Samuel Piette leaves no doubt about his intentions regarding his future with the Canadian team, if there is a future: “never” will he retire from the national team, he assures. “It’s the national team that will make me retire.”
Even though the national team seems to be taking a youthful turn. Even though he hasn’t played a single minute, neither at the World Cup nor at the Copa America. Samuel Piette has absolutely no intention of rethinking his future with the Canadian team.
“It’s not even a question, a thought that I stopped to think about,” he said on Friday morning, in his first meeting with the media since returning from the Copa.
For me, the national team is a reward when you perform with your club. I will never turn my back on the national team. […] As long as I play football and I am an active player, I will be available for the national team. My selection, or non-selection, in the team will always be in the hands of the coach and it will be up to him to judge whether I have my place or not.
Samuel Piette
Piette, in his humble opinion, has his “place in the group, depending on the role.” Canada’s head coach, Jesse Marsch, seemed to agree after the tournament. During a visit to the Nutrilait Centre, he praised the Quebecer’s professionalism and said that the time had not come for him to “move on.”
“It’s just about adapting to the things I want to see from him, continuing to perform at club level, and being ready when I call on him with the national team again,” he added.
What are these things, exactly?
According to Piette, the speech is essentially the same for all the players who were part of the team: “It’s a style of play quite different from the one we play here in Montreal, in the sense that it’s very physical, aggressive. There’s no rest. […] He prefers that we play forward and make mistakes, but recover the ball.”
The 29-year-old athlete believes he has applied this style well in training, when he had the opportunity. [Marsch a dit] that he was super happy with me and that he had thought of putting me in the starting lineup for the last match. He went with different choices, something that I totally respect.”
To correct the shot
During his six weeks with the national team, Piette made friends. Even better: “brothers.” Brothers who will become enemies on the field again, now that he is back with CF Montreal. Starting Saturday, he will find himself on the field against Jonathan Osorio, the captain of Toronto FC, and Richie Laryea.
It’s special because for six weeks, we have brothers and we fight for the same mission. When we are back in the club, we have to beat each other up and fight. […] But we are aware of how important this rivalry is. It is worth something for the club, for the fans and for us, the players.
Samuel Piette
Players and coaches all still remember the bitter 5-1 defeat suffered in Toronto on May 18.
“We want to make things right,” Waterman said. “We never want to feel like that again against our rivals.”
“It’s also a different scenario, a different moment in the season,” said head coach Laurent Courtois. “We mustn’t be blinded by emotions, we must have a cool head, but there is definitely a feeling of: it wasn’t us and we want to show our fans something else.”
All the more so since these so-called rivals are nose to nose with the CFM in the standings. A standings that Courtois showed his players for the first time on Wednesday, during the break in the match against the Red Bulls. “We are arriving in the money timeas they say,” the coach said.
On Saturday, at Stade Saputo, the Montreal club will have to make sure to do the “dirty work,” according to Samuel Piette. “We have to be ready to put on our work boots, show up in the first minute and show Toronto that they are in our home and that it will be difficult to come and take points here.”
All that remains is to apply it on the ground.