Any professional athlete sidelined by an injury or health issue can face moments of uncertainty, not knowing what will hang out on their backs once they recover. In this regard, goalkeeper James Pantemis can sleep in peace.
After the CF Montreal game on Saturday night at Saputo Stadium, Wilfried Nancy showed all his confidence in Pantemis. And it must be said that this one offered a performance that justifies all this confidence, despite a loss of 1-0 against Nashville SC.
For just over an hour of play, Pantemis, who was on a first outing since August 4, kept teammates in the game with key saves on not always convenient shots.
CJ Sapong probably dreamed of the Kirkland goalkeeper on Sunday night, having made four shots on target that Pantemis all repelled brilliantly.
“I’ll be honest with you, I’m not too interested in newspapers because otherwise I’m going to have my head going all over the place.” But I heard that there were questions, a little, about the guards and what was going to happen, ”Nancy mentioned by way of preamble.
“My thinking was very logical: James had COVID, as you know and if he hadn’t had COVID he would have played DC (United, August 8),” Nancy said.
“Sebastian (Breza) played, he helped us and therefore, I stayed in line with what I had seen in the past. I’m glad Sebastian helped us. Today (Saturday) James made his match, I’m not surprised. So we are moving forward. “
Later, during her video conference, Nancy announced that Breza will be dispatched to the fray when CF Montreal faces the HFX Wanderers in the Canadian Championship on September 22 in Halifax.
It would therefore be easy to deduce that Pantemis will be Nancy’s man of trust during the five games of CF Montreal in MLS by October 2, starting with that of Wednesday night in Orlando.
Except that the principal concerned does not take anything for granted.
“At the end of the day, it’s up to me. Nothing is guaranteed, ”Pantemis recalled.
“All my life I have told myself that you are as good as your last game. So I always have to train, prepare for the next game. For someone to say ‘you’re gonna play’ and ‘you’re supposed to play for the rest of the year’ doesn’t make any difference to me. I’m going to keep pushing, trying to improve myself too. I want to be the best goalie I can be. “
After being sidelined for three games following his positive COVID-19 test, Pantemis played the role of substitute for Breza during the meetings on August 21 and 27.
He later joined the Canadian national team for their World Cup qualifiers, but again he stayed on the sidelines. Which does not mean that his stint with the elite of Canadian soccer did not help him.
“(James) went to the national team, with the Canada team, so he trained with the best players on the Canada team. […] Today (Saturday), he did what he had to do, and we did not feel that he had not played for five weeks, “analyzed Nancy.
For Pantemis, the performance he delivered on Saturday is the result of the efforts he has put in since the start of the season, especially in recent weeks.
“I worked hard all year and even during those five weeks when I didn’t play, I arrived 45 minutes early to regain my physical condition, and I stayed later after training to do additional work. I wanted to show that I would be ready no matter when my services were called upon. I was sent into the fray tonight (Saturday) and I was happy with my performance, but obviously disappointed with the end result. “
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