9/20/2023 0 Comments Last stop cosmos no thanks.![]() ![]() But, in some respects, New York City in the mid-70s was a mess. Pelé and the Cosmos brought glamour and glitz – and huge crowds. Looking back 40 years, it would be easy to say those were the good ole days. They helped lay the groundwork for what we have today. Over the next few years other legends decided it was fair game to test the NASL waters, including Johan Cruyff, Bobby Moore, George Best and Gordon Banks, among others. ![]() Giorgio Chinaglia followed him to the Cosmos, then Franz Beckenbauer and Carlos Alberto before several other world-class players helped fill out a formidable Starting XI. Pelé, who would sign autographs all day for fans until team officials pulled him away, also opened the door for many other stars to play in North America. His first game was broadcast to over 20 countries and 300 journalists from all over the world were in attendance. Whenever the Cosmos came to town, he became the major sports story as US stadiums played to full capacity to watch Pelé perform some magic. It was considered a sport popular among immigrants and even ridiculed as a “commie” sport by its biggest detractors as it fought for acceptance in the media.īut when Pelé signed with the Cosmos, however, he was difficult to ignore. It is now an established part of the country’s sporting ecosystem – some of the teams in the league attract crowds of upwards of 40,000, and as a participant sport, particularly in schools, it has risen dramatically over the last 10 years.īack then, it struggled. While the original incarnation of the North American Soccer League went bust after the 1984 season, soccer, slowly, but surely, began to take root. ![]() It was a fitting finale for a king.ĭuring his three-year tenure in the States, Pelé helped ignite a soccer boom the USA is still feeling today. The celebrity list included Robert Redford, Barbra Streisand, Diane Keaton, Mick Jagger, Muhammad Ali and Henry Kissinger. Sunday is the 40th anniversary of Pelé’s retirement game, a lavish affair in which a capacity crowd of 75,646 jammed New York’s Giants Stadium to say farewell and thank you to the man many regard as the world’s greatest player. After we got some excellent players, then the Cosmos became No 1.” Later on, we became the best team, almost in the world. “When I signed with the Cosmos, the Cosmos were almost a university team. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |