An unknown drone was seen flying over the U.S. Men`s National Team training session on Tuesday in St. Louis. The team is currently preparing for its Concacaf Gold Cup semifinal match against Guatemala, scheduled for Wednesday.
According to reports from ESPN, members of U.S. Soccer`s staff are in the process of attempting to identify the operator of the drone. The USMNT was already utilizing three of its own drones to record their practice session when the fourth, unidentified drone appeared unexpectedly. It reportedly landed outside the fenced perimeter of the training site, close to a broadcast compound.
The drone incident was not the only disruption during the USMNT`s training on Tuesday. A separate group of individuals was reportedly found filming the team and subsequently asked to cease. It is currently not clear whether these two separate incidents are connected.
The USMNT is set to play Guatemala in the Gold Cup semifinals on Wednesday at Energizer Park in St. Louis. The team is looking to qualify for the tournament final for the first time since they won the competition in 2021. For Guatemala, this marks their first appearance in a Gold Cup semifinal since 1996, and they are hoping to reach the final for the very first time in the nation`s history.
Drones: A Recurring Topic in Concacaf Football
While the use of drones by teams to record and analyze their own training sessions has become more commonplace, there have been previous reports of teams from North America using drones for the purpose of spying on their opponents.
The most prominent example of this occurred with the Canada drone scandal, which gained significant attention around the 2024 Olympics. This controversy ultimately led to FIFA imposing a penalty of six points deducted from the women`s national team and resulted in the dismissal of the team`s head coach at the time, Bev Priestman. Reports indicated that the Canadian team had allegedly used drones to monitor opposing teams` training sessions for several years. This practice was reportedly introduced by John Herdman, who previously coached both the men`s and women`s national teams for Canada between 2011 and 2018. TSN reported that Herdman was overheard discussing this method as early as 2016.
Following a disciplinary hearing conducted by an independent commission in May, Herdman received a written admonishment for his role in the matter.
Dominic Ashworth