Maxim Tissot carefully placed the ball down, staring at the penalty spot for a few seconds before taking seven quickly measured steps backwards, his eyes still cast downward, betraying nothing.

Just minutes earlier, the 32-year-old fullback had been brought onto the pitch for this very moment, as a 119th-minute substitute in the 2024 Canadian Premier League quarter-final against York United.

Tissot had spent most of the match warming up nervously on the sidelines, trying to stay ready should his number be called, as his Atlético Ottawa teammates carried a 1-0 lead deep into stoppage time against York United, only to be erased by a screamer from 16-year-old Shola Jimoh with one of the final kicks of regulation. The teams then traded goals in extra time during a scintillating spectacle up there with the best matches in league history.

But Tissot pushed that all out of his mind now, taking a deep breath as the referee’s whistle pierced the hushed atmosphere at TD Place, standing still for a moment and then calmly approaching the ball. The Atleti captain leaned back and sent a vicious strike into the top left corner — with York keeper Thomas Vincensini diving the other way.

Tissot leapt into the air as the crowd erupted, pumping his fist in celebration. Landing on the ground, he directed one more exuberant fist pump and roar towards a section of friends and family sitting in the TD Place stands before turning and embracing goalkeeper Nathan Ingham.

“There was a lot of relief, in a way, that I scored, because I came onto the field for that purpose, right?” Tissot told CanPL.ca. “So it was a great moment for the fans, for ourselves as well.”

With York captain Mo Babouli’s penalty saved moments earlier, Tissot’s kick gave Atleti the lead in the CPL’s first-ever playoff penalty shootout.

For Tissot, however, the moment was of even greater significance. He had made his last ever touch as a professional player at TD Place, and potentially of his career, count. Earlier in October, Tissot announced that he would be retiring following this season, a decision he had come to terms with months ago.

Converting his penalty meant that all Atleti now needed to do was score their next three to win. Rubén del Campo, Alberto Zapater and Ilias Iliadis obliged. Atlético Ottawa were moving on, and Tissot’s career was extended for at least another game.

Since the age of 14, when he left his hometown of Aylmer, Que. to join the Montreal Impact academy, soccer has been Tissot’s life. He spent multiple seasons with the Impact first team in MLS, won an NASL Championship with the San Francisco Deltas, earned 13 caps for Canada, won a CPL Final with Forge FC and a regular season title with Atlético Ottawa.

Now as he writes the final lines of this concluding chapter of his story, Tissot is looking to do so with the perfect ending — lifting the North Star Cup as CPL playoff champions with his hometown club.

On Saturday, in the CPL semi-final, a familiar foe stands in his way. Atlético Ottawa will travel to Hamilton to take on Forge FC, a team who has appeared in all five CPL Finals to date, winning four of them. Tissot was a part of that success, having played two seasons with Forge. With them he won a championship at the 2020 Island Games, even scoring against Halifax in the final.

Now with Ottawa, he and his teammates are looking to make CPL history and become the first team to deny the dynastic Hamilton club a spot in the CPL Final.

“We knew that at some point we would have to,” said Tissot of facing Forge. “It’s always special to play against Forge, but ultimately I want to be on the right side this time.”

In Tissot’s first year with Atlético Ottawa, back in 2022, the club made history by winning the regular season title, before hosting a CPL Final in the nation’s capital for the first time. In front of 15,000 fans at TD Place, however, the big night didn’t go to plan as Forge won 2-0.

“I still have that in the back of my mind,” said Tissot. “I still have some, not regret, but that loss still weighs heavy on me.”

Two years later, Ottawa have put together a formidable collection of CPL stars, with high-profile signings like Manny Aparicio, Matteo de Brienne, Amer Didić, Rayane Yesli, former Forge midfielder Aboubacar Sissoko and the return of Ballou Tabla. They have spent this season trying to block out the external hype, while making sure they were at their best when the games mattered most.

“We have a lot of experience, a lot of guys who’ve been in finals or been in important games,” said Tissot. “So I think our roster was built for moments like these. We saw it against York, there were a lot of ups and downs but we stuck with it and got a result.”

Having been a member of the capital club since 2022, Tissot remains an important part of the squad. But he has been so in a different way this season, as a knee injury saw him miss three months, and threatened to end his final season early. He even met with a surgeon and considered that option, but instead elected to have the injury heal naturally knowing it was his only hope of getting back on the pitch this year — something he did over the final few weeks of the regular season.

“I’m very happy to be back,” said Tissot. “I’m not playing as much. I don’t get as many minutes, because maybe my body can’t handle that. But for the minutes that I can give, I try to give my all emotionally and physically. I only played a couple of minutes this weekend, but was fortunate enough to take a PK and score. So I have a different role now.”

Part of his approach to his final few matches has been not thinking of them that way. During all the twists and turns of the match against York, he didn’t dwell on the fact that it could be his final professional match. As he stepped up to take his penalty, he ignored that it would be his final kick in the nation’s capital.

“I try not to think about it too much, because obviously I wanted to play three more games — two more now… Just stay in the moment,” said Tissot.

His teammates, however, are well aware that this is Tissot’s last dance, and he is hoping he can be part of the inspiration to carry them to a championship.

“I think it motivates some of the guys in the locker room as well,” said Tissot. “Knowing that it’s my last year, I think it gives them that extra boost.”

To get to spend that final year in the nation’s capital, some 21 minutes from where he grew up, has made this even more special. When Tissot first started playing the game, professional soccer in Ottawa wasn’t an option and he had to travel to Montréal to pursue his dream.

“To be able to play half of my professional years in Ottawa, it’s been truly special,” says Tissot. “Friends and family at every home game, I have to ask for a lot of tickets from our players at every game, and it means a lot to me.

“I’m the type of player that I like to think that I play for a bit more than just for a club. I play for my hometown, for my city, and it’s always been special to me.”

Now, he is looking to help give Ottawa one final goodbye gift, a North Star Cup trophy that they so desperately crave having come so close in 2022.

“It’s kind of rare to be able to leave this game on your own terms in North America,” said Tissot. “But since I’ve taken that decision, it’s always been the scenario that I’ve been visualizing, lifting the trophy on Nov. 9.”

The setting of that dream has changed. Tissot’s original vision had him and his teammates hoisting the North Star Cup on the field at TD Place. Now, if Atleti can get through Forge, it would mean doing so on the grass of ATCO Field against Cavalry FC. But it would nevertheless be a beautiful ending to an incredible career.