🇨🇦 Canada hopes I stop droning on, but...

PLUS: Why MLS may not dominate Leagues Cup + the Conca-catch-up!

Canada cheated. It got caught with its drone in the air over a New Zealand training session, the modern-day equivalent of a kid with a hand in the cookie jar when Dad comes around the corner.

Canada Soccer and its Olympic committee are appealing the punishment leveled by FIFA, a six-point deduction. The women on the field are doing their best to overcome it anyway - rallying to top France after beating New Zealand in the opener, now sitting a win over Colombia away from a quarterfinal place despite the penalty.

Now, the question becomes when this whole business started, and the evidence we have indicates that the drone was hardly a French fluke. Canada’s spying program appears to stretch back to both men’s and women’s Concacaf competitions, including the men’s team’s impressive World Cup qualification run that saw it top the standings on the way to the 2022 tournament in Qatar.

“While we are certainly reserving judgement until the conclusion of our review, the concrete information I received yesterday made me consider the possibility at least this matter is much more extensive,” Canada Soccer CEO Kevin Blue said in a news conference conducted over the weekend via Zoom.