2023-07-31 07:15:17
Updated yesterday at 5:00 a.m.
It’s a day like any other for Samuel Piette. He just finished training, but this time a few lucky CF Montreal fans were able to attend.
Naturally, he ignores his energy expenditure in the last hour and the oppressive heat on this Wednesday in July to head towards the supporters. It lends itself to the exercise like no other; chatting, squeezing pliers, taking a ton of shots and signing a bunch of objects, all with a genuine smile. Now that it’s done, he goes back inside, takes a good sip of water and pulls himself a log.
Barely installed with his back to the windows overlooking the four fields of the Center Nutrilait, the native of Repentigny begins an incredible story on how he lost a pair of glasses similar to that of the representative of The Press. For the umpteenth time, he is generous with his time and his answers during an interview lasting more than forty minutes.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, LA PRESSE
Samuel Piette in training last February
The meeting takes place, within a few days, six years following the arrival of Piette with the Montreal Impact. And to this day, he is still just as charismatic, if not more so, and gifted in his role as the emblem of the club and sport in Quebec.
The love relationship between Montreal and the man who is now the captain of the Bleu-blanc-noir began with love at first sight. After a very successful Gold Cup as a defensive midfielder for Canada, Piette landed in Montreal on August 3, 2017. Two days later, the Impact crossed swords with Orlando City at Saputo Stadium, but Piette was still waiting for his papers. He was therefore unable to tread the field.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Samuel Piette’s first training session with the Montreal Impact, August 3, 2017
“When I left, I was at the stadium, it was the first time I went there as a member of the Impact. Before, I went there during my holidays, to have a few beers in the stands and to have fun. But there, right away, the world recognizes me. I say to myself: “Let’s see! OK, I’m from Quebec, but I haven’t played a match. How do people know who I am? “, he recalls.
Dominant from his first game
Then, a week later, his game comes to justify the enthusiasm of the supporters. Piette is dominant in his first match, which he plays in Philadelphia once morest the Union. The Impact won 3-0 and Piette earned a place in the MLS XI of the week thanks to his relentless performance.
After the meeting, he tried to sing P. Y. T. of Michael Jackson as an initiation, before returning to his room, because he was sick. “I really didn’t feel well. Maybe it was the nerves,” he notes.
Regardless, the ice is broken and, in a snap of the fingers, the legend of the one we will nickname the Bulldog of Repentigny begins to be written.
PHOTO BERNARD BRAULT, PRESS ARCHIVES
Former goalkeeper Evan Bush and Samuel Piette, in April 2018, during a game once morest Los Angeles FC at Stade Saputo
Since then, the one who wore the numbers 29 and 6 has been in all the fights. As an outfielder – that excludes goaltender Evan Bush – Piette will become the player with the most minutes and the most starts in team history.
When I arrived, I didn’t expect to stay that long. Of course, I hoped so. It was an opportunity to come home and it was another challenge, in quotes, for me to play in Montreal and simply in MLS.
Samuel Piette, captain of CF Montreal
“The conditions, not just salary, but on the family and social levels were really favorable. For me it was really good move to do at that time,” he said.
History will have proven him right, because in addition to this initial contract of two and a half years, he landed two other contracts, won two Canadian Championships and took part in the club’s best season in MLS in 2022. He s He is also established as a leader of the Canadian senior team. It was a path punctuated with successes which helped him etch his name in the history of the club.
From quidam to headliner
Certainly, when Piette arrived in Montreal in 2017, his name had started circulating because of his performances at the Gold Cup. That said, in the eye of the public club, he was still anonymous. Piette was then playing for CD Izarra, in the Spanish third division.
Then, overnight, here it is in the foreground.
Leaving Europe at 14 and returning to Montreal at 22, Piette felt he had missed his teenage years and “all the parties and bars” that come with it. “I had never known that,” he explains.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Press scrum following Samuel Piette’s first training with the Impact
What’s more, the club quickly fell on vacation during that season, on October 22, to be precise. Faced with nearly three months of inactivity, he found that the time was right, in Montreal moreover, to “live things”. He specifies that it is however “without losing the head”.
Nevertheless in his first off season, without having the world at his feet, because he is only a “little soccer player”, Piette is recognized and becomes a public figure in spite of himself.
They bought me drinks, they invited me to events, festivals. I went to Gemini with my partner before we broke up. Man, I had no business there!
Samuel Piette, captain of CF Montreal
“I’m not an actor, then I’m told that they would like me to come. It was special. But, over the years, I’ve been able to dose that, and then manage it better. But even today, it’s still something that surprises me,” he says.
After three months, just before the start of the next season, Piette realizes that this lifestyle is not for him. He finds his wife Chloé, the one who will become the mother of his child.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
September 2019, welcoming committee for Samuel Piette and the Impact returning from Toronto with the Canadian Championship Voyageurs Cup
All the same, learning how to manage Montrealers’ love for him did not happen instantly. When Piette names other public figures who have mentioned to him that they are supporters, such as actor Michel Laperrière or hockey players Yvon Lambert, Réjean Houle and Maxime Talbot, his first instinct remains to answer: “It’s not you who loves me, it is I who love you! »
Today, even if it is part of his daily life to be approached at the park or at the grocery store, Piette enjoys this role of ambassador.
“It always surprises me that people recognize me, but it’s something that always warms the heart,” he admits. I’m not someone who asks to be left alone with his family. I put myself in their place. If it was me meeting one of my idols, I would like him to take some time off. »
And that’s kind of the conclusion of the interview: Samuel Piette loves people. “I think year by year it seems like my love for the city, for the club and my life here is growing. I’m super good, I’m super happy, I’m super proud, above all. »
His only wish: that Montreal continues to nurture this love and that he can stay there until retirement.
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