After playing nearly 20-years at the professional level, Canadian soccer star and Montreal Impact legend Patrice Bernier is finally hanging up his boots.
Sunday, the beloved Impact captain started in his final MLS match on Decision Day. It was a fitting end to Bernier's career, as the Canadian international played his first ever professional game with the Impact back in 2000 in the North American Soccer League before the team made the move to Major League Soccer. Ahead of his final match, Bernier penned a letter in the Players Tribune, reflecting on his career over in Europe, his experience with the Canadian national team, as well as on his return to Montreal in 2011.
I wasn’t really thinking about coming home to Montreal. In football, though, timing is everything. I was always back in the city during my time off, and I had heard of their desire to move from the NASL to MLS. I remember Jesse Marsch, the team’s head coach, calling me to say he wanted to get a coffee and talk. I thought O.K., but who knows what will come of it?
Things transpired slowly, but I knew it was the right moment to return. When I signed with the Montreal Impact in December 2011, I came back a high-level player and now the club was at a higher level too. I was one of the few Canadian players on the team, and one of the only players with a history at the club. People had not really seen me play, except for some Europa League games and on occasion with the national team. I thought now was my chance to come back, to help the club that I’d started with and carry that flag with pride and honor. I had the chance to show every weekend what I was about, and how good players from here could be.
We won two Canadian Championships, but my memories are my greatest trophies. Prior to the 2014 season I was made captain, but as I stepped out onto the pitch before our game against Toronto in 2016 — my two daughters on either side of me — I realized how much this club had grown.
When I started my career, the thought of sampling that same World Cup atmosphere in Montreal was but a dream. But you, the fans of the Impact, made it a reality for me. (Players Tribune)
Montreal soccer fans will be sad to see Bernier's days as a player come to an end, but fret not, as the Canadian has already stated his intent to remain with the Impact in a coaching role at the youth level. If Bernier the coach is anything like Bernier the player, Canadian soccer fans outside of Montreal better watch out.
