Spygate is back, only this time in a different kind of football.
England soccer coach Phil Neville accused the US women’s national team of breaking “etiquette” after it sent two officials to scout out his team’s hotel for a potential stay before the two sides meet in Tuesday’s World Cup semifinal match.
The English team was out practicing Sunday when two members of the US staff were shown around their hotel, the five-star Fourviere Hotel in Lyon, France. According to multiple reports, the officials were not wearing USWNT apparel.
The visit apparently did not sit well with Neville.
“It’s not something I would want my team’s operations doing. England would not do it,” Neville told reporters, per The Guardian. “I am happy with our hotel and we were training. I hope they enjoyed our hotel. It is not something we would do, send somebody round, but it is their problem.
“Jill Ellis wouldn’t have been happy and nor would I have been and I am sure she will be dealing with that infrastructure within her discipline.”
But Ellis, the USWNT coach, did not seem to have an issue with the visit.
“I would assume everybody is doing that,” she said. “You have to plan ahead. The only ones who went were the team administrator and her boss. We don’t worry about that. That’s who the two were.”
It is not clear what intel the USWNT officials could have scooped up from a visit to the hotel, though Neville appeared to have a problem with the gamesmanship of it all.
“It’ll have no bearing on the game. To be honest I found it funny,” Neville said. “I thought: ‘What are they doing?’ It is not etiquette. It’s not something I would allow from our organization.”