PUEBLA, Mexico – Canadian Under-20 national team midfielder Samuel Piette doesn’t score a lot of goals, but when he does, he makes sure they’re memorable ones.
Piette, who plays in the youth setup with German Bundesliga side Fortuna Düsseldorf, opened the scoring just six minutes into Canada’s 5-1 win over Nicaragua on Friday night with a spectacular curling, right-footed shot that got Canada on his way.
“It was a big goal for us,” Piette (above, center) told the assembled media after the game. “I think it was the biggest thing in the game to push us up higher in the game and give us confidence. It’s always nice to score a goal.”
Piette’s only other goal in a Canada kit also came with the U-20 team at the Marbella Cup in Spain in October, and it was no less spectacular when he hit a similar strike with his right foot in a 2-1 win over the United States.
The goals don’t come very often, so he’s tried to savor them to the fullest – much to the delight of his teammates.
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When Piette scored against the Americans, his teammates joked that the celebrating needed some work after he attempted what appeared to be a poor man's version of fellow Canadian Dwayne De Rosario’s infamous “shake and bake” goal celebration.
With that in mind, Piette kept it simple against Nicaragua with some enthusiastic fist-pumps before he was mobbed by his teammates.
“I never score, so I started running everywhere,” he said with a laugh. "I just was doing some things with my teammates.”
Taken off at halftime, it was still an eventful 45 minutes as he was directly involved in the penalty that allowed Nicaragua to score their only goal of the night.
Right on the verge of halftime, Nicaragua swung in a cross and Piette – who was marking Nahum Peralta – saw his mark fall to the ground in the box. The referee adjudged it to have been a foul and therefore, a penalty. But what did Piette think?
“I caused the penalty,” Piette said bluntly. “I was marking him and I was standing right there and he dove. I give him 10 [out of] 10 on the dive, but things happen and fortunately we won the game.”
