirmed Lombardi had been removed from the team and sent home, along with an assistant of Bev Priestman, Jasmine Mander, who has been with the team since 2021, originally as a performance analyst and more recently an assistant coach.
Priestman has “removed herself” from the coaching staff which means former Everton manager Andy Spence will lead the team against a likely infuriated New Zealand side on Thursday, and when questioned earlier on Wednesday about her knowledge of the operation, Priestman swerved the topic and instead just said she takes responsibility as the head coach of the team, but added "By no means did I direct the individuals”.
Janine Beckie has been quoted as stating she is “super disappointed” with the situation, while former Canadian centurion Amy Walsh used words such as “angry”, “furious” and “enraged”.
And that’s the heart of it.
Not only is this a wholly unacceptable situation, it’s also a completely unnecessary one.
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Much has been made, light-hearted or not, about the fact New Zealand - ranked 28th in the FIFA rankings - are on paper the weakest side at the tournament and Canada shouldn’t need to lower themselves to effectively espionage for a competitive advantage, and that much is true, but there is also the backdrop of where this team is at right now.
Before the tournament, I interviewed former player Diana Matheson who is one of the leaders of the new Northern Super League, the first professional women’s league Canada will have had, launching in 2025, and she showed genuine enthusiastic optimism about the future of a country which despite a gold medal in Tokyo three years ago had not quite shaken of its previous off-field turmoil.
That was what I should have been publishing today, instead it’s this.
Canada finally, with a big exhale, won a major competition three years ago, and beat the USA for the first time in 20 years while doing it, on their way to a gold medal in Japan.
This was a seismic moment, in both North America and far beyond, led by Priestman and her staff.
Ever since, they have been fighting fires and fires only.
Just 18 months ago, the players threatened strike action against their own association because of a dispute over compensation and programme funding, but fell short of withdrawing from the SheBelieves Cup because the association fought back, threatening the team themselves with legal action.
But all told, 2023 was a disaster.
Canada played just one more game before the summer’s World Cup, and down under drew only with Nigeria, scraped past Republic of Ireland and were battered and sent packing by co-hosts Australia.
The gold medallists were out in the group stage.
Christine Sinclair, one of those who fought so hard publicly and privately for more, retired, but 2024 has offered something of a bright new dawn, which makes what has unfolded over the past 24 hours all the more frustrating, so we can only guess how it feels for those directly involved and affected.
Canada are unbeaten this year. They’ve drawn with the USA twice, 2-2 both times, before penalty shootout losses, and in both warm-up games for Paris beat Australia and Nigeria, the two teams they failed to beat 12 months ago.
They have, arguably, the strongest squad they’ve ever had. A top-class goalkeeper in Kailen Sheridan who has blossomed in recent years, and a who’s who of top defenders who have made up a solid defence over the past few tournaments, with the addition of talented youngster Jade Rose.
New captain Jessie Fleming is in the midfield alongside the likes of Quinn, Julia Grosso and another exciting new face in Simi Awujo, while the attack, often the biggest question mark against Canada, looks as strong as it ever has.
Evelyne Viens, Cloe Lacasse, Jordyn Huitema are joined by an absolutely rejuvenated Adriana Leon and the return of two long-term absentees in the form of Nichelle Prince and Beckie herself, an attack to rival any line-up in the tournament.
All that good work to get back to a position of high-level competition has been undone, because the narrative around this Canada team now is * this *.
It won’t go away either. If Priestman returns, a shadow will be cast, the questions will remain aimed at the head coach. If she goes, it’s an admission of culpability, and leaves Canada in more turmoil than they are already.
It’s a huge shame for the players, many of whom were involved in those public fights for more, and probably came into this tournament with more optimism than 12 months ago.
Who knows. Turmoil does funny things to teams. It might just add an extra 10% of fire in the belly to show the world what they feel they are really about, but the languishing feeling is of…sadness?
This didn’t need to happen, and it’s ridiculous they have found themselves in this situation.