Vanessa Gilles of Team Canada celebrates scoring her team's second goal during the Women's group A match between France and Canada during the Olympic Games in Paris on July 28.Tullio M. Puglia/Getty Images
The Canadian Soccer Association should know before the women’s national team takes the field against Colombia Wednesday whether its appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport relating to penalties levelled against it for the drone spying scandal was successful.
The outcome could have a major impact on the team’s path forward at the 2024 Olympic tournament, where it is the defending gold medalist.
Canada practised in Nice on Tuesday, the same day the CAS was to deliberate the appeal at its tribunal in Paris. In a release, the international adjudicator said it could render its decision by midday Wednesday local time. Canada (2-0) faces the 22nd-ranked Colombians at 3 p.m. ET.
Canada Soccer, along with the Canadian Olympic Committee, is appealing a six-point deduction to the women’s round-robin standing at the Paris tournament for violating FIFA fair-play rules.
The appeal asked the CAS to either cancel or reduce the deduction, which was handed down following a pre-Games incident when a Team Canada analyst was caught using a drone, twice, to spy on New Zealand practices. Canada beat New Zealand 2-1 in the tournament-opening game. It won again Sunday against France, the host team, in a nail biter, setting the stage for a crucial game against Colombia.
“We can’t control it, we can only control getting the win,” said Canadian defender Ashley Lawrence. “That is our motivating factor. We want to go into the game 100 per cent to blow it out of the water and win.”
Head coach Bev Priestman, along with Joseph Lombardi, the analyst caught using the drone, and assistant coach Jasmine Mander, all received one-year bans from participating in soccer under the decision. Canada Soccer and the COC did not appeal those penalties. The sanction also included a fine totalling roughly $313,000.
The scandal has been a major distraction for the entire Canadian Olympic movement and Canada Soccer. Kevin Blue, the Canada Soccer secretary general and chief executive, said last week following Ms. Priestman’s removal as head coach that his association would launch a “broad independent review” of potentially unethical behaviour. He also indicated that he was aware of at least one instance of “attempted drone usage” during the men’s national team’s run through the Copa America tournament.
Ms. Priestman released a statement through her lawyer July 28 in which she apologized for the drone scandal and said she would co-operate with the Canada Soccer investigation.
“I think you saw in the first two games how this team reacts to circumstances,” said Canada’s acting head coach Andy Spence. “That gives me great confidence and the players confidence that whatever comes their way, they’re prepared to just plow forward.”
Carla Qualtrough, Canada’s Minister of Sport, said over the weekend that the federal government would withhold funding related to the three suspended staff members for the duration of the FIFA sanction.
Heading into Wednesday’s games, Colombia and France lead the standing in the four-team Group A with three points apiece.
As it stands, Canada has no points in the standing because of the deduction, despite winning twice. A third win would put it at three points, which would be enough to qualify for the knockout round.
Canada has the best goal differential of the four countries in the group. New Zealand is also without a point. The top two teams from each group advance from the tournament’s round robin, as well the best two third-place teams.
With reports from The Canadian Press
Follow the latest news and highlights from the Paris Olympic Games