“I know how hard they have worked after a very difficult last year and that it is a group of people who care a lot about sportsmanship and integrity,” she writes further.
The New Zealand women’s national soccer team noted drones over their training ground during two of the team’s practices in the days before the Olympic opener against Canada in Saint-Étienne. It has emerged that at least one of the drones was Canadian. The national team captain Bev Priestman has been banned for a year by the International Football Association (Fifa) and assistant coach Jasmine Mander and video analyst Joseph Lombardi have been sent home from France.
Olympics in Paris 2024
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Chance for quarter finals
Reigning Olympic champion Canada, who beat Sweden in the 2021 Olympic final, has won the team’s first two Olympic matches despite the drone scandal. Despite a points deduction of six points, corresponding to two victories, the team has the chance to advance to the quarter-finals.
On Wednesday, the team plays its last group stage match in the Olympics, against Colombia in Nice.
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Photo: TT