A bit of airborne controversy erupted near Toronto Tuesday amid claims local “spies” had flown a drone over the Honduras national soccer team’s training session ahead of its World Cup qualifier against Canada.
“Sophisticated, high-range drone” looked off-the-shelf
Honduras coach Fabián Coito halted the practice after an uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) was spotted hovering high above the pitch. That sparked fears that proxy spies for home team Canada had deployed the drone to gather intelligence on their rivals – and thus gain an unfair advantage – for Thursday’s World Cup soccer qualifier. Coito pulled the squad until his staff was sure the craft had buzzed off, but the episode did not end there.
Honduran paper Diez noted somewhat darkly that a “sophisticated, high-range drone flew over Honduras’ training,” making the craft sound like something that had strayed off-course from duty in Afghanistan ready to blast someone….
