July 29, 2024 • 14 mins
Spygate has reached the Olympics! The Canada's womens soccer team was punished after a shocking revelation revealed the Canadians head coach was using drones to spy on opponents practices. Craig dives into the accusations, their six-point penalty, the appeal process, and if Team Canada can still find a way to defend their gold medal from the 2020 Olympics.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
It's the Craigway Show with a voice of the Texas
Longhorns and Hall of Fame broadcaster Craig Way.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
It's a Monday.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Glad to have you with us on the program as
we begin the new week and coming off of a
very busy weekend and a very busy Monday. Update on
the Olympic basketball tournament going on. The US women's team
is up at the end of the first quarter on
Japan twenty two to fifteen as they try to make
it eight consecutive gold medals. The men's team, we talked
(00:42):
a little bit about them and the job that Kevin
Durant did yesterday and really that the team overall did
in just dismantling a good serviey team. It was close
in the first quarter and then they started to pull away.
They were up by nine and a half and then
just ended up winning a one to ten to eighty four.
So a good start for the US men's team. Next,
(01:07):
they play South Sudan coach by lifetime log worn Royal Ivy,
who surprised Puerto Rico by winning and remember when they
played him in the exhibition round before this started. The
US beat South Sudan one oh one to one hundred
only beat him by one point. And again Kevin Durant
did not play in that he was still out injured.
(01:30):
But in his first game back we saw, you know,
how much of a factor he can be.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
We'll see and.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
So I would think that it's probably going to be
uh Katie back in the starting lineup for a team USA.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
We'll see how it goes from there.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Also, congratulations to men's gymnastics. We know how powerful women's
gymnastics are, and some owned biles in that team favored
the wrap up team Gold and all that. The US
did win its first team gymnastics medal. I was surprised
(02:12):
when I heard about this when I was watching earlier today,
first medal of any kind in sixteen years. They had
not medaled men's gymnastics at an Olympics since the Games
in Beijing in two thousand and eight. Well, they earned
bronze today. It's their first medal since two thousand and eight.
They had qualified in fifth place on Saturday. They put
(02:35):
on a really good performance today. They nailed most of
their landings in the competition. The pommel horse experts Stephen
Netterozik clinched the bronze for the Americans by posting a
team best score in the final performance, Japan surged passed
China to win the goal by half a point. Was
(02:58):
their eighteen goal and the first since Rio back in
twenty sixteen. So anyway, Japan one gold, China won silver,
but the US team won bronze. So congratulations. And you
were keeping track of what was going on with swimming
this afternoon, Cameron wound up being speaking to bronze and
disappointing performance for a lifetime long warm because it's never
(03:21):
disappointing to medal at the Olympics, but when it looks
for all the world so you're going to get gold
and you settle for bronze, it's probably disappointing.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
Luke Hompson, who was competing in the two hundred free,
for the first one hundred meters of the race, was
outside the podium and then lap the third lap there
really turned it on and was leading about one hundred
and fifty meters into the race, was just the fifty
meters left to go and ended up falling to bronze.
(03:49):
But a great race, but you can tell he was
pretty frustrated not being able to come away with a
gold medal, but a metal nonetheless.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Yeah, what was about like seven one hundreds of a sex.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
I think it was decided between gold in bronze. That's
the difference between gold and bronze. So anyway, congratulations to
him nevertheless for winding up with a with a bronze
medal there.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Okay, and of course some own Biles did an excellent
job for the women's gymnastics team despite sustaining a calf injury,
and she helped him take the lead, and she has
the lead individually. She tweaked her left calf while warming
up the floor exercise and qualifying yesterday.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
She briefly.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Retreated, had her calf tape, then came back posted the
top scores on the floor and the vault, so leading
the all around. The Americans heavily favored to win the
gold after finishing the runner up to Russia in Tokyo
three years ago. And some own Biles is in the
lineup for all four events during tomorrow night's team finals,
(04:58):
so will be a part of every event Biles will
and so we'll see, we'll see how that goes on that. Okay,
speaking women's Olympic sports, as I mentioned this this story
kind of you know, it goes right into inconceivable, but
(05:19):
there's there's just too much background and too many layers
on this uh to to just put it in the
in conceiving with the others. It deserves its own treatment here, Aaron,
how much have you heard, read or watched about this
Canadian women's soccer.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
Team a little bit? It's a crazy story. Uh Uh.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Canada won today. They they beat France two to one.
Uh and they won their first match as well, So
you'd say, okay, it's just like the US team, because
the women's team was real impressive and then went over
Germany and had won their initial one match over Zambia.
(06:04):
So the US has already clinched a berth in the quarterfinal,
so you would think Canada would be as well after
they won the two games.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
That's not the case.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
You see, Canada was handed down a penalty by FIFA
of six points, meaning you get three points for a win,
so they were basically, you know, starting off minus six
before they even played a match. Why they got a
six point deduction handed down by FIFA for drone spying.
(06:39):
The women's head coach, Bet Priestman also was suspended from
coaching for one year in addition to the points penalty,
after FIFA investigated charges at Canada's staff members used a
drone to spyle New Zealand's closed practice session last week. Today,
(06:59):
Canada Soccer and the Canadian Olympic Committee file a joint
appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport over this deduction.
What it's done the deduction and put them at minus six.
They had to get the two wins which they got
today just to get them back to level zero. And
if they win their upcoming match. They've got one match
(07:22):
left and they play Columbia on Wednesday. If they win it,
even with the point deduction, they would still qualify for
the quarterfinals on that but they want the points restored.
Hearing with the involved parties is likely to take place tomorrow.
According to the statement, the coach's bans are not part
(07:45):
of this deal, so two third place teams in the
group will go to the knockout stage. They could even
go to the quarterfinals with a loss in court and
win on the field on Wednesday, they're gonna have to in.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
So.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
The Canadian officials said none of the players were involved
in any of this cheating or anything like that. But
there's more to it than just that this is this
is the thing that I found just absolutely amazing about this,
and it was the fact that this apparently is not
(08:25):
the first time this has happened, and it has even
become you might say, well, put it this way, they
are they have been apparently repeat offenders, violators on this.
One of the stories I read said when the news
(08:46):
first broke of Canada's Olympic soccer team being caught using
a drone to spy on an opponent's training session, there
were significant shock and surprise among many athletes and officials, just.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Not at the US Federation.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
So this apparently is the latest in the situation. This
is the the latest, the latest and the long pattern
of circumstances involving Canadian teams attempting to view other teams
close practices, according to multiple sources who had connections to
(09:26):
the US Soccer Federation. And it wasn't just the women's team,
it was the men's team as well, you see, because
the longtime women's.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
Head coach became the men's head coach, and and and
so that.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Was where it really really started from all back in
the twenty teams somewhere in there.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
So this this really goes back, and.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
You know, among several specific incidents in recent years that
are recounted among US soccer officials, there was an incident
in training camp in January twenty twenty one. Both Federations
men's teams were practicing in Florida at IMG Academy, and
on the day before the teams were to have a scrimmage,
(10:17):
the United States team was training. During the training session
and practice session, a team security guard noticed a man
sitting in an otherwise empty adjacent football stadium watching the
US practice. So the security guard approached the man asked
him who he was. The man said he worked for
IMG Academy, at which point the security guard told me
he was You're not allowed.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
To be watching practice.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Man said, okay, I'll leave, So he left, supposedly, and
the security guard went back to training. And then a
few minutes later, the security guard looked back and the
man just moved to another part of the stadium and
was still watching. So at that point the security guard
asked another IMG staff member, who is that guy that
(10:58):
says he works for you? And he was told he
did doesn't work for us. The security guard then returned
to the stadium, he confronted the man who finally admitted
he was indeed a Canadian staffer.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
So there was that kind of thing at that point,
Why even admit just lie? Yeah, yeah, So this.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Multiple US soccer sources said they believe any investigation will
find that John Herdsman, he was the one who coached
the Canadian women's team from twenty eleven to twenty eighteen
and the men's team from twenty eighteen to twenty twenty three,
is the common denominator.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Now.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
On Friday, he denied any involvement in the practice of
trying to watch other teams. In fact, he's been one
of the ones who complained where he thought that the
US was spying on them. They've joked about that about
his penchant for publicly suggesting Canada was nervous that other
teams are spying on them. For example, two of the
(11:56):
sources were called an incident in twenty seventeen when the
US women's team was playing Canada's women's team and a
friendly in San Jose. At that stadium, there's a training
field right beside the main stadium, and before Canada's day
before the game practice, a Canadian soccer official approached the
US soccer officials and accused the US of installing cameras
on the roof of the adjacent stadium pointing at a
(12:17):
pair of objects. So they went out to look at
the objects. Yeah, they found a pair of plastic birds
there that were designed to keep actual birds from sitting
on the roof, as well as two pigeons. There was
also an incident more recently when Herdsman was coaching the
men's team when he complained about a drone flying over
Canada's practice theyhead of a Gold Cup match. After an
(12:38):
investigation was discovered that the drone was only there during
the open period of practice and that was flown by
the host broadcaster of the tournament, who was simply getting
beauty shots for the start of the telegates had nothing
to do with the US. The official with the US said,
with Herdsman in Canada, it was always just a little
too much.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
He does protest too much.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
So that's what they're saying that that's the situation now,
and they've Canada has appealed the six point deduction and
they can still get into it even by beating Columbia
on Wednesday. Remember, Canada did beat the US during the
Copa Manerica be inside, but they say that there's no
(13:22):
evidence of any any funny business there at that.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
And of course, uh, lifetime long horn Julia Grosso plays
for team Canada, won the gold medal with them, so
she's impacted by this. It sucks for the players because
allegedly they have they did not know about this, but
apparently both the Canadian coaches met with Bill Belichick a
few years ago, and so maybe I'm just kidding, maybe
they got it from that now just playing around, just goofing.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Yeah, So anyway, that's that's uh, that's that's the story.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
It's a bizarre story. Uh.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
And and Canada for now is sitting at zero points,
even though they picked up a couple of wins, they're
sitting at zero points and they're gonna have to be
Columbia qualified for the quarterfinals. They're hoping the appeal will
be heard and granted most field that because FIFA is
the one who did the investigation and found all this,
that the Olympic Committee is going to side with FIFA
(14:16):
and say, nope, you're the six point penalty stands.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
So we'll see any.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
Place for that in sports, I mean, it happens at
the time, probably it happens more than we know about it.
But when something like this gets caught, you need to
be penalized correctly, and this is the right penalty. But
there's still a chance if they if they win, and
they're going to advance based off a gold differential, so
I still a chance for Canada to defend their gold medal.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
All right, Coming up next, I told you by itself
it would belong and inconceivable, but it would have just
taken a little too long to explain it. We do
have the regular installment of Inconceivable coming up next on
Sports Radio AM thirteen under the Zone in the iHeartRadio app.
It's the Craigway Show with a voice of the Texas
Longhorns and Hall of Fame broadcaster Craig Way.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
It's a Monday.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Glad to have you with us on the program as
we begin the new week and coming off of a
very busy weekend and a very busy Monday. Update on
the Olympic basketball tournament going on. The US women's team
is up at the end of the first quarter on
Japan twenty two to fifteen as they try to make
it eight consecutive gold medals. The men's team, we talked
(00:42):
a little bit about them and the job that Kevin
Durant did yesterday and really that the team overall did
in just dismantling a good serviey team. It was close
in the first quarter and then they started to pull away.
They were up by nine and a half and then
just ended up winning a one to ten to eighty four.
So a good start for the US men's team. Next,
(01:07):
they play South Sudan coach by lifetime log worn Royal Ivy,
who surprised Puerto Rico by winning and remember when they
played him in the exhibition round before this started. The
US beat South Sudan one oh one to one hundred
only beat him by one point. And again Kevin Durant
did not play in that he was still out injured.
(01:30):
But in his first game back we saw, you know,
how much of a factor he can be.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
We'll see and.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
So I would think that it's probably going to be
uh Katie back in the starting lineup for a team USA.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
We'll see how it goes from there.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Also, congratulations to men's gymnastics. We know how powerful women's
gymnastics are, and some owned biles in that team favored
the wrap up team Gold and all that. The US
did win its first team gymnastics medal. I was surprised
(02:12):
when I heard about this when I was watching earlier today,
first medal of any kind in sixteen years. They had
not medaled men's gymnastics at an Olympics since the Games
in Beijing in two thousand and eight. Well, they earned
bronze today. It's their first medal since two thousand and eight.
They had qualified in fifth place on Saturday. They put
(02:35):
on a really good performance today. They nailed most of
their landings in the competition. The pommel horse experts Stephen
Netterozik clinched the bronze for the Americans by posting a
team best score in the final performance, Japan surged passed
China to win the goal by half a point. Was
(02:58):
their eighteen goal and the first since Rio back in
twenty sixteen. So anyway, Japan one gold, China won silver,
but the US team won bronze. So congratulations. And you
were keeping track of what was going on with swimming
this afternoon, Cameron wound up being speaking to bronze and
disappointing performance for a lifetime long warm because it's never
(03:21):
disappointing to medal at the Olympics, but when it looks
for all the world so you're going to get gold
and you settle for bronze, it's probably disappointing.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
Luke Hompson, who was competing in the two hundred free,
for the first one hundred meters of the race, was
outside the podium and then lap the third lap there
really turned it on and was leading about one hundred
and fifty meters into the race, was just the fifty
meters left to go and ended up falling to bronze.
(03:49):
But a great race, but you can tell he was
pretty frustrated not being able to come away with a
gold medal, but a metal nonetheless.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Yeah, what was about like seven one hundreds of a sex.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
I think it was decided between gold in bronze. That's
the difference between gold and bronze. So anyway, congratulations to
him nevertheless for winding up with a with a bronze
medal there.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Okay, and of course some own Biles did an excellent
job for the women's gymnastics team despite sustaining a calf injury,
and she helped him take the lead, and she has
the lead individually. She tweaked her left calf while warming
up the floor exercise and qualifying yesterday.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
She briefly.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Retreated, had her calf tape, then came back posted the
top scores on the floor and the vault, so leading
the all around. The Americans heavily favored to win the
gold after finishing the runner up to Russia in Tokyo
three years ago. And some own Biles is in the
lineup for all four events during tomorrow night's team finals,
(04:58):
so will be a part of every event Biles will
and so we'll see, we'll see how that goes on that. Okay,
speaking women's Olympic sports, as I mentioned this this story
kind of you know, it goes right into inconceivable, but
(05:19):
there's there's just too much background and too many layers
on this uh to to just put it in the
in conceiving with the others. It deserves its own treatment here, Aaron,
how much have you heard, read or watched about this
Canadian women's soccer.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
Team a little bit? It's a crazy story. Uh Uh.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Canada won today. They they beat France two to one.
Uh and they won their first match as well, So
you'd say, okay, it's just like the US team, because
the women's team was real impressive and then went over
Germany and had won their initial one match over Zambia.
(06:04):
So the US has already clinched a berth in the quarterfinal,
so you would think Canada would be as well after
they won the two games.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
That's not the case.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
You see, Canada was handed down a penalty by FIFA
of six points, meaning you get three points for a win,
so they were basically, you know, starting off minus six
before they even played a match. Why they got a
six point deduction handed down by FIFA for drone spying.
(06:39):
The women's head coach, Bet Priestman also was suspended from
coaching for one year in addition to the points penalty,
after FIFA investigated charges at Canada's staff members used a
drone to spyle New Zealand's closed practice session last week. Today,
(06:59):
Canada Soccer and the Canadian Olympic Committee file a joint
appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport over this deduction.
What it's done the deduction and put them at minus six.
They had to get the two wins which they got
today just to get them back to level zero. And
if they win their upcoming match. They've got one match
(07:22):
left and they play Columbia on Wednesday. If they win it,
even with the point deduction, they would still qualify for
the quarterfinals on that but they want the points restored.
Hearing with the involved parties is likely to take place tomorrow.
According to the statement, the coach's bans are not part
(07:45):
of this deal, so two third place teams in the
group will go to the knockout stage. They could even
go to the quarterfinals with a loss in court and
win on the field on Wednesday, they're gonna have to in.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
So.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
The Canadian officials said none of the players were involved
in any of this cheating or anything like that. But
there's more to it than just that this is this
is the thing that I found just absolutely amazing about this,
and it was the fact that this apparently is not
(08:25):
the first time this has happened, and it has even
become you might say, well, put it this way, they
are they have been apparently repeat offenders, violators on this.
One of the stories I read said when the news
(08:46):
first broke of Canada's Olympic soccer team being caught using
a drone to spy on an opponent's training session, there
were significant shock and surprise among many athletes and officials, just.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Not at the US Federation.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
So this apparently is the latest in the situation. This
is the the latest, the latest and the long pattern
of circumstances involving Canadian teams attempting to view other teams
close practices, according to multiple sources who had connections to
(09:26):
the US Soccer Federation. And it wasn't just the women's team,
it was the men's team as well, you see, because
the longtime women's.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
Head coach became the men's head coach, and and and
so that.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Was where it really really started from all back in
the twenty teams somewhere in there.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
So this this really goes back, and.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
You know, among several specific incidents in recent years that
are recounted among US soccer officials, there was an incident
in training camp in January twenty twenty one. Both Federations
men's teams were practicing in Florida at IMG Academy, and
on the day before the teams were to have a scrimmage,
(10:17):
the United States team was training. During the training session
and practice session, a team security guard noticed a man
sitting in an otherwise empty adjacent football stadium watching the
US practice. So the security guard approached the man asked
him who he was. The man said he worked for
IMG Academy, at which point the security guard told me
he was You're not allowed.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
To be watching practice.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Man said, okay, I'll leave, So he left, supposedly, and
the security guard went back to training. And then a
few minutes later, the security guard looked back and the
man just moved to another part of the stadium and
was still watching. So at that point the security guard
asked another IMG staff member, who is that guy that
(10:58):
says he works for you? And he was told he
did doesn't work for us. The security guard then returned
to the stadium, he confronted the man who finally admitted
he was indeed a Canadian staffer.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
So there was that kind of thing at that point,
Why even admit just lie? Yeah, yeah, So this.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Multiple US soccer sources said they believe any investigation will
find that John Herdsman, he was the one who coached
the Canadian women's team from twenty eleven to twenty eighteen
and the men's team from twenty eighteen to twenty twenty three,
is the common denominator.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Now.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
On Friday, he denied any involvement in the practice of
trying to watch other teams. In fact, he's been one
of the ones who complained where he thought that the
US was spying on them. They've joked about that about
his penchant for publicly suggesting Canada was nervous that other
teams are spying on them. For example, two of the
(11:56):
sources were called an incident in twenty seventeen when the
US women's team was playing Canada's women's team and a
friendly in San Jose. At that stadium, there's a training
field right beside the main stadium, and before Canada's day
before the game practice, a Canadian soccer official approached the
US soccer officials and accused the US of installing cameras
on the roof of the adjacent stadium pointing at a
(12:17):
pair of objects. So they went out to look at
the objects. Yeah, they found a pair of plastic birds
there that were designed to keep actual birds from sitting
on the roof, as well as two pigeons. There was
also an incident more recently when Herdsman was coaching the
men's team when he complained about a drone flying over
Canada's practice theyhead of a Gold Cup match. After an
(12:38):
investigation was discovered that the drone was only there during
the open period of practice and that was flown by
the host broadcaster of the tournament, who was simply getting
beauty shots for the start of the telegates had nothing
to do with the US. The official with the US said,
with Herdsman in Canada, it was always just a little
too much.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
He does protest too much.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
So that's what they're saying that that's the situation now,
and they've Canada has appealed the six point deduction and
they can still get into it even by beating Columbia
on Wednesday. Remember, Canada did beat the US during the
Copa Manerica be inside, but they say that there's no
(13:22):
evidence of any any funny business there at that.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
And of course, uh, lifetime long horn Julia Grosso plays
for team Canada, won the gold medal with them, so
she's impacted by this. It sucks for the players because
allegedly they have they did not know about this, but
apparently both the Canadian coaches met with Bill Belichick a
few years ago, and so maybe I'm just kidding, maybe
they got it from that now just playing around, just goofing.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Yeah, So anyway, that's that's uh, that's that's the story.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
It's a bizarre story. Uh.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
And and Canada for now is sitting at zero points,
even though they picked up a couple of wins, they're
sitting at zero points and they're gonna have to be
Columbia qualified for the quarterfinals. They're hoping the appeal will
be heard and granted most field that because FIFA is
the one who did the investigation and found all this,
that the Olympic Committee is going to side with FIFA
(14:16):
and say, nope, you're the six point penalty stands.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
So we'll see any.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
Place for that in sports, I mean, it happens at
the time, probably it happens more than we know about it.
But when something like this gets caught, you need to
be penalized correctly, and this is the right penalty. But
there's still a chance if they if they win, and
they're going to advance based off a gold differential, so
I still a chance for Canada to defend their gold medal.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
All right, Coming up next, I told you by itself
it would belong and inconceivable, but it would have just
taken a little too long to explain it. We do
have the regular installment of Inconceivable coming up next on
Sports Radio AM thirteen under the Zone in the iHeartRadio app.
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