Canada’s Women’s National Team remains in the spotlight for the obvious reasons. A shocking incident came to notice last week after the Canucks, currently contesting in the ongoing Paris Olympics, were found guilty of spying on New Zealand by flying a drone at their rival’s training ground. Though Bev Preistman’s side has already been punished by facing a 6-point deduction, criticism still surrounds them. However, coming in their support is USMNT star Tyler Adams, insisting that such incidents occur ‘consistently‘ in the beautiful game.

The eyebrow-raising revelation came after the Bournemouth star was invited on ‘The Cooligans‘ podcast, hosted by Alexis Guerreros & Christian Polanco, professional comedians and soccerheads. Interestingly, when the talk of CanWNT’s ‘cheating‘ allegations came up, Adams said, “I know for a fact every team does it, in some capacity.”

The claim, of course, left both Guerreros and Polanco wide eyes open but the 25-year-old defender had more to add: “I don’t know about drones and sh*t, that seems a little bit crazy. There are all these people when you’re training in stadiums the day before the game or whatever. Someone would be acting like a worker and [in reality are] working for a different federation. It happens consistently, I’m positive of that.”

Notably, Canada’s Vanessa Gilles, who clinched the winner during a 2-1 victory over France busted into tears while defending her nation. She admitted the whole squad had been down in the dumps after they were hit with the 6-point penalty and denied they were ‘cheaters.’ Likewise, others have also come in defense of the CanWNT.

Yet, Canada’s coaching staff, Joseph Lombardi and Jasmine Mander, were punished with Priestman also facing a potential year suspension.

While Adams’ revelation may come as surprising, he is right if we look at previous incidents!

Tyler Adams’ ex- club’s manager once admitted spying on rivals

For those who are left mouths opened by Tyler Adams’ revelation, this isn’t the first time a team has spied on their rivals. Might we remind you of Marcelo Bielsa? During his Leeds stint, the current Uruguayan boss himself admitted that he “observed all the rivals and watched the training sessions of all opponents.”

Back in 2019, police detained a man outside Derby County’s training ground, then managed by Frank Lampard. Bielsa, days after clinching a 2-0 win over Derby, also admitted that the apprehended man was a member of his backroom staff. His explanation? Only because spying is neither ‘illegal‘ nor any kind of punishment has been specified in any rulebook.

However, the game has evolved since then, and so has the rulebook, eventually seeing CanWNT paying for the wrongdoing. Regardless, it would be interesting to know if such practices are done by coaches and backroom staff to this day.