This is Cosmos Country

Happy Holidays

2011-12-27T12:27:00.000-05:00

All, we are off for the Holidays. Enjoy the New Year and we will see you on the other side.

Garber fancies the Cosmos Name

2011-12-19T12:31:00.000-05:00

Don Garber spoke a bit today with ESPN's Soccer Today podcast and the topic of expansion and the Cosmos came up. Below are the quotes from Garber which you can listen to here. (27:40 it starts)

The hosts asked about the tactic of going after a stadium before an ownership group:

Garber

"There is no risk because we don’t have to expand whether it’s in new York or another market"

"We believe here in the league office that the league needs to have more energy in the New York market"

"We made the decision that the opportunity is important enough that we didn’t want to depend on an owner to drive the stadium independent of the leagues role to ensure that the stadium is in the right spot."

"It is very clear to us that we have to get it right in new York city and we have to invest significant financial and people resources to ensure that that happens."

Garber clearly is not in a rush to get the 20th team done but states that the league is really focused on NYC for that spot.

The hosts then asked about the status of the Cosmos group

Garber:

"They are not ready to go because there isn’t a stadium opportunity for them or anyone else to get excited about."

"We remain in contact with the Cosmos, the new ownership group, I have a lot of faith in their new approach and their desire to focus much more on an MLS team, than just selling product and perhaps doing exhibitions. "

"I will say that more and more I am beginning to get caught up a bit in the Cosmos fever. While I don’t regret we didn’t purchase that logo when it was made available to us in 1996, I do believe now that there just seems to be a lot of momentum behind the relaunch of that brand and bringing back some of the excitement and appeal that the Cosmos were able to generate not just here in NY but around the world."

"I think if we are able to find an opportunity on the facility then we will be able to have a very fruitful conversation with them about coming into the league"

This is the first time in a long time that Garber admits to being taken by the power of the Cosmos brand. A more powerful sign that the Cosmos are a player in this whole thing is when Garber says that he recently had a meeting with a MAJOR sponsor and the first question they asked was "When are you bringing the Cosmos back?"

So Garber is for sure seeing the power of the Cosmos brand globally but also seems to be getting a bit of pressure from sponsors.

It could be safe to say "If you build it, they will come".

Courtemanche still saying NY is focus for 20

2011-12-14T16:34:00.002-05:00

Major League Soccer stated that New York City is still the focus of Major League Soccer despite today's Sacramento news.

“but we could expand beyond 20 teams at some point, however there are no specific plans right now for expansion beyond 20 teams. There are multiple markets from Detroit, to Miami, to Las Vegas, to Atlanta, and now, apparently, Sacramento. But our focus right now is on New York,”

Sacramento

2011-12-14T13:07:00.001-05:00

The expansion candidate list keeps growing as Sacramento, California has thrown its hat into the ring. Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, who sits on the board of soccer's national governing body, is leading this charge. One of his partners is local Attorney Dick Hyde, who admits that things are still very preliminary.

"I wouldn't characterize it as a long shot, but it's an endeavor that's in its infancy," said Hyde, who was part of a group that tried to bring the MLS to Sacramento a decade ago. "I think Elk Grove is probably a really good spot for soccer."

Until New York City is able to finalize a deal, you will see more and more cities pop up as candidates. While yes, Garber did hire full time staff to help finalize a stadium deal in NYC, there are no guarantees.

Your thoughts on Sacramento?

Terry Byrne officially out

2011-12-13T10:55:00.003-05:00

Grant Wahl is reporting on twitter that Terry Byrne has left the New York Cosmos.

This is not a surprise to many as Terry's name was removed from the management page on nycosmos.com some time ago. It seems that Terry was staying behind to help facilitate the transition to the new ownership.

Hopefully the new management team will be announced soon.

Gio Speaks about the Cosmos and MLS

2011-12-08T19:12:00.000-05:00

on Paris New York Tv

Take a looks, he says that the Cosmos are working with Garber to meet all the requirements to make the jump to MLS.

Click on Link to see Video.

NYC Kit-League Table (Winter Update)

2011-12-01T18:10:00.007-05:00

It's been over 2 months since our last update of the NYC Kit-League but all the while I've been keeping track of every football logo I see around NYC. Lots of teams have dramatically moved in the table. Liverpool is a great example of a shirt I saw nothing of in the first two weeks of the competition and have since seen everywhere. Obviously as the days turn colder Big European Clubs that sell a lot Jackets and Coats have an advantage over the Mexican and South American clubs and I think we see that in the table. That said I've decided to lay off the analysis a bit and instead focus on some of the more interesting things I've seen around the city. So here they are...

CLUB AMERICA TATTOO: Seeing this on the Manhattan bound 7 train this caught me off guard as it isn't a Jersey or a Jacket, but I quickly decided that any tattoo incorporating a teams logo deserves the full three points in this table.

BALLINROBE TOWN AFC JERSEY: Likely the most obscure kit I've seen thus far, Ballingrobe Town AFC is an Irish club from County Mayo that plays in the Welcome Inn Premier Division of the Mayo League. For those of you that are counting thats level 5 in the Irish League Pyramid.

KANSAS CITY WIZ JERSEY: In my opinion the most wonderfully hideous jersey I have seen, so wonderfully hideous that I had to go find a picture the shirt.

I decided to separate the National Team Jerseys into their own table... so here are your, League 1, League 2 and the National Team tables...

National Team Kit-League

Orlando in Play?

2011-12-01T11:09:00.001-05:00

A bit of expansion news from Major League Soccer as the owner of the Orlando City Soccer Club, Phil Rawlins, revealed that he is in discussions with Major League Soccer and that a Non Disclosure Agreement has been signed.

"They've been following us and they've been watching us," Rawlins said. "They were very complimentary and positive about what we were doing and the success we've had in the last season ... We've signed a non-disclosure agreement with them and we're looking at the business models. We're looking at what the numbers look like to bring MLS soccer to Central Florida."

"I can see us playing in either [a newly-renovated Citrus Bowl or a soccer-specific stadium]," Rawlins said. "The city and the county has $185 million set aside for the refurbishment of the Citrus Bowl and we're in talks with them about that. As long as that money is used wisely and well, then I can see us playing in a refurbished Citrus Bowl."

While Major League Soccer still seems completely focused on New York City for its 20th team, nothing can be ruled out. The league does want a presence in the South East and with the right owners and a possible stadium solution in place, this could really pick up some steam.

Orlando City plays its home games in the Citris Bowl and drew over 11,000 fans to the USL Championship game, on the same night of a UCF football game. This solid local support, coupled with the millions of tourists that visit the area (many of whom come from soccer loving nations) could be a nice little recipe for success.

Academy Paid

2011-11-29T13:36:00.002-05:00

As you might have already heard, the New York Cosmos have made a payment to Gottschee to fulfill their August obligation to the Academy. While the payment was late, it must be seen as a positive development that the new owners honored this payment. A few weeks back the Cosmos ownership, through the Borough Boys, sent a message to the fans stating they would honor this obligation.

Today we received this statement from Gottschee about the payment.

As you may have heard, Blau Weiss Gottschee just recently received its past due
(Aug 1, 2011) sponsorship payment from the new “New York Cosmos” owners, which constituted a significant portion of the Club’s expected funding for the fall
season. While Gottschee is very gratified for the payment and cautiously
optimistic regarding both the new Cosmos owners and that Gottschee will be able
to resume the plans it had for its Academy and Club programs in the near future,
a great deal of planning and work needs to be done to put things in order and to
transition the Club back to a sound footing. Those decisions depend heavily upon
the new Cosmos owners meeting further commitments for the upcoming winter and
spring, due soon.

Thank you
BW Gottschee Board

Hopefully the Cosmos will pay their second installment of $250,000 due on January 1, 2012 to BW Gottschee and the fans can start focusing on a potential MLS team, which according to a Mike Lewis Report, is still the goal for the new Cosmos owners.

For now we say "Thank You" to the new owners for making this payment and hope that soon the fans and owners can meet to discuss how to build a relationship that has recently been put to the test.

For an interesting take on the whole thing, see Chris Dobens' piece at Totalfootblog.com.

I have also been informed by one of the parents that the fund raiser for Gottschee will go on as planned for Saturday night. We will post the details a little later.

What lies ahead?

2011-11-20T14:47:00.004-05:00

MLS Cup is here and the game itself should be fantastic. The Borough Boys will be having a viewing at Jack Demseys tonight. Come down and have fun with fellow MLS fans.

There has not been much news from the Cosmos this week but the new owners will be at MLS Cup to meet with Commissioner Garber. We hope to get their identity confirmed as rumors have Seamus O'Brien from World Sport Group as the new chair.

The new owners have made a statement to the fans they have the best of intentions for the future and that includes the highly controversial Gottschee situation. We have stated to the new owners, both through this site and the staff, that we do not doubt their intentions are true, but unfortunately, due to the negative events that have unfolded, we need action before we can be assured.

The fact that Don Garber has spoken positively of the new owners is surely a nice start and we hope for more positive developments from this group. The Cosmos brand has been drug through the mud the past few months, so the new owners do have a tough job ahead of them if they wish to redeem it.

Meanwhile, the MLS announced changes to its schedule for next season and it discusses how some conference teams will play each other 3 times and then in 2013 the fixtures will reverse (meaning the team that hosts 2 of the 3 in 2012 will go on the road to that rival twice in 2013). I guess that means that they do not expect NYC in the league for 2013. Your thoughts?

Watch the MLS Cup tonight as it should be a great match!

Academy Update

2011-11-14T16:57:00.005-05:00

New York Cosmos: The Children of BW Gottschee Comes First

By: Cesar Diaz

“Please assure the coaches and parent of our players that I will return from London by Friday with an answer.” – Terry Byrne’s statement read by Cosmos Academy Director Giovanni Savarese on Monday, November 7, 2011 to the parents of the Players of BW Gottschee

On Sunday, November 13, we were informed by a BW Gottschee (BWG) representative that the New York Cosmos have yet to contact them after they were assured they would receive an answer by Friday, November 11, 2011 regarding the outstanding balance of $210K owed to them.

Last Monday, BW Gottschee filed a lawsuit against the New York Cosmos for violating their sponsorship agreement. Basically, it’s been over 100 days since the New York Cosmos failed to pay the sum of $210K owed to BW Gottschee.

While it’s easy to dehumanize a 60-year old program like BW Gottschee… one thing that will not be dehumanized are the families, the Cosmos Academy coaches, and BWG representatives who were present at last Monday’s meeting.

Last Monday’s meeting was also attended by Borough Boys President Nick Laveglia, Chris Dobens of TotalFootblog.com, and me as we were made aware of it during the weekend. Prior to Monday’s meeting, we tweeted that BWG has filed legal action against the Cosmos and had obtained the lawsuit document within hours.

With permission to attend last Monday’s meeting by a BWG representative, we witnessed BWG Youth Director of Coaching Paul McGlynn inform the families of the possibility of having to revert to a “pay to play” format because the New York Cosmos organization hadn’t met their contractual obligation.

Representing the New York Cosmos that evening was Cosmos Academy Director Giovanni Savarese who read a statement emailed to him from Interim Chairman Terry Byrne. It was pretty clear to everyone the difficult position Savarese was in as he addressed the families. Unfortunately for him, he played the role of the bearer of bad news.

In an effort to keep Cosmos supporters aware, Laveglia, Dobens, and me have been in direct communications with both sides and have provided the latest updates through the Borough Boys website ThisIsCosmosCountry.com, our social media outlets as well as the Cosmos Facebook page. To read the recap of how the lawsuit against the Cosmos unfolded, please go to TotalFootblog.com.

What a lot people need to understand is that this lawsuit isn’t about one organization against another organization. It’s about the children involved… plain and simple. It’s about them potentially losing their soccer education that was contractually promised to them by the New York Cosmos.

Other than covering matches, I always find time to talk with parents who have their children enrolled in soccer academies, such as BWG. Learning about the sacrifices they’ve had to make, in not only adjusting their schedules so their kids can practice with the team, but also in raising the money so their children can continue with their Soccer Education has given me a tremendous respect for the time and energy they put forth in making sure their children are able to compete at the highest level.

I understand there are Cosmos supporters who are more interested in hearing about the Cosmos becoming the 20th MLS Team with a Stadium deal intact and the latest Cosmos gear they can purchase for the Holidays. And frankly, who can blame them for they’ve invested their money and time defending an organization they believe will eventually become a MLS Club?

However, if you’ve been supporting the Cosmos since their NASL days, reading about the lawsuit against the Cosmos has to be hard to digest. Who would want a club as historical as the Cosmos which had players such as Pelé, Beckenbauer, Carlos Alberto, and Chinaglia labeled as a deadbeat organization? Whether you agree or not, a situation like this is a poor demonstration of the organization’s commitment to grassroots and youth soccer.

The only thing clear about this situation other than the $210K balance is that BWG and the Cosmos are in a position neither wants to be in. I’m sure both parties are hoping that this financial matter gets resolved as soon as possible.

From my conversations with a couple of representatives from BW Gottschee, they made it clear that they will continue to uphold their obligation as Cosmos Academy. In doing so, they sincerely hope that the New York Cosmos does become a MLS club. However, the $210K balance as well as the $250K due in less than 60 days or January 1, 2012 needs to be addressed.

While it would be easy to aggressively attack the New York Cosmos front office and question their “business as usual” status, I’m not going to take that route. Like any organization who’s dealing with a lawsuit which involves children, there are staff members who had nothing to do with the financial decisions of the organization.

The reality is that they were more than likely following orders. From having interacted with the staff on a regular basis, I’m sure they couldn’t have imagined ever being in the position their organization is in right now. While it might have been helpful to be clear to their supporters about their situation with BW Gottschee and allow them the opportunity to offer a helping hand, the reality is they were probably ordered to remain silent.

With that said, I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt and believe they were ordered to post MLS Commissioner Don Garber’s mention of the Cosmos during his “State of the League” teleconference instead of issuing a public apology to the children, and family of BW Gottschee.

At the end of the day, we have to remember that any professional club or organization who forms a partnership with any youth soccer club, their number one priority are the children and their families. I hope this situation doesn’t have a negative impact on the families and their children who are currently involved with BW Gottschee.

With the rumors of Seamus O’Brien of World Sport Group ready to take the reins of the New York Cosmos, I hope the first thing Mr. O’Brien address and resolve is the monies owed to BW Gottschee. This matter is now his responsibility as the lawsuit was filed against the New York Cosmos not the previous owners.

Even though Mr. O’Brien is taking over the Cosmos in a bad situation which is no fault of his, he will have a chance to restore faith in their most loyal supporters by handling this extremely important matter. In doing so, many supporters will finally be able to simply focus and hope the Cosmos becomes the second New York MLS Club.

*Today I reached out to the New York Cosmos for comment, but received no response.

Cesar Diaz is a freelance soccer writer for several online publications. If there's a soccer topic you believe that needs to be written about, please feel free to contact him. Easily accessible, you may contact him at CoveringSoccer@gmail.com and @CoveringSoccer.

State of the League - Expansion

2011-11-10T22:40:00.005-05:00

Don Garber held his state of the league address today and as always the topic of expansion came up. Some quotes:

“The issue remains the soccer stadium,” Garber said. “We do believe we have two or three sites that are viable, and we’re going to continue to work as hard as we can to move this [forward] as fast as we can.”

Does this mean that in the next few months we will be seeing a lot of news about a potential soccer stadium? There is no secret that this is the biggest hurdle for getting a team and Garber later stated he wanted ensure that whichever ownership group is selected, that the stadium plans are moving along for them.

Garber also stated that there are still many potential owners in and outside of New York for that 20th team. He does mention other cities but gave no indication that the focus has fallen from New York city. He also took the Wilpon family out of the equation.

Finally, Garber had a comment that was in favor of the new owners of the Cosmos.

"I, for one, believe that the Cosmos are a great brand, and we like the ownership group that's taken over," Garber also added "If they're able to satisfy all the things that we have as ownership requirements, then I think they could be good prospects. Right now it is very focused on a stadium and less focused on ownership."

Well, it was clear that Garber did not get on well with Paul Kemsley. One of the things the new Cosmos group will need to do is win over Garber and the 19 other league owners and this is a nice step towards that goal.

It also is a boost that Garber is more interested in the stadium than picking an owner, as it will give the new owners some time to right the ship and get things back to normal in Cosmos Country.

The fact that Don Garber likes this group has to be seen as a positive sign that the new owners do in fact have the best of intentions. We can not jump to conclusions on the new owners and hope that Garber's stamp of approval is a good sign that the new group will fix what has been broken.

Cosmos New Owners speak to fans

2011-11-10T01:32:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, we received another call from the New York Cosmos who wanted to make another statement to the fans.

As we know, Terry Byrne met with the new owners of the Cosmos Wednesday to discuss moving forward. The message we got from the Cosmos was that the meeting was positive and the new owners wanted the fans to know that they have the best of intentions for the New York Cosmos.

This ends their message. (We state this to not confuse anyone as the next portion is our statement)

Now, we have thought about ways to reply to the new owners and we decided that the best way to do so is in public.

For the past year, The Borough Boys stood by the Cosmos when many doubted the capability and/or good intentions of Kemsley & Co. We got behind them because they were the first potential investor group to go public and state that their intention to join MLS. We didn’t just take them at their word. In extensive meetings, and our own investigations, it seemed that indeed, these guys were serious. If this all falls apart, as seems quite possible, let us be the first to come forward, we were wrong. Now all we can do is the best we can to at least fix the Academy mess.

To the NEW OWNERS (rumors have you being Sela Sport but whoever you are):

We thank you for taking the time to address the fans but our stance can only be actions speak louder than words. We are not stating that you don’t have the best intentions but we are saying that we have heard this before.

Clearly there are some items of business you need to address, but in order to win back the fans and the local community the first step is to address the academy situation. Somebody must step forward with a $210,000* check for BW Gottschee immediately. You assumed the debt, it is your legal responsibility to pay the obligation. It is the moral responsibility of the old owners, the new owners, and all the honorary “Cosmos” – Pele, Cantona, Messing and Alberto to make this right. You gloried in the Cosmos name, now take some responsibility for it!

And yes, this is OUR business. Unlike those who signed the agreement, we are New Yorkers and local New York children are being told unless their parents can pay thousands of dollars, they need to take a walk because of an unfulfilled promise. Not to mention, if you can’t handle the orderly operation of a youth academy, why would anyone, including the league, believe that you can handle a division 1 professional team in the United States?

Once that is cleared up, we suggest a meeting between you guys and the fans. Talk to us, share your thoughts and visions with us, let us give you feedback. This will not exactly make things fine and dandy but this will be a start. (Just to set expectations, things will ONLY be 100% if and when you guys get announced to Major League Soccer.)

We are fans. We are going to be mad, we are going to complain, but if all works out, we are going to be season ticket holders. We are going to engage our fertile soccer community with you as the centerpiece. But first, fix the academy issue and do it ASAP. The notifications are already out to these working class kids: “No pay, no play”. Make this right and then let’s meet and discuss how we can work to put the relationship on better footing.

We would also like to state that none of our anger is directed towards the staff, past or present. We fully understand that they are in an almost impossible position, and we have always appreciated their professionalism in their dealings with us.

*EDITOR NOTE - UPDATE

The actual lawsuit from BW Gottschee is for $460,000. This is for the outstanding August payment, facility fee as well as the upcoming payment which is due in 50 Days. This is all public records.

Statement from Cosmos

2011-11-08T15:46:00.000-05:00

Today a representative from the Cosmos front office reached out to Nick Laveglia, the Borough Boys president, to follow up on the recent news surrounding the Cosmos Academy.

During that call the Cosmos assured The Borough Boys that the goals of the organization remain the same – entry into MLS -- even under the new ownership. The transitional phase to the new ownership has taken longer than expected.

As you may know by now, the Cosmos have only partially paid its contractual obligations to BW Gottschee, which has caused the Academy serious financial hardship. However, the Cosmos assured us that the Academy is a TOP priority and said that the situation with BW Gottschee would be rectified.

Laveglia took the opportunity to explain the fans frustrations over the past few months. They understood, and repeated that the goal was entry into the MLS. We certainly appreciated the outreach, and hope that the actions follow the encouraging words.

Statement from BW Gottschee

2011-11-08T10:29:00.000-05:00

BW GOTTSCHEE FORCED TO GO IT ALONE

In 2010, Blau Weiss Gottschee entered into a sponsorship agreement with
the New York Cosmos. The terms of the agreement gave the New York
Cosmos the right to call the Blau Weiss Gottschee Development Academy
teams, "New York Cosmos Academy". In return, Blau Weiss Gottschee
received funds to facilitate free play and travel for all Academy
players. Funding is required per year, paid semi-annually (August and
January), and the first year's payments were delivered, generally, as
promised.

This season, 2011-2012, required funding for the Academy teams, 50% due
in August given the substantial up front costs and commitments for such a serious program,
has yet to arrive, putting Blau Weiss Gottschee under extreme financial stress and severely impacting the club's operation. Assurances have been given by the Cosmos but to date no
money has arrived. As an unfortunate result, Blau Weiss Gottschee has
been forced to engage legal assistance and filed suit to ensure
compliance with the contractual terms of the agreement with the New York Cosmos.

In the meantime, Blau Weiss Gottschee's commitment to its players,
teams, community, and sport has not wavered. Unfortunately, Gottschee
will not be able to continue to provide free play in the immediate
term, but it will continue to do what it has done for the past sixty
years; provide the highest quality soccer program possible, holding
true to its ideals of dedication, commitment, and integrity.

We will continue to keep fans posted as this situation develops.

Academy Update

2011-11-07T22:35:00.000-05:00

BW Gottschee has filed legal actions towards the New York Cosmos due to non fulfillment of contractual obligations.

Gottschee had a meeting tonight where they informed parents that at any time they could be going back to a pay to play system, as they have not been paid per their agreement.

Chris Dobens of Total Footblog.com, Cesar Diaz of LatinoSport.com and the Borough Boys president attended BW Gottschee's meeting tonight regarding the lawsuit they filed against the Cosmos.

There was a representative of the Cosmos present and he read a statement from Interim General Manager Terry Byrne stating that the Academy is the number one priority to them and they plan on honoring the contract negotiations. Following the meeting, we spoke with Paul McGlynn and a Cosmos representative about the situation.

Changes in the front office have halted things on the Cosmos side and the Academy is preparing for potentially having to alter its financing. Fans are already on the Cosmos Facebook page lashing out frustrations but there might be more news coming in the next week or so about this topic, and the hope is that it all gets rectified.

It seems the NEW Cosmos ownership is planning on honoring this obligation so we must wait and see that they pay the funds. We will keep you posted as we learn more.

For those who are unaware, BW Gottschee is a historic local club that has been around since 1951 and has been a force in local soccer. Please read about the clubs history on their website: http://www.bwgottschee.org/ClubHistory/index_E.html

What of the Copa?

2011-11-04T00:27:00.000-04:00

With the internal changes taking place within the New York Cosmos, most fans understandably wish to know how this affects your organization's progress in becoming a MLS team. For supporters, this is the most important question that want answered as immediately as possible.

By no means am I suggesting that supporters jump ship. However the reality is, we as your potential season ticket holders are no longer interested with the marketing fluff that was previously fed to us. While it was initially fun and amusing, we are no longer interested. The only thing we at this stage is a MLS Club.

If your goal is be part of Major League Soccer, than start playing the role by covering MLS and the local NYC Scene. You have a recognizable website with the social media accounts and we want content. We understand the online store but at the end of the day, readers want to read something related to American Soccer. From your discussions with Major League Soccer, I am sure that MLS Commissioner Don Garber is able to grant you Media Credentials.

With all do respect, your organization set the bar and has failed to achieve it... end of story. Don't blame us for being upset. We listened, we defended, and we invested in merchandise. As supporters, we have no reservation in being patient but loyalty is a two-way street and the lack of communication to us has been disrespectful.

Had you simply generated a Press Release admitting that things haven't ran as smoothly as expected, we would have been understanding and who knows, even more sympathetic in your plight. Despite our frustrations, we are impressed with two elements of your organization.

They are the Cosmos Academy and the Cosmos Copa.

For the time being, we're going to focus on the Cosmos Copa. We hope that the new ownership of the Cosmos realize the importance of this tournament. Not only for the possibility of finding some talent (MLS scouts were at last years edition) but for what it actually does for New York.

Our world isn t filled with the prejudices that once were, however, that does not mean we should stray away from bringing people together.

While the Cosmos Copa has clearly offered some fantastic soccer, it also brought together people from various communities and more importantly, various cultures.

This is something that needs to continue because in a city as diverse as New York, the variety needs to interact and what better way to get them together, than to celebrate the game of soccer.

In the past, our site has praised the efforts of Chris Noble and Spencer Dormitzer before, and we will continue to do so. The fact that 5 Points Press volunteered hours of their personal time in not only covering the Cosmos Copa but meeting with the clubs while creating a Special Edition issue clearly demonstrates the respect we have for not only Chris and Spencer but also for the tournament itself.

The Cosmos Copa is a unique spectacle that can't be pulled off in many cities around the world, but you can in New York. Let s hope the new owners of the Cosmos recognize that and continue this tradition. Not only will it be good for the Cosmos as an organization, but it will be good for New York.

We maybe upset with you right now but we anticipate that it ll be an issue of the past once we actually see some progress. You know where we stand and the it's up to you to decide how you re going to honor our loyalty.

We know that you can not provide us with an MLS team next summer, but you can provide us with the 3rd installment of the Cosmos Copa.

Cosmos Statement

2011-11-02T16:59:00.000-04:00

From their website

http://nycosmos.com/news/management-update-new-york-cosmos

November 2, 2011 (New York, NY) - There has been a buyout at The New York Cosmos and management changes have taken place in various areas of our organization. This also results in a full restructure of both our business and staffing, which will continue to be assessed by the new leadership team that is expected to be appointed within the next 60 days. It is unequivocally the goal of the current ownership to become an MLS team in the most expedient manner possible, and decisions for the club will be made with this in mind.

The goal remains MLS, and they want it fast. Lets see how they action that.

Changes confirmed

2011-10-26T14:48:00.001-04:00

The rumored changes at the top of the New York Cosmos group were confirmed today by Mike Lewis

About a month ago, Jack Bell tweeted that Paul Kemsley was being bought out but there was no news since that information.

Mike Lewis spoke to Joe Fraga and he states that while there will be changes at the top, operations will remain the same at the aspiring club.

There will be those that feel that this is good news because of the uncertainty around Paul Kemsley's character. Would he have fit in well with the other owners in the league? It is to soon to say if this is good or bad as just don't know anything about the new ownership group or their resources.

Yesterday Paul Gardner put out an opinion piece which revealed that there was a falling out between the Saudi backers and Kemsley due to his questionable business decisions.

So the Cosmos are moving on from Paul Kemsley and so must the fans. It seems that the transition is still in progress but as soon as its complete, the pressure will be on the Cosmos to show that they once again are players in the expansion race. Don Garber mentioned that they had some ownership issues that they needed to sort out and they are sorting them out. Is it enough though?

ADDED
The New York Cosmos also released this http://nycosmos.com/news/paul-kemsley-steps-down-chairmanceo-new-york-cosmos-0

Fans still waiting for more answers

2011-10-19T23:34:00.002-04:00

In response to Don Garber's recent comments that the Cosmos no longer in the mix for the MLS NYC franchise, the Cosmos Front office released a statement saying that they are "willing to work with other investors."

While it was nice to hear something out of the Cosmos camp, fans still have a lot of questions and concerns that this statement did not answer.

Many are dying to know what is going on internally at the Cosmos as there is still that rumor lingering that Paul Kemsley has sold out to foreign investors.

We understand that the Cosmos are a private organization and changes at the top do not need to be announced in public. However, the fact remains that they are aspiring to be a professional sports organization, they should be behooved to act like one. Like any professional franchise, fans want to know what is going on with the team they have emotionally and financially invested in.

Take a glance at the Cosmos Facebook page, you will see fans expressing their anger. Some have expressed thos in a mild manner while others in a more colorful tone. From a financial standpoint, many of these fans ran out in the past year and spent their hard earned money on gear for the team that promised top flight by 2013. Now, with that date looking less likely, fans are asking for updates and sadly not getting a response.

However, this is not time to jump off the Cosmos bridge. If we've learned anything from past expansion history is there will be more twists in this story before the final chapter is written. In the meantime, fans have every right to question. They question out of anger, out of frustration but most of all, question out of passion.

At this point, there's no reason to point our fingers solely at the Cosmos as Don Garber is not really being open and honest with fans as well. He speaks of mysterious investors who refuse to be mentioned at this time.

Who's to say that Garber is using the fans emotions to get leverage from expansion groups such as the Cosmos. Also, are the Wilpon's still going to be somehow involved in this?

Perhaps all these big decision makers should be reminded of words from the great European Cup winning Celtic coach Jock Stein "Football without fans is nothing".

Cosmos have issues

2011-10-12T00:10:00.003-04:00

Tonight during the USA - Ecuador friendly in Harrison, New Jersey, Don Garber opened up a little more about the New York City expansion team.

"As for the league’s 20th franchise, it is becoming more and more obvious that New York remains his top choice. He mentioned that he was entertaining three potential ownership groups during the U.S. match and stressed once again that the stadium is the most important step towards making it a reality. "

“We’re making progress and the city has been supportive,” he said. “If we can build the stadium, we will have the 20th team in New York City.”

Clearly getting a stadium built is the biggest challenge and tonight Garber even spoke about Randalls Island as a potential location As previously stated on this site, Randalls Island would be a great location with the skyline as a backdrop, but would be a disaster in terms of traffic and getting to the venue.

Garber hosted three potential investors in his box and none of them were from the Cosmos group. When will their identities be revealed?

As for the Cosmos, Garber hinted that there are some ownership issues that the Cosmos have to sort out before the league considers them as a potential owner.

They’ve got some things that they’ve got to work out in their ownership group. As I’ve said before, they’ve done a great job of building their brand and when we’re ready to get that team launched if they want to be a part of that, we’d be happy to talk with them.”

So what is your take? Are the Cosmos falling apart? Is Garber trying to keep the pressure on the Cosmos to get their ownership sorted out? Will one of these other investors buy the Cosmos brand being the current group can not get their shit together?

The ride continues.

Silly Rumor and Detroit

2011-10-09T21:00:00.001-04:00

While we were going through some changes, we saw a few pieces of interest. One of them being about MLS expansion, but not NYC.

First was this silly rumor that the Cosmos might be invited to the UEFA Champions league. How could a team, well, that does not exist get an invite to play in a competition such as the Champions League? More importantly, why would UEFA want to hurt the stature of Europe's top club competition?

There was an interesting story involving Pele and him possibly returning to the pitch to join Santos at the FIFA Club World Cup later in the year. Hopefully, FIFA stops this decision because honestly it would hurt the reputation of a tournament that is trying to become bigger.

Finally, on the MLS expansion front, the Motor City Supporters in Detroit leaked plans of of a revamped Silverdome on their site. The MCS, much like the Borough Boys, is a group of die hard fans who want to see a team in their city. As fellow supporters we wish the luck in growing their organization.

The wild plans have the Silverdome hosting a 30K seat soccer stadium on the top level with a lower level consisting of a concert hall and small arena both with a capacity of 20K.

Right now the league still seems focused on getting NYC completed with either the Cosmos or one of the other mystery investor groups, however, the longer it takes to get a stadium plan done, the more chances increase of it all falling to pieces. News such as this should be a reminder that until Garber gets up on a podium and announces NYC as the 20th team, anything can happen.

6-8 Months is now a punchline

2011-10-04T20:29:00.005-04:00

Oh we know how this one ends. "6-8 months"

Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber was on NBC Sports Talk on Versus TV tonight and he spoke about the big night for US soccer as there is a huge league game as well as the US Open Cup final at which 40 thousand fans are expected to attend.

Earlier in the day, Russ Thaler, who hosted the interview asked fans for questions and the question he selected was about the 20th team. Thaler mentioned that there was an overwhelming response from fans on this topic so he asked when the 20th team will be announced and if it will be the Cosmos.

Garber did not dodge the question but really did not offer much. He said they continue to talk to the city, and yes, the Cosmos as well. Garber made it clear that the stadium is the challenge and that after that gets sorted out the rest will be easy to put into place.

Then came the same old story. Don Garber said that he expects more on it in the next "6-8-12 months".

For those who have been involved in this movement or even just following, this is the same timeline we have heard at least 3 times in the past 12 months. You are begining to wonder that in 10 years you will be tucking your kid into bed saying "Don't worry, the Cosmos will be here in 6-8 months".

The whole saga has grown tiresome for many fans around the area, and many are no longer as excited as they were back on August 5th when the Cosmos played Manchester Untied. The fans are aware of the challenges building a stadium, but they really want a little more transparency.Many are stating that "fans are the heart and soul of a soccer team and should not be left in the complete darkness".

A little applause for the Borough Boys because clearly an impression was made on Mr. Thayer as he made sure he pointed out how many people asked about it. It seems that last second internet campaign to get people to contact him did in fact work. See what happens when we all come together?

PK no longer involved?

2011-09-26T23:48:00.000-04:00

Jack Bell, who is both a great soccer writer and a credible source of information used twitter today to reveal some interesting news about the Cosmos. His post was:

"JackBell JackBell

I hear that Englishman Paul Kemsley is out at the Cosmos, as in bought out by his investor group from Saudi Arabia."

The Cosmos have not said much in the past month and a half and now this. As imagined, this news has fans completely confused. Fans are asking what this means for the Cosmos and MLS.

It was always known that Paul Kemsley was seeking foreign investment, and there was a lot of speculation that there was a Saudi investment group involved, but it is a surprise to see that Kemsley was completely bought out.

There is a lot of money in that region of the world, so this can actually be a very positive development for the financing of a NYC team. If this group has been involved with Kemsley, then they are fully aware of the costs of this venture. They know the costs of a stadium in the city and they know about Garber's 100 Million price tag, so this action has to mean this group has the financial power to finish the job.

The roller coaster ride continues.

Foreign Investment - Proof and more speculation

2011-09-25T23:09:00.001-04:00

This interesting tidbit was brought to our attention on by an anonymous user on the BigSoccer message boards.

It would seem that the law firm that assisted with getting Pele his work visa in the US, has also represented foreign investors in their acquisition of a 50% interest in the New York Cosmos. This was in September 2010, which was about a month or so after Pele announced at Flushing Meadows Park that the New York Cosmos were back.

So it seems there is foreign investment in the Cosmos and now the fans will wonder who.

Please do not forget to send us your letters for the Cosmos or Garber so we can publish the next edition of our Online Soccer Magazine. The submission deadline is Friday.

Have your say!

2011-09-23T09:10:00.003-04:00

All,

Do you have a letter you would like to write for the Cosmos? Would you like to tell them how badly you want his team? Do you want to write a letter to Commissioner Garber? Do you want to tell him to pick the Cosmos? Do you want to tell him to not charge 100 Million?

here is your chance. Our next edition of our Soccer Fanzine is going to be all about the fans. We want the fans to voice there opinion.

Please send your letter to thisiscosmoscountry@boroughboysnyc.com and we will publish it in our next edition.

Deadline is Friday, September 30th.

The NYC Kit-League Table (Week 2)

2011-09-22T19:52:00.005-04:00

After two weeks of keeping track of every single soccer logo I see, I'm starting to learn a few things. Some neighborhoods love soccer jerseys a lot more than others. In just two trips to Spanish Harlem I came across seven different soccer badges and shockingly they were from 5 different countries. Meanwhile countless trips into the Upper East Side have only produced 5 badges and 4 of those belong to Barca. I've also learned that If two big clubs play each other then fans of those teams are way more likely to wear their soccer kit around town. United and Chelsea both had huge weeks for this reason. I spotted 4 Man U and 3 Chelsea jerseys on Sunday alone compared to just 1 each the previous week when they played West Brom and Stoke respectively. The third interesting thing I can take away from this study is that for whatever reason Thursdays are the slowest in terms of people showing support for their clubs, in two weeks only one solitary point has been scored on a Thursday. Lets take a look at the bottom of our table...

Not too much to point out here but I was surprised to see the German National Team represented in Spanish Harlem of all places. I also had to look up both Toluca and ULD Quito after seeing their logos but not knowing the name of either club. Then there is Red Bull NY who saved an entire country from the embarrassment of being shut out on home turf. We went the first 6 days and 11 hours of this week without seeing a single American team get on the board until a Red Bull NY cap was seen in the dying moments of the week. (that also puts them in 2nd place among NY area clubs) Lets move on to the top ten...

United, Chivas, Barca, and Chelsea have established themselves as the Big four in this competition and I'd bet against anyone beside the Mexican NT cracking the top four from here on out. That said United takes 1st thanks to the big match with Chelsea and a grown man in a suit wearing a Utd back pack. Chivas and Barca each have another solid week and are early favorites to be the most consistent clubs. In the highest position for any club making its first appearance in the table, it's 6th place Inter Milan with the help of an awful chinatown bootleg jersey(1 pt). In 8th place is the Mexican NT which prevented a clean sheet with a hideous bootleg jersey of their own (all jerseys deemed to be bootleg are considered t-shirts and worth 1 point.) Cosmos, Pumas, and Atletico all got shut out this week but still barely hold on to top ten spots.

As for next week, I need to figure out exactly how to cut the teams down so that we don't have a table of forty teams. hmmm somebody might have to be relegated...

Site Identified?

2011-09-20T14:39:00.000-04:00

Talksport radio is a fantastic spot for EPL fans to get news and information on the league as well as other aspects of sports in Europe and even sport in the Untied States.

They did an interview today with ESPN's Mark Donaldson and on that interview Mr. Donaldson said that he has spoken to Shep Messing and that the Cosmos are desperately trying to get into MLS around 2014 and the big quote from Mr. Donaldson is that "They have identified a site up in Queens in New York"

Click here for the Audio and start listening around 3:10

This conversation is all started because they are speculating about David Beckham's future. Donaldson said the Cosmos are looking for investment and Beckham would be a perfect fit.

The news here that they possibly identified a final stadium spot in Queens.

Could New York, New York beat out NYC?

2011-09-20T12:44:00.000-04:00

Moves are being made on a stadium plan and New York, New York could see soccer fans soon. Problem is, its the New York, New York resort in Las Vegas.

“We know absolutely, positively, the MLS is interested in [a franchise] for Las Vegas,” Porter said. “They have said that themselves.”

Chris Milam is aggressively moving forward with a plan to build a sports complex not far from the Mandalay Bay resort that would include stadium for a Major League Soccer side.

The reports are that the stadium could be ready by 2014 and while Major League Soccer has said they are almost daily speaking to ownership groups in New York City, the fans are uneasy and news like this will make them even more so.

Fact of the matter is, Vegas is moving forward on a stadium, the one element that seems to be holding New York City back.

NY Will Cost 100 Million

2011-09-19T13:25:00.001-04:00

Well, Don Garber has confirmed that a New York City expansion team will cost 100 Million Dollars.

At halftime of this past weekends Red Bull-FC Dallas game, Garber was asked about expansion and he once again emphasised that the focus is on New York City for 20th spot, and once again mentioned that there are more than one groups interested.

Here are the comments we got from Daily Soccer Fix.

“We never said we were aggressively trying to go anywhere, including aggressively trying to pursue a 20^th team. We’d like to have a 20^thteam. We’d like that team to be in New York and we’re gonna work hard to try to make that happen. At some point after that, we’ll expand at the right time. We have no number in our mind as to how many teams that will be. At the right time, we’ll make those decisions.”

Garber said the league has had “recent discussions” with Las Vegas and Minneapolis, and just a little further back with Miami. They are in “almost daily” discussions with more than one group in New York.

Garber also added

“We have put a $100 million price tag on a New York team. We haven’t sold it to anybody yet … but I don’t believe the fact that we haven’t closed a deal has anything to do with price.”

The writer of this story feels that the Cosmos are not ready for the prime time, but clearly none of these groups are ready as none of them have a stadium plan in place.

So, whichever of these groups gets selected by Garber, is expected to have a long term stadium plan in place, and that means that they will need to pay 300-500 Million for a Stadium and another 100 Million for expansion.

To go back on our post from yesterday, many fans are frustrated with the Cosmos for their silence, but today, fans should also be upset with Garber. This price tag will ultimately and understandably find its way into your ticket prices.

The Saga continues but one thing is for sure, New York City is closer to getting a soccer team. A very damn expensive one too.

The Fans are getting restless

2011-09-18T12:42:00.000-04:00

The best part about this fan movement is that I talk to fans around the world about their Cosmos memories and thoughts on what could be again. Recent interactions have shown that despite deep affection for the club, the fans can still get frustrated.

It has been over a month since the Cosmos took the field at Old Trafford for the Paul Scholes Testimonial match and it has also been over a month since the Cosmos have said anything about their push for Major League Soccer.

It is clear to all fans just how big of a challenge the Cosmos have in front of them. Building a stadium in New York City is a big ask politically and financially. We get what the Cosmos are up against for sure.

We were pleased when, just recently, Major League Soccer President Mark Abbott said that New York City is still the focus of the league and they want the 20th team to be here. But until there is a concrete plan, the chance still exists that everything can fall apart and MLS can go to either Minnesota, Vegas, or Detroit for that much coveted spot.

The Cosmos remain active in their interaction with fans. They recently had a scarf contest where supporters submitted designs, to be the club’s first official scarf. For sure this is a great little sign that the Cosmos will not ignore the most important element of any soccer team, the fans.

While fans will enjoy the scarf competition, let’s face it, it does nothing to stanch the flow of questions that all boil down to these: What’s with the stadium and when are we joining MLS?

The New York City franchise will have the most passionate fans, and the most demanding. There are some fans who have been supporting New York City soccer since the Centaurs played on Randalls Island, and they have heard the talk of a top flight team in the city for many years, so for them, the silence speaks volumes. They have heard the rumors of NYC soccer, only for it all to go silent again. Is this just another false hope?

With the MLS heading into the final stretch, topics such as expansion normally start to come up, especially around the MLS Cup in November. But do fans want to wait that long? The longer they wait for news, the more 2013 looks like a pipe dream. We have heard the timeline of 6-8 months, but many are wondering that come January, will we hear 6-8 months again.

The fans will tire soon of the announcements about Soccer celebrities and clothing lines, the Cosmos will lose their momentum with the fans without some concrete plans being announced soon.

Fans are hopeful, fans are ready to wear this club on their sleeves, but fans want updates and answers and they want them now.

The NYC Kit-League Table (Week 1)

2011-09-15T16:31:00.007-04:00

If you're anything like me then soccer gear catches your eye, and in NYC there is a lot of it. So I decided to start keeping track of what I see in order to determine which club's crest is most prominent in my New York. I say "my New York" because I can't be everywhere and frankly I don't have the patience to organize a study that involves every neighborhood in every borough. Seeing as I have a big competitive spirit I felt it only appropriate to put this information into league style tables or standings as we Americans know them. I also wanted to give the table a soccer feel so I decided the most expensive pieces of soccer paraphernalia (Jackets and Jerseys) would be worth 3 points while everything else (Hats, T-shirts, Scarves, etc) would be worth one point. That's the basic idea, but I did add some necessary rules in order to make the information meaningful, fair, and countable.

The first rule is that the article of clothing must have the official crest or logo of the Club or National Team on it. This is in fairness to smaller clubs and leagues I don't follow, because although I would easily a recognize a red United shirt with Rooney's face on it I might not as easily recognize a Red Bull shirt with Rooney's face on it. Another very important rule is that what I wear doesn't count, otherwise USA, Cosmos and Blackburn Rovers would hold the top spots, and clearly that wouldn't tell us anything about NYC and instead we would all know what I wore that week. The third important rule is that when I go to a soccer pub or a live soccer match (both of which I did on Saturday) any shirts seen on the way to the event or at the event don't count. So now that you know how it works I present to you the first weeks' NYC Kit-League table.

I'm not at all surprised that a Mexican team tops our standings, and I'm even less surprised that it's Chivas. Some notable teams that didn't make the table the first week include Real Madrid, Club America and sadly the USMNT. I do expect all three of those teams as well as the big English clubs that haven't made it yet to put a dent in the table before we get to deep into the "season." The fact that NY Cosmos is the only team besides Chivas that I saw more than once speaks to the power of marketing. Believe it or not I'm actually not shocked that Seattle has mad it onto the list already as the only MLS club, I think I see more Seattle gear around New York then anyone except for Red Bull.

I'd also like to address the potential one hit wonders in the table, Celta Vigo, Besiktas, and Blackburn Rovers. Celta Vigo is probably lucky I even recognized their badge as it took me two or three minutes before the clubs name popped into my head. Besiktas counts as a one hit wonder because although they are the 3rd biggest team in Istanbul there just isn't a big Turkish population in the United States. (at least compared to the other countries seen on the list.) Blackburn Rovers come in at a familiar position sitting on a familiar amount of points. One point and the foot of the table. Also allow me to point out that Rovers are only there because I ran into a friend of mine who was wearing his Rovers t-shirt at the time, I almost feel guilty putting my favorite club in for that reason, but rules are rules.

I'm excited to see how these numbers grow as I feel this was a slow week and I didn't get out of Queens as much as I would have liked, but I'm also dreading the day the Mexican National Team plays a game. Until next time put on your favorite teams' shirt and be seen.

Abbott: New York still focus

2011-09-12T19:23:00.000-04:00

There was an interesting story on AOL Sporting News today about MLS expansion and while the focus of the story was if Major League Soccer should expand beyond 20 teams, there was talk about the Cosmos and New York City. MLS President Mark Abbott had this to say:

“Our focus right now is the 20th team in New York and we have not yet set a timeline for expansion beyond that, or even (determined) if we’re going to expand beyond that,”

We have heard this time and time again, but with the challenges of putting a team in New York City, every time a member of the league comes out and states this, fans should breath a little easier. Remember, the harder the challenges, the higher the risk of it falling apart.

The story also includes a comment from Terry Byrne, which was made back in June.

“On a level of 1 to 10, we’re at a 4 — 10 being in the MLS, a stadium, up and running with an all-singing, all-dancing team. I think we’re just about to hit 4,” Byrne said, adding that he
expects to significant progress over the next couple of months.

So if in June we were at Step 4, where do you think we are now?

It should be noted that the story states that the Cosmos have the financial backing to build a stadium. This is important as there are a lot of naysayers out there who question the financial stability of the group.

Fans are losing patience as they want news on the MLS push. Lets just hope that amid this recent silence, legs were in motion and a few more steps climbed.

Quiet for a while

2011-09-01T10:03:00.002-04:00

Well, it has been a while since there has been an update on this site and there are really two reasons for that.

1) My personal life was very full. Between the day job and other things going on, it has been a hectic time. I apologize but hey, everyone needs a little time off - right?

2) There really has been no news as to what is going on with the Cosmos so not much to talk about.

So what does this all mean? There is the old saying that "no news is good news", and that could very well be applied here but anything still remains possible for fans of the Cosmos and NYC Major League Soccer expansion.

The Cosmos do continue to be active in the social media world and hopefully the brain trust is hard at work with the City and Don Garber to get a deal done. If you really think about it, the Cosmos really only have one more promise to fulfill.

- They said they were going to launch a clothing line, and they have
-They said they were going to have "inspirational" matches, and they have

So now, the only thing left is to finalize a team in Major League Soccer, which is of course, the most challenging.

As for the Wilpon Family, they have not said anything about a MLS team in a long time, but they are always mentioned as potential candidates. The question for them is what capacity they will play as every time they have been mentioned, the league Commissioner always adds a drooling comment over their land. Right now the Wilpon Family is in the midst of a baseball season, but as the Mets' season comes to a close (and with no playoffs), you wonder if they will start talking about their soccer ambitions again.

There silence on all fronts is scaring fans and it is understandable, but in this case there is not much to be concerned about. Behind the scenes, there are people hard at work trying to move forward and get a deal done and unless Garber says otherwise, you have to imagine they will do just that.

The only thing fans should be concerned about is that it seems that the 2013 or 2014 looks more and more challenging as the days go on.

Cmon you Mos! Come on Garber! GIT ER DONE!

Curtis Martin interested in MLS

2011-08-14T23:01:00.001-04:00

Today, the New York Times' Blog revealed that ex New York Jet Curtis Martin has shown interest in Major League Soccer and was even in Manchester for the Cosmos match on the 5th to speak to the group about involvement. While Martin will not be pushed into a deal, he offered these words.

“Right now, I’m just interested in learning more about the soccer culture,” he said. “I’ve never really understood the rules, and in my mind, it’s like basketball. I’m learning more, and it’s getting pretty exciting.”

Curtis! If your out there, The Borough Boys will gladly help you learn about the culture!

Another point of interest here is that once again Citi Field is being mentioned as a temporary home to a MLS team.

"Nevertheless, Citi Field hosted two international soccer games this summer and Dave Howard, a Mets executive vice president, said the stadium could become a temporary home for a New York-based M.L.S. team. Whether the Mets might be able to seek a larger role, perhaps in the construction of a soccer stadium near Citi Field, is unclear.

“We’ve had good discussions with Don; he’s terrific,” Howard said of Garber. “We share his view that soccer would undoubtedly be successful in Queens.”"

Don Garber continues to focus on New York City and is always quick to state that the Cosmos have competition, but it makes you wonder why he has never mentioned possibly pairing some of those investors together.

Doesn't take a mathematical genius to figure the equation out.

Cosmos (legacy and current branding) + Wilpons (Temporary venue and interest of soccer in Queens) + Other investors (Capital) = Team in New York City

GIT ER DONE DONNIE!

5 Points Press, Issue 5

2011-08-11T13:23:00.003-04:00

Check out our sister publication, 5 Points Press brand new issue:
http://issuu.com/5pointspress/docs/5pointspress__5
http://5pointsmedia.tumblr.com/

Cosmos disband Cosmos Academy West.

2011-08-08T23:35:00.001-04:00

UPDATED

The New York Cosmos have disbanded Cosmos Academy West and apparently it will be engulfed by Major League Soccer outfit Chivas USA.

A statement from the club read:

"It is important for us to continually restructure and reconsider our strategy as we get closer and more focused on our long-term goals and objectives. Unfortunately, in the direction we are headed, Cosmos Academy West will not be able to function or exist given the parameters that a professional soccer team in New York City must follow."

As you can see from this statement, things are moving and getting closer. This had to be done before the Cosmos could enter MLS. This is very good news!

Reflection of the Paul Scholes Testimonial Day

2011-08-08T11:15:00.000-04:00

(Picture Source - New York Cosmos)

New York, NY - Since the start of the revival of the New York Cosmos, there was talk of the Cosmos playing “inspirational” games which would consist of random soccer stars along side of talent from their academy. With that said, it shouldn’t come as a shock when more of these fixtures are played.

If you watched the New York Cosmos vs. Manchester United, then you watched and I quote an “inspirational” team which was outclassed by one of the world’s top teams. However, if you are Cosmos fans and/or possibly the original New York MLS team, you were most likely smiling afterwards.

If you’re going to try and analyze Friday’s performances of both clubs over a testimonial match, then you’re basically wasting your time. The reality is that the result isn’t as significant. Traditionally, a testimonial match pays homage to the player who has spent 10 years with a club.

And on Friday, Paul Scholes was the honoree who was being praised. Not only was he being recognized for his contributions at Manchester United, he went out in style as he blasted a beautiful goal to open up the scoring to give his beloved Red Devils a 1-0 lead.

The Cosmos fans who congregated in abundance (100+) to Legends on Friday afternoon did not let the 6-0 score keep them down. They did not let Marvin Iraheta’s foul in the box get them angry.

No, the Cosmos fans were in high spirits following the match. For most of the fans in attendance at Legends and most likely for fans who watched at home, there was one moment that sent a chill down their spines.

Seeing the Cosmos emerge from the tunnel as they walked to the pitch at Old Trafford generated a thunderous roar in Legends. A roar that translated to “Holy shit this is real”.

With that monumental moment fans now excited and singing throughout the match and after the match; they were so hungry for more that the most popular question was “How do I get more involved with the fan movement?”

It’s a tough spot for Cosmos fans right now. Friday’s testimonial wasn’t a horrible match for the club. There isn’t going to be another contest for the Cosmos next week. Fans who are behind the Cosmos have no other choice other to go home and simply wait.

Wait for the news… let me rephrase that, if there will be a day, where a 6-0 loss would sit in our stomachs all week until the next kick off. So, while this and I loosely stress the word “match” most likely brought in some great revenue and publicity, it also did something else.

For the citizens of Cosmos Country, it increased their desire for a top flight soccer club in New York City. Way into Friday night, many remained and visualized what it would be like if the Cosmos were able to secure a stadium deal in New York City and get join Major League Soccer.

Along with the clinking and chugging of beer, we literally buzzed ourselves into a psychedelic visualization of game day atmosphere, road trips, tifo and the amazing Hudson River Derby we would have against Red Bull New York or the New York Red Bulls, or the Emirates Cup winners.

One has to imagine if this game meant so much more to the front office who are working hard on making a MLS team happen. While this had to be a great moment for Paul Kemsley and Terry Byrne, it might have also made their job a bit tougher, because it made the fans hungrier.

Brief Conversation with Cosmos PDL Player Marvin Iraheta

2011-08-05T10:19:00.000-04:00

New York Cosmos vs. Manchester United

Brief Conversation with Cosmos PDL Player Marvin Iraheta

By: Cesar Diaz

New York, NY- On Friday, August 5, 2011 at 2:30PM EDT on Fox Soccer, the New York Cosmos will become the first American team to ever field a team at Old Trafford when they face England’s legendary Manchester United in the Paul Scholes Testimonial match.

Whenever I see the New York Cosmos and Manchester United together in a sentence, I can’t help but think about how close the Cosmos were close to acquiring Manchester United legendary midfielder George Best back in 1975. Of course the deal fell through but nevertheless, it made for wonderful reading.

New York Cosmos Honorary President Pelé and Director of Soccer Eric Cantona together have assembled a competitive squad consisting of seven Under-23 Cosmos players and 10 former World Cup stars. With players such as Fabio Cannavaro, Brad Friedel, Robbie Keane, and Patrick Vieira to name a few, this Cosmos team maybe able to do something that the MLS All-Stars failed to do against Manchester United and that’s simply score a goal.

To be honest, I had no intention of even writing about this historic match for the simple fact that many publications would. Original plans were to simply hang out with my brothers and sisters from the Borough Boys and watch the contest from Legends NYC (6 West 33rd Street) while pounding a couple of pints of beer.

However, all of that changed on Tuesday, July 26, 2011. After interviewing USMNT legendary goalkeeper Tony Meola for an article for USSoccerPlayers.com, I took off to the MLS All-Star HUB at 82 Mercer St so I can pick up my Media Credentials for July, 27th’s MLS All-Star Game between the MLS All-Stars and Manchester United at Red Bull Arena.

While I’m talking to the Staff, I hear someone shout, “Don’t assist him!” I turn to my right side and there’s the New York Cosmos Vice Chairman Terry Byrne. I laughed and humorously retorted, “Make sure he’s not allowed at Red Bull Arena tomorrow night!”

Following our greeting, we talked for a few minutes. I’ve known Terry as well as the New York Cosmos staff for almost a year now and they’ve always been more than fair with me. Terry’s always been honest with me about the organization’s progress in joining MLS.

During our conversation which many of you would love to have heard, we talked about the current “State of the Cosmos” as well as the upcoming Cosmos – Manchester United match. As we talked about the Cosmos squad, he told me that the PDL team was still in town and that’s where it hit me.

Without missing a beat, I told Terry that while the bigger stars will be talked about, I believe the real story is the PDL players competing in the testimonial match. Continuing with my explanation, I explained to him that it’ll be an excellent topic to discuss considering that they’re going to achieve something monumental that many soccer fans of all ages dream about and that’s play at Old Trafford.

Like a locomotive picking up speed, I assured Terry that I’ll contact USSoccerPlayers.com to see if they’ll approve this story. Following their reply, I would contact the Cosmos front office and to make arrangements.

Needless to say that, I was given the green light interview the PDL players once they’ve returned to the states. Once I contacted the front office about the news, I was offered the opportunity to interview the players before they flew out to England. With the Cosmos Academy practice taking place on Thursday at 7:45pm at Aviator Sports in Brooklyn, I already knew I was going to be one sleep-deprived individual by that time.

For MLS All-Star week I was already booked. With the Juventus-Club America friendly (Tuesday evening), the MLS All Star Media Challenge (Wednesday morning), Supporters Challenge (Wednesday afternoon), the MLS All-Star Match (Wednesday evening), and a guest speaker role for South Bronx United Career Day (Thursday morning - afternoon), I knew this was going to be a tough task.

Between each event I still my articles to write and photos to edit to compliment my articles so they can be online by 5am so I can sleep until 9am. Once I woke up, I would blast each article through my social media while I’m making coffee, brushing my teeth, and reviewing my emails through my iTouch.

Nevertheless, I jumped at the opportunity to meet the PDL players. I figured if I took power naps between my subway rides, I wouldn’t be too tired. Looking back now, it wasn’t one of my better plans because each nap made me more tired than before.

Thursday evening finally arrived as I dragged myself to Aviator Sports. Despite my body aching and tired eyes, I made it a point to remain standing because if I sat in any of the benches, I would have simply fallen asleep.

It wasn’t necessary because one thing fantastic about covering these games or practices that there are always parents sitting in watching their sons practice. Not only will these parents educate you about the players, they’ll tell you about the team’s overall performance as well as the coaching philosophy.

In between the Academy’s scrimmage matches, some of the players would recognize me and drop by to say hi. During this time, I would ask them in either English or Spanish who should I talk to, majority of them suggested Marvin Iraheta.

One of the players called Marvin over so we can be formally introduced. Basically, that’s how my interview with Marvin was arranged. After we shook hands, I asked Marvin, “¿Español o inglés?” Smiling and beaming with confidence, Marvin answered, “Español por favor.”

While Marvin Iraheta may be recognized as a Cosmos Academy West product who plays defensive midfielder and has been recognized by U.S. Soccer as one of the best players in the country, I got know Marvin as an individual.

Originally born in El Salvador, Marvin moved to the United States two years ago. For many years, Marvin’s father lived in the United States and saved up enough money to bring his family over to the country of opportunity.

Marvin told me that he has two brothers living in Colorado; another remained in El Salvador, and one who lives with his parents in Fresno, California. He admitted that he misses his family but he loves the proverbial doors of opportunity soccer has opened up for him in the United States.

“I’ve only been here for a few years and I’m living the American Dream. To move here from El Salvador and to be living a dream many children worldwide dreams about… life is good,” expressed Marvin.

“Knowing that I’ll be playing with Robbie Keane, Patrick Vieira, and Fabio Cannavaro against Manchester United at Old Trafford in front of a sold-out crowd is one experience I’ll never forget. I’m also happy that my family will get to see me play on television.”

While we talked about his family and adjustment in the United States, we also talked about In N Out and education. “If I miss one thing about California is In N Out, I miss their Double-Double burgers,” reminisced Marvin. “To be honest I haven’t made up but my mind but I definitely want a degree in either Engineering or Finance,” stated Marvin.

Following our conversation, Marvin agreed to grant me a follow-up interview following the Paul Scholes Testimonial Match. I wished him the best of luck and I stayed for the duration of the practice, met some of the other players while I listened to some of the parents passionately tell met their stories about watching the Cosmos at the Meadowlands.

With practice concluded at 10:30pm, one of the player’s fathers offered me a car ride to the train station in Queens. Without hesitating, I accepted his offer. I must admit that nothing is cooler (at for me) than riding back to the city with a couple of players from the Cosmos Academy who maybe possibly playing for the New York Cosmos if and win they’re formally accepted into Major League Soccer.

Cesar Diaz is the Soccer Editor for LatinoSports.com. He also writes for 5 Points Press & USSoccerPlayers.com; your source for American Soccer news brought to you by members of the U.S. National Team. Easily accessible, you may reach Cesar at cesar@latinosports.com and at Twitter at @CoveringSoccer.

Temp Venues, Opus and meet the players

2011-08-02T23:41:00.000-04:00

The Cosmos Opus looks like a must have for Cosmos collectors

(Photo taken from www.nycosmos.com)

It has been an active few days in Cosmos Country as the build up to Fridays clash at Old Trafford is producing some interesting news. Terry Byrne spoke recently about a potential temporary stadium solution for the Cosmos while they continue to finalize plans for the long term.

"Discussions with the league are ongoing over the potential for a temporary solution as a two or three year stop-gap."

This is actually a very big development for Cosmos. There is no secret that a stadium will take a few years to build, and if their ambitions are to get started by 2013 or 2014, a temporary stadium solution will need to be in place for a year or two. If the Cosmos can finalize this temporary deal and they then produce a viable long term solution, which seems to already have traction with the city, then the MLS will not need that much more time to make their decision.

Within the city, there are only a few temporary options for the Cosmos. The first is Kraft Field, the home of Columbia football that seats 17K and would be a nice venue for matches. It is accessible via subway as well as Metro North, however parking in the area is limited.

Then there are the two baseball stadiums. Yankee Stadium would be nastalgic being the Cosmos played there back in the day, but if there is going to be a baseball stadium utlized, Citi Field would be the leader as the Wilpons are very interested in soccer in their community, and not to mention, rent could be a nice piece of extra change in their pockets.

It seems that things are moving pretty well in terms of getting a team in New York City but nothing is etched in stone. Until Don Garber says the words, then we all have to keep the fingers crossed. It can be said though, it seems we are closer now than we have ever been.

Festivities have started surrounding the game in Manchester this week, and today the Cosmos announced they will be releasing the Cosmos Opus in late 2012. This looks to be a MUST HAVE for Cosmos fans as it promises to be a fantastic tribute to the clubs legacy.

Finally, you should watch the video the Cosmos posted on their site introducing the members of the Cosmos Academy that are heading over Manchester. Start recognizing a few of these faces because they just might be walking out of the tunnel for first kick should the MLS deal get finalized.

C'mon the Mos

Did Don Garber Slip?

2011-07-28T09:15:00.002-04:00

Don Garber had an interesting couple of comments last night.

"It's going to be a process, but I am very confident in time that we will get there," Garber said during halftime of the MLS all-star game. "I do believe that it's not an if, it’s a when we will have a 20th team in New York."

However, The Don quickly corrected himself

"Another team in New York, not necessary the 20th team"

Now, the naysayers will point out that NYC is not the lock for the 20th team and focus on the later comment by Mr. Garber, but lets look at a comment that was said in the recent story with the NJ Star Ledger.

"but we’re very hopeful that we can have a 20th team in New York. Our next expansion team."

So tonight he says that its a matter of time before we have the 20th team in New York, then dismisses it quickly saying not necessarily the 20th team, but yet two days ago he was very hopeful that the league could have a 20th team in NY.

Was this a slip? Did Don Garber let the cat out of the bag, or is NYC really a long way off?

Garber again on the state of NY expansion

2011-07-26T16:31:00.000-04:00

Don Garber spoke this week with the NJ Star Ledger and was asked again about possible expansion in the NYC area:

"The Red Bulls have a very European focus to how they do business and believe a rivalry will be good for them rather than viewing it as competition. And they’re working with us to move that process along. We’ve got a lot of work to do to get a stadium done. We’re working closely with Mayor Bloomberg’s office, the City of New York and potential investors, but we’re very hopeful that we can have a 20th team in New York. Our next expansion team."

As promising at it sounds, it seems to be the same generic answers Garber gives anytime the same question is asked. Perhaps this time however, the news of actually "working" with the City of New York and Bloomberg could signal steps have been made in the right direction.

CONGRATS TO NYC POLAND!

2011-07-24T23:32:00.002-04:00

NYC POLAND HAS REPEATED AS COSMOS COPA (COPA NYC) CHAMPIONS! THE BOROUGH BOYS SEND THEIR CONGRATS OUT TO THEM!

We would also like to congratulate Senegal on a great tournament as well as all other teams for putting on a memorable tournament.

The Cosmos Copa is a true celebration of both soccer and the diversity of New York City. Fans celebrated their heritages and teams in a peaceful manner making the event that much more enjoyable.

A special thanks to Spencer Dormitzer and Chris Noble for all the hard work they put in organizing this event. It is now a constant in our soccer calendar.

Here are some shots of NYC Poland's glorious weekend:

Poland Celebrate PK win over England in Saturday's Semi-final

Hats off to the England keeper, he played hard, but this explains his feelings

Poland Keeper with support in the background

Supporters celebrate Goal in Sunday's final

Everyone thought Senegal would take the tournament, well everyone except Poland

Corner Kick

Having a go

Keeper doing all he can to hold on

Poland celebrates with fans

Champione Champione, ole ole ole

Cosmos vs. Manchester United Viewing

2011-07-22T13:02:00.001-04:00

COME WATCH THE COSMOS vs.

MANCHESTER UNTIED

Legends Sports Bar NYC,

6 West 33rd Street

(Few doors down from Jack Demseys)

Game Starts at 2:30 but show up early!

Roster for Manchester United vs Cosmos game announced

2011-07-21T14:06:00.003-04:00

The New York Cosmos have announced their roster for Paul Scholes' testimonial match. As promised the team will consist of a mix between Cosmos academy and U-23 players and big name stars. Among the stars will be, Robbie Keane, Nicky Butt, Fabio Cannavaro, and American favorites Brian McBride and Brad Freidel.
Click here for the full roster.

Cosmic Blackout Thoughts

2011-07-14T18:58:00.000-04:00

By: Cesar Diaz

Time after time, I’m asked to share my opinion of whether the New York Cosmos will ever join Major League Soccer. And time after time, I point out the good that the Cosmos organization has done since they announced their return.

Cosmos Copa, two Cosmos Academies, the PDL team, their ongoing discussions with Major League Soccer, and the hard work the Staff puts forth in making their events a success are the things I routinely point out. From my interaction with their fans, many have spoken highly of their interaction with the organization.

Nick Laveglia, President of the Borough Boys and co-founder of 5 Points Press has interacted with Cosmos Chairman and CEO Paul Kemsley numerous times and this is his take, "Every interaction with Mr. Kemsley has been fantastic. He treats the fans with respect and like family. You can tell he is as passionate about game of soccer as the fans are.”

Wednesday night marked the 34th Anniversary of the New York City Blackout of 1977. In the midst of the city-wide looting, rioting, and arson, legendary Brazilian soccer player Carlos Alberto arrived to the city to join the New York Cosmos so he can join fellow Brazilian teammate Pelé.

Thirty-four years later, the New York Cosmos and Umbro hosted a “Blackout Launch Event” at Reed Space (151 Orchard St) where they acknowledged both the significance of 1977’s blackout and the arrival of Carlos Alberto by unveiling their new line of “New York Cosmos Blackout Collection.”

In the middle of the festivities… it hit me. Whether you agree with the marketing campaigns of the New York Cosmos or not, at the end of the day, the New York Cosmos are once again relevant in American Soccer. They’ve been clear about their intentions of wanting to become the 20th team in MLS.

In less than a year, they’ve been able to simultaneously entertain us while making us cringe with some of their decisions and action. But when it’s said and done, are we or are we not talking about the New York Cosmos? Are we or are we not wearing their clothing line in support? Are we or we not following the Cosmos Copa, their Cosmos academies & PDL team, and any news they provide us?

Whether or not you support the Cosmos organization, you’re talking about the New York Cosmos… you know it and I know it! I don’t know about you but I’m enjoying this roller coaster ride! If and when they return, I’m simply enjoying the moment and the experience of following this historical American Soccer Club.

If the Cosmos didn’t announce their return last summer, do you believe that 5 Points Press would have existed? Would the friendly rivalry with Red Bulls supporters club the Viking Army (they’re cool) have ever existed? Would I have interviewed Wayland Moore, Dr. John L. Xethalis, Mario Ramos, and Horras Porras? Don’t know who they are? Look them up…

Since the New York Cosmos have yet to be part of Major League Soccer, I’m going to break the fourth wall and simply level with you of my opinion of the New York Cosmos and Paul Kemsley. While many report about the New York Cosmos, I’ve actually been covering the New York Cosmos since Pelé’s announcement last summer.

I definitely have the team support of 5 Points Press and my articles to backup my statement. I’ve been to their office numerous times so I don’t need an exclusive interview with PK, Terry, Joe, or Gio to boost my readership while validating myself as a player within the Press.

For one moment, this laborer of words is going to be a fan and simply tell you:

Fuck It! I’ve seen enough from the New York Cosmos to be convinced… I support PK and the entire New York Cosmos Staff!

More merchandise but less to worry about

2011-07-13T08:52:00.000-04:00

On Wednesday night, the New York Cosmos will host an event introducing their “Cosmos Blackout Collection.” Without a shadow of a doubt there will be many critics out there who say that this is another example of how the Cosmos organization is only interested in selling merchandise rather than soccer.

In addition, there will also be a good number of Cosmos supporters who will be frustrated because there hasn’t been any substantial news on a stadium plan or MLS entry and yet more clothing lines are being launched.

In the past, we have publicly stated how fans are concerned about motives of an organization that holds our team’s history in their hands. For those of you who are unaware, we have met with the Cosmos front office on a monthly basis. During these sessions, we have expressed concerns you the fans might have.

Being fans ourselves, we understand your concerns. I wanted to take a moment to express to you that Wednesday’s night event is nothing to get upset over. We get it… the endless amount of merchandising and advertising without an actual MLS team is getting a bit tiresome.

Please understand that in soccer as it always has been historically is nevertheless a business. What we have here is a case of a marketing team that is doing their job in creating an awareness and interest to both fans and businesses alike. You don’t have to agree with these comments but in order for the Cosmos to return, awareness needs to be illuminated for MLS, NYC Politicians and investors can see the potential of bringing our team back.

From the beginning, the Cosmos organization has been honest with us. They stated that there would be inspirational games, and merchandise launchings prior to becoming an actual MLS team. By now we’ve all heard the rumor that the Marketing budget for the Cosmos is larger than that of any MLS team.

Maybe so but once again we as fans have to understand that while the New York Cosmos is a historical team in American Soccer History, in the end… it’s still a business that needs to promote itself in order to demonstrate to the parties I’ve previously mentioned that they are still relevant in today’s American Soccer culture.

When many of were grumbling about the Cosmos motives and we complained for not seeing any plans for an MLS team and a stadium, didn’t they hear our concerns and were open to a Q&A session?

Between the Q&A session we held with the front office in March and the ample news reports that have been put out we have learned that the Cosmos, since February have been in discussions with the league and the city. In addition, our publication 5 Points Press interviewed MLS Executive Vice President of Communications Dan Courtemanche to make you aware of the process that it takes an organization to be awarded an MLS Franchise.

Currently there’s a lot of behind the scenes plans for a long term stadium solution and the Cosmos have been approved to join the Premier Development League (PDL) next season.

Despite all this some will believe that the Cosmos is just a marketing brand. Believe what you may but understand that the recent actions are pretty soccer focused actions. Playing in the PDL means the Cosmos will be a team just like the Brooklyn Knights and highly respected Long Island Rough Riders.

While this is not MLS, this is a step in the right direction. If taking the route of rebuilding a soccer culture and awareness through a lower division and league was good enough for the Seattle Sounders, the Portland Timbers, the Vancouver Whitecaps, and the Montreal Impact who will join MLS next season, imagine the opportunity this will present to the Cosmos and ourselves as we get out and watch meaningful games as soon as next summer.

It should also be noted that there has to be more information on the horizon. In a few weeks time, Major League Soccer is going to be having its All Star Game at Red Bull Arena and there will be many events around the city during that week.

It is also likely that at that time, MLS commissioner Don Garber gives a “state of the league” where many topics will be covered and expansion is always on that agenda. With this being NYC, more information may present itself during Cosmos Copa and the Cosmos match against Manchester Untied on August 5th.

As of right now the New York Cosmos is not a Major League Soccer team. Patience is a virtue. Since the inception of MLS, there has been talk of that second team NYC area team which would play in the city proper. We have waited since 1996… so what’s a few more months?

5 POINTS PRESS: COSMOS COPA PREVIEW

2011-07-08T12:49:00.004-04:00

Our issuu.com home -

Soccer in the Boroughs

2011-06-28T23:39:00.000-04:00

Banned in Belson

2011-06-28T00:00:00.001-04:00

All, with the big US OPEN CUP match between Red Bull New York and FC New York, it should be publicly stated why The Borough Boys CAN’T come out in full support for the local side.

Earlier this year, some of our members started attending FC New York matches and supported the local side in their inaugural season. We had a group of members out to the first two home matches, and plans were on the way for a big event surrounding the memorial day match against the Rhinos. We had at least 30 members going and up to 50 ready to pay for tickets and enjoy the unofficial start of summer.

However, after the second match, we were informed by a 3rd party that FC New York banned us from their matches.

Allegedly, after the first match there were some New York Cosmos stickers on the bathroom walls. We were told there were “50 stickers all over the bathroom”. FC New York blamed The Borough Boys. We were an obvious target, as we are of course a New York Cosmos supporters club. Nevertheless, The Borough Boys certainly did not plan, encourage, facilitate or in any way condone the conduct.

We do realize, however, that there if in fact there were stickers on the bathroom walls it was likely one of our members showing some admittedly poor judgment. We contacted St Johns by letter, offering our help to clean it up and to accept responsibility. St Johns was incredibly gracious in their response and in fact welcomed us back for St Johns games, which we look forward to obliging.

Only after the second match, which some of us attended, were we made aware of the incident. The FCNY front office were all in attendance, but they did not have the decency, or perhaps nerve, to tell us directly what happened. No. Instead, they contact a third party to get in touch with us to tell us we were banned. Doug Petersen et al have our contact information, but again, they didn’t see fit to contact us directly. Clearly, they understood that the messenger of the ban holds its supporters in higher esteem than they do.

We wish to state that for the FC New York players, we are in full support of you all and wish you luck this week in the match. We hope for victory and want you to know that we in fact support you, but we are not a supporters club that will be treated like we do not matter. Especially when we are supporting with our hard earned money.

A BIT OF HISTORY

Now, we recently saw a tweet from an intern who worked for FC in the past, and it stated that the front office of FC New York did not have kind things to say about the Borough Boys.

So we would like to share the history with you all:

As you all know, The Borough Boys have been around since 2007 trying to do anything we can to help bring a professional side to New York City proper. After the Bernie Madoff scandal we realized that our dream was on hold for a while, and we tried to help a number of potential investors bring a USL side to the area. We have made contacts with many local politicians and continue to have those contacts. When FC New York was announced we were very excited about the prospects and threw a bit of a celebration for their birth. We were excited about the plan to play home games around the city while they found a permanent home. We began marketing them online and started the plan a supporters section as well as road trips.

We met with the teams President Doug Peterson who told us that they were looking to play at Columbia, Icahn Stadium as well as York College. Shortly after, through our contacts, we heard from some of these locations that talks were never held. In fact administrators at Icahn informed us that stadium no longer supported soccer.

We confronted FC New York on that and publicly displayed our disappointment.

We offered Doug Peterson a number of times to introduce him to some of the local leaders who could possibly help him build a smaller sized stadium in Queens, and every time those offers were met with silence. Silence for a group, who might just be fans, but were able to convince a Councilman to come with us to meet the Wilpon family about a potential MLS sized stadium.

FC then came out and said they would be playing home games at Hofstra, which we voiced our displeasure for, as we wanted to see the team play in Queens. On a number of occasions, FC New York interns insulted us on the Big Soccer Message boards in a very personal way, one going as far to say that we were low class for living in the boroughs – or did he call us trash? Needless to say, it turned off not only potential season ticket holders and supporters, but cut off an avenue of free marketing.

Eventually, FC New York announced that Belson Stadium would be the venue for home matches, and many of us were very happy with that decision, and despite our work with the New York Cosmos and our not so great past with the FC Front office, we wanted to be there to support local soccer.

As you can see, from the start, our interaction with the Front office has been shaky at best, and despite that, we still went to support. At the home opener, which was filled with parents and kids from their academy, we kept all our chants to PG to be respectful and not to hurt attendance, yet security guards were sent to stand by us and watch us like we were causing a disruption.

Clearly, the supporters atmosphere is not in the plans of FCNY and the stickers, which very well might have been one of our members, was an excuse to get rid of the Borough Boys. Had FC New York approached us on the incident, we would have worked our hardest to rectify the situation and handled the situation like adults, which we are, but FC New York, who has our contact information, chose not to act like adults and took the route of calling another business and treating us like we are nothing.

Good luck to the players of FCNY, we just won’t let a front office, that clearly cannot run a soccer club, treat fans and people of New York City that poorly. If you don’t believe they can’t run a soccer club, just look at their web site, and all the plans they’ve already abandoned (Straphangers Supporters club anyone)?

Lucky for us all, there is a better future on the horizon! Run by people who have run soccer clubs all around the world. People who treat the supporters as well as they would their business associates. People who despite being heads of a soccer club, interact with their supporters and care about their desires. Lucky for us indeed!

KICKING AND SCREENING 2011

2011-06-24T23:27:00.000-04:00

Here is the lineup for the 2011 Kicking and Screening Soccer Film Festival:

Wednesday, July 20, 7:30 pm
FEATURE: Argentina Futbol Club (Argentina), dir. Juan Pablo Roubio
SHORT: Sivan (Israel), dir. Zohar Elefant
SHORT: Opprykk (Promotion) (Norway), dir. Jan Ingar Grindheim

Thursday, July 21, 7:30 pm
FEATURE: Rise & Shine: The Jay DeMerit Story (USA), dir. Nick Lewis, Ranko Tutulugdzija
SHORT: Gareth Bale and El Clasico animations (UK), dir. Richard Swarbrick
SHORT: Blind Ambition (UK), dir. Christopher Bridger

Friday, July 22, 7:30 pm
FEATURE: Soka Afrika (France), dir. Suridh Hassan
SHORT: The Final Fax (Germany), dir. Nico Raschick

Saturday, July 23, 7:30 pm
FEATURE: Match 64 (South Africa), dir. Daniel Gordon
SHORT: Rattskiparen (The Referee) (Sweden), dir. Mattias Low

For tickets, please visit http://www.kickingandscreening.com/

USA vs. MEXICO - GOLD CUP FINAL

2011-06-23T09:25:00.001-04:00

YOU KNOW WHERE, YOU KNOW WHEN

But in case you don't

Where:

Jack Demsesys

36 West 33rd Street

(Between 5th and Broadway)

When:

Saturday Night June 25th at 9:00pm

A whimper and a Cy Donnely

2011-06-21T23:09:00.003-04:00

South Huntington, NY

On and nice and mild Tuesday night at Cy Donnelly Field, future PDLers the New York Cosmos took on a PDL giant who is undefeated in the current season, the Long Island Rough Riders. The Riders who at one time were the only semi-professional side in the tri-state area were looking to make quick work of the city kids who were going with the hopes of leaving with a draw.

After the first whistle the Cosmos had a lion's share of the possessions with some very good build up work with little results in the final third. But as with anything the Rough Riders grit and physicality started slowly wearing the Mos' down. Number 11 Adriano Gabriel kept constantly making some key passes and the team's striker Keith Detelj put heavy pressure on the backline allowing for a breakaway chance to be thwarted by two unbelievable diving saves by the Cosmos' goalie. But with any hard work it normally pays off and in the 40th minute after two questionable falls in the box by Detelj the third paid off as the Cosmos defender made some contact while taking an awkward angle at the ball only to be met with a fall by Detelj and a penalty convert by Adriano Gabriel.

In the second half more woes came for the Cosmos as Detelj converted a chance the came off a broken play on a clearing attempt. Detelj found himself all alone and river danced himself around the keeper to find the back of the nylon. The third goal came shortly after that as the Riders put up some nice passing with Adriano Gabriel finding some room to pass to the open Dominik Sarle who converted his chance without an after taste. The final move was one of brilliance by the man of the match Adriano Gabriel who took the ball and ballistic missiled it over the short side of the goalie. So perfect a placement that the Air Force is looking into having Gabriel train pilots on where to drop their payloads. With the game all but one the Riders took off Gabriel and Detelj and with that came more fluidity by the Cosmos.

In the 72nd they had a chance on goal only to be denied by the extended hands of Thomas Booth. In the 84th they had an unmarked header in the box which the best chance of the match only for the striker to harmlessly miss it high, wide, and not very Fabio. The game finished with a scoreline of 4-0 and while it looked like a blowout the Cosmos possessed the ball well but fell short of the killer instinct to finish; something the Rough Riders did well. In the gist of things it was a nice night out with the weather but a game that seemed from the minute the Cosmos lost the ball to one that was going to be an epic blowout. With a year of learning however, the Cosmos should bring it all in their first full season in PDL.

Cosmos Copa Previews: Team Kosovo

2011-06-16T22:54:00.000-04:00

The World Cup happens once every four years for most soccer fans, but luckily, for New Yorkers, it happens every summer in our own back yard.

Saturday morning, qualification for the 2011 edition of the Cosmos Copa will take place and we decided to partake in the festivities by profiling teams participating.

The beauty of New York is that you don't have to go very far to experience different culture from around the world, so our preview focuses not on the soccer, but rather on how to truly experience the cultures of the tournament.

Team Kosovo will be appearing in its first ever Copa Cosmos and we caught up with Team President Zef Kabashi who shared some insight on the team and its culture.

Team Name: Kosovo

Team Nickname: Kosovars

Player to watch and why: Burat Lajqi – quality passer, heart of the team; strong leadership; focused. Berat Islami – skillful on the ball and fast; tireless work rate.

Type of Soccer Formation: 1-4-1-3-2

Community Team is based from: Bronx

Best sports bar in your Community: Howl at the moon

Best place to go for a meal in their Community: Michael Angelo’s Coal Fired Brick Oven Pizza & Gurra Cafe

Best Alcoholic Beverage from your Country: Birra Peja

You can Follow Team Kosovo on Facebook by clicking here.

The Cosmos Copa Previews can be found on all 5 Points Media websites: www.thisiscosmoscountry.com; www.latinosports.com; www.totalfootblog.com ; www.bleacherreport.com

Cosmos Copa Previews: Team Sweden

2011-06-16T22:40:00.002-04:00

The World Cup happens once every four years for most soccer fans, but luckily, for New Yorkers, it happens every summer in our own back yard.

Saturday morning, qualification for the 2011 edition of the Cosmos Copa will take place and we decided to partake in the festivities by profiling teams participating.

The beauty of New York is that you don't have to go very far to experience different culture from around the world, so our preview focuses not on the soccer, but rather on how to truly experience the cultures of the tournament.

Team Sweden will be appearing in its first ever Copa Cosmos and we caught up with Team President Andreas Lindberg who shared some insight on the team and its culture.

Team Name: Sweden

Theme Song: Group: GES Song: När vi gräver guld i USA

Player to watch and why: Sebastian Alvarado (captain) and John Salhag (goalscorer)

Type of Soccer Formation: 4-4-2 or 4-3-3

Community Team is based from: Brooklyn and Manhattan

Best place to go for a meal in their Community: Aqvavit and FIKA

Best Alcoholic Beverage from your Country: Absolut Vodka and Skane Aqvavit

You can follow Team Sweden on Facebook by clicking here.

The Cosmos Copa Previews can be found on all 5 Points Media websites: www.thisiscosmoscountry.com; www.latinosports.com; www.totalfootblog.com ; www.bleacherreport.com

USOC: NY Pancyprian Freedoms v Brooklyn Italians

2011-06-16T14:10:00.018-04:00

It was a rainy night in at Belson Stadium, as the New York Pancyprian Freedoms battled their long-time rivals the Brooklyn Italians. With a combined ten open cup championships between the both of them, this was the most decorated first round match between any two clubs in the history of the cup.

The wet and blustery weather didn't stop the Pancyprian supporters from almost filling the grandstand at Belson as the rivalry even brought Brooklyn supporters into the stadium.

With everything on the line this match was roughly contested with both clubs struggling to hold steady possession due to the wet conditions and and tight defensive marking. In the end it came down to the showing of individual skill from the former Chicago Fire forward Stefan Dimitrov, which proved to be the difference in this rivalry as his brace was enough to take the Freedoms over the Brooklyn Italians 2-1.

It was a close match overall with all of the goals coming in the second half, starting in the 65th minute with the former USL player Julio Cesar Dos Santos putting a cross into the box for the Bulgarian to latch onto to put the Freedom up 1-0.

The game was equalized and the home crowd was silenced in the 80th minute as Kordel Samuel put the ball in the back net after capitalizing on a spell of good chances for the Brooklyn club to level the match at 1-1.

Celebrations for the away fans didn't last, as one minute later the Freedoms found themselves in the lead again. Dimitri putting home a cross from Stelios Andreou to give Pancyprian the winning goal in the 81st minute, 2-1. The Freedoms closed up shop in the end preserving their one goal advantage to take them into the next round of the US Open Cup.

These New York derbies could become more regular in the USOC’ as the Freedoms move on to host their newest rival FC New York in what would be a turf war as both clubs are co-tenants in the stadium. The winner of the second round becomes the representative for New York City as the third round could see them pitted against the Harrison, New Jersey club the Red Bulls when the MLS teams enter the tournament. The second round begins on June 21st.

New Issue of 5 Points Press!

2011-06-12T08:51:00.001-04:00

News and opinion on the New York City Soccer scene.

Open publication - Free publishing - More borough

Motor City Madness

2011-06-09T18:32:00.007-04:00

This post's opinions and views reflect that of the Author and not of "This is Cosmos Country" or of the New York Cosmos. Is intended as both entertainment and informative type in the hope of following US Soccer and seeing and traveling in cities that are as American as MLS and the Cosmos. With the hope of informing the reader as a future fan of the Cosmos on what to expect when visiting other MLS cities to follow your 'mos and showing the passion and joy that is being an Ameican Outlaw and traveling to support your team club or country across this great sovereign nation of the United States. This is Part One of the Author's adventure to the great city of Detroit which chronicles how he got there.

I work up the morning of June the 5th better than I thought. I thought I would be waking to feel myself severely hung over after the copious amounts of alcohol I consumed at the game the day before. Now it makes sense why that was the case; the US lost to Spain by a scoreline of 4-0 but more importantly it was a loss that was cherry-topped by that lovable Fernando Torres scoring a goal and boosting his confidence for club and country. Smooth, real smooth America but I'll forgive you, after all I'm America till I die right; DTOT is what the kids say now? No seriously it amazes me how I can go out the night before I travel and get more diluted than the Ganges and yet still be able to sober up the next morning and be ready for a long 15 hour train ride to a city that is considered one of the "Dangerous in America" all in the love of supporting a team that was demolished the day before. Now how I know those traveling Washington General fans feel.

But in the whole of life a little pain is a lot of learning experience ascertained and that is what makes this worthwhile; some pain, some boos, and a trip to a new place. Now the hard part is packing as you only have 6 hours to go before you leave. Another larger dynamic at play here is the fact I am last minute everything so it is no surprise that I decided to wait till the last possible milli-second to pack and get the backpack ready to go. Its okay though; I was able to pack it just in time before my 12:42 train from Port Jeff that would get me in an hour and a half before my 3:45 train to Chicago. So as I am a college student and homebody that lives at home; I had the best ride available to the station, my mom and one of the best things about Mom's is that they love to help out their sons in the context of telling them what can go wrong. It has become a usual word of dance of "Don't do this" followed up by a dosi-do of "This can happen". But after that is over the reward is a strangulating death grab of don't leave or let go that even the "Hillside Strangler" can be proud off followed by that wet kiss that made all your high school friends go "Dude; really?".

Got onto the LIRR and well not stories here; not surprisingly. The LIRR is the most typical commuter railroad ever with the conversations most people have about it directed in the "always late category" on their blogs. It's sort of like someone's Aunt Helen who has a due date but is always late delivering the baby and everyone expects it as its happened every time. But when it is on time people give you the "I knew it" face even they really don't mean that. This time going into the city my train was ahead of schedule and that allowed me to actually make it up to street level and have some pretzels at a vendor. I was thinking of shooting over to Jack Dempsey's to make an appearance and sip a few back but made a mental promise with myself that due to the fact I was supposed to arrive in Toledo, Ohio (the city I was to make a bus connection in) at 5:00 in the morning; I decided that any alcohol in the system might be a bad idea and cause me to miss the stop; or even worse have a hangover as I roamed the streets of Detroit trying to locate my hotel. (At this point my pre-conceived images of Detroit are more vivid than ever.)

So after waiting around in Penn Station another animal entirely; I was ready to get on my train in the Amtrak waiting area. Of course this was after I witnessed an older gentleman fall down the escalators, but to his credit he was wearing a helmet so he was a good "Boy Scout" and was "Always prepared". But the emergency buttons on the escalators are complicated and that led to some bad decisions and tense moments as it unfolded. He was okay and the police escorted him away which led to a better day for us all and put a silver lining in an incident that normally has dark clouds surrounding it.

As I entered my Amtrak train I was treated to seeing my coach class seat and all its glory. Traditionally Amtrak has two sets of Amfleet coaches both of which have different seat pitches. The regional travel or the ones you get while you travel the Northeast Corridor are about 34" apart which is greater than most airlines' coach class seating. The longer distance ones; the ones you usually get for overnights or trips lasting longer than 5 hours have about 42" which is the general diameters you get while you travel most first classes with the airlines. It is so large that it nearly reclines to a bed; perfect for the overnight sleep you so want. The bigger issue is answering how packed do you want this train to be? Mine was just that; packed and I was not happy as I know I would be sharing a seat with someone. The issue isn't so much the length of the seat as the width; it is as wide as an airline seat and also just a little more comfortable to sleep in. My seat mate at first seemed odd in that he had just a bag and a pair of old sneakers but as with the time on the train that was about to change.

The food itself was top notch and couldn't be beat and the company was great so with that the first part of the trip concluded and now on to Detroit and the city itself tomorrow.

MLS in Detroit by 2013?

2011-06-08T14:11:00.002-04:00

Detroit is feeling confident that they could be an option for Major League Soccer come 2013and who can blame them for their confidence. The stadium solution, The Silverdome, not only is already built but going through some renovations soon. This ownership group is serious about bringing a soccer team to the Motor City and if they can prove to have deep pockets, they will be a contender for that 20th spot. Detroit is a city that should not be brushed aside.

Starting to get way too interesting for our liking.

Moya supports stadium

2011-06-05T10:59:00.003-04:00

Assemblyman Francisco Moya has spoken out in support of a Queens based soccer stadium . He spoke about it in the lead up to this weeks Greece - Ecuador friendly at Citi Field.

Moya, who thinks Ecuador will come out on top 2-0, said his priority will be getting a permanent Queens home for a professional soccer team.

"To bring a stadium here is a great economic opportunity for a community that really needs to see this. This is an important step but it's something that we really need to push," Moya said."

Don't really have to go into to a detailed explanation on how important it is to hear an elected official say such something like this.

Very positive things going on lately.

Will Citi Field house MLS?

2011-06-01T22:03:00.003-04:00

If you love speculation, then today's article on Mets.com is for you. Dave Howard, Executive Vice President of the New York Mets offered some interesting quotes.

"It's part of our broad strategy of using the facility for major events," said Howard. "We think soccer in Queens, the most diverse borough of our very diverse city, is a natural.

"There are 140 languages spoken in Queens and in almost every one of those languages soccer is the favorite sport. Queens has the largest concentrations of Ecuadorian and Greek communities outside their native countries. It made prefect sense for us."

The more interesting quote from Howard mentions another possible match later in the summer as well as Major League Soccer.

""We are already in discussion about possibly hosting an exhibition match later this summer between a European club team and a Central American team," said Howard. "And Major League Soccer is on record as saying they would like to have a second team in New York"

Was Howard possibly opening the door for an MLS team to call Citi Field Home? Could the Cosmos reach a temporary deal to call Citi Field home while they wait for a stadium to be built? It seems like it would be a huge challenge given the MLS and MLB schedules, but in these cash strapped times for the Wilpon family, it could be a way to generate more income to field a competitive baseball team.

This is getting more and more interesting as the days goes on.

CONGRATS BROOKLYN ITALIANS

2011-05-31T19:37:00.005-04:00

Congratulations are in order for the Brooklyn Italians as they have qualified into the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup.The Italians beat FC Sonic Lehigh Valley 2-1 this past weekend to advance.

Good Luck Italians!

FIFA - HAVE YOUR VOICE HEARD

2011-05-31T10:53:00.002-04:00

All,

This is not just a post for Borough Boys but for soccer fans all over the country.

Many fans are frustrated with the corruption at FIFA and many have asked what we can do to help.We encourage all soccer fans to reach out to Sunil Gulati and ask him to abstain from the vote this Wednesday and speak out against the corruption. Perhaps delaying the vote can allow either for a proper investigation or another candidate to enter the race.

skg21@columbia.edu

Some of the Borough Boys have had success in reaching out to Mr. Gulati.

Kemsley in Vancouver

2011-05-27T19:48:00.003-04:00

Recently, Cosmos Chariman and CEO Paul Kemsley was at Empire Field in Vancouver to take in a Whitecaps game. During his stay, he met up with Whitecaps Ambassador Carl Valentine to discuss the happenings of the Cosmos. Below are some quotes from the video.

When asked what is going on:
"Had Eric Cantona in New York with me training our PDL side"

"Talking at length with MLS and working on our stadium solution"

When asked about the buzz:
"I think we had something like 1.4 billion ipressions on the internet. And both the New York Cosmos and Cantona were the number 1 tweeting trends when we announced Cantona's appointment""

When asked if he is happy with the way negotiations are going:
"Yea, I cant complain, we're exactly where we wanted to be at this point of time"

Paul later jokes that he must not be doing so bad if he has an all access path granted from the league.

There will be a lot of speculation as to why Kemsley was in Vancouver checking out the stadiums, but it has to be positive.

With Garber talking of the Cosmos recently and Kemsley's words here, you have to conclude that things are moving along. This has been a tiring ride but signs are positive that it might end favorably.

Patience is a virtue, even in Cosmos Country.

GARBER SPEAKS AGAIN - "FOCUSED ON NY"

2011-05-26T16:33:00.004-04:00

Don Garber has spoken about expansion again, this time at the AT&T Sports Franchises and Facilities conference, hosted by SBJ/SBD.

Q: Next year MLS will welcome a team in Montreal, which is the league’s 19th club. You have publicly said you support growth. What markets appear best for growth?

Garber: We are focused on New York. It’s a big market. The Cosmos have a great legacy and they have a great soccer history that so far the Red Bulls have not been able to tap into. For the most part Red Bulls fans come from New Jersey. The challenge for [the Cosmos] is to build a stadium, and as we all know New York City is not the easiest place to build. And we’ve put a high price on the 20th team. In 2007 we were asking around $7 million, and last year [teams] sold for $40 million. This could be in the $75 to $100 million [range].

Q: Is the Wilpon family still a viable option for MLS given their recent negative press?

Garber: We have talked with [the Wilpons] about MLS. They have a good situation when it comes to stadiums in the site around Citi Field. Willets Point is one of the largest pieces of undeveloped property in New York.

Nothing new in terms of information but it is interesting that he was very quick to speak about the Cosmos. It almost seems from this quote that the Cosmos are the front runner to be that New York City franchise.

Lets hope that the price of this franchise is closer to the $75 he mentioned. We understand the need for income into the league, but when you start talking about figures of $100 million, there stands a good chance that the fee will trickle down to ticket prices.

The Wilpon quote seems to emphasize a point that we have spoken about in the past. Despite many rumors out there, we do not feel the Wilpon family will be a minority owner in the Cosmos, but rather be involved in the facility, which in the long term, will generate lots of income. Think Concerts!

With the Gold Cup, a soccer game at Citi Field and Cosmos U-23 friendlies, this next month should be an entertaining one. Lets not even start to think of July and the Cosmos Copa!

GBA#50'

2011-05-25T17:12:00.005-04:00

ECUADOR Vs. GREECE AT CITI FIELD

2011-05-19T22:21:00.003-04:00

Get your tickets to the inaugural soccer game at Citi Field

Messing joins Cosmos

2011-05-19T22:04:00.002-04:00

Earlier today, this site talked about Shep Messing on WFAN discussing the relaunch of the Cosmos. Some were confused why Shep, who covers Redbull games for MSG, would be talking about the faith he had in the Cosmos return. Any confusion should be cleared up now as on the latest episode of MLS Extra Time Radio Messing says that tomorrow the Cosmos will announce him as an international ambassador.

Sorry ladies, Shep will not be posting nude this time.

During the hour long show Simon Borg asks Messing straight out "And Shep, you would not be joining if the Cosmos were not coming back"

Messing responded saying "Well guys, you said it, I didnt"

Shep goes on to discuss the faith he has in the Cosmos group and mentions how Don Garber even stated the importance of having the Cosmos name back.

Welcome aboard Shep!

COSMOS ON WFAN

2011-05-19T10:14:00.002-04:00

Only a New Yorker can really appreciate the importance of hearing about soccer on WFAN radio. Today on the Boomer and Carton show, Shep Messing went on to talk about his days with the Cosmos and a bit about the relaunch.

Most of the interview focuses on the past days with Pele and mingling with superstars at Studio 54, however, Messing took the time to offer a bit of insight about what is to come.

"Now is the time for the New York Cosmos to come back."

"Whats going to happen, I believe, The New York Cosmos name and team has been bought. They are negotiating, with Major League Soccer, with the City of New York, and with the politicians to build a stadium."

This is not new news, and Boomer and Carton did cut him a bit short but soccer fans in New York City should take this for what it really is. A step in the right direction.

On a day when both the Mets and Yankees are coming off wins, time was taken out on WFAN to talk about soccer.

Hedging your Bets

2011-05-16T12:28:00.000-04:00

Over at the MLS website; I was reading on the "Kick Off" that Don Garber was in talks with local political leaders in the city of Las Vegas. So upon further query I clicked on the article from the Las Vegas Sun to seek further interest into this very announcement. Why do you ask?

Well my answer to this question is another question; is this the same Don Garber who just a week ago was talking about the great state of Minnesota being one of the leading candidates for expansion? (Your wondering why I said state and not city? 1 in 4 Minnesotans lives in the Hennapin county and 3 in 4 live in the Minneapolis/St Paul metro area; so basically the whole state is where the stadium is going to be.) So I was really curious as to what in the world great commissioner Don Garber, leader of the American soccer movement and ambassador to the world's game was going to tell Las Vegas. But to my surprise the article does more to talk about the development of the stadiums and arenas and does less to talk about the league and its teams. Even more so at the end it states this little ditty that might put most of you at ease and certainly made me feel better especially after I was shot down by a girl again this past weekend.

Still a long way to go: The bill has to pass -- and that is far from certain,
although Garber's calls may help. And then MLS has to agree to site a franchise
here. And Milam, who has put down money to buy the 51s, still has to prove he's
for real to some people.

So for right now this whole situation means nothing unless the bill passes, the developer shows the tax payers he's real, and the league says yes to expansion here. Plus if you add time here it might take three to five years for all of this to happen and in that context it might be more viable to move Chivas USA then to expand via a new franchise. Only time will tell but I wouldn't bet on LV unless you are at the Casinos.

MLS in Minnesota? The Plot Thickens

2011-05-13T18:04:00.001-04:00

Major League Soccer has recently confirmed that there is contact with a group in Minnesota to potentially bring a franchise to the twin cities.

The Wilf family, who are the owners of the Minnesota Vikings, want to put a team in the Vikings proposed new stadium in Arden Hills, which is about 7 miles outside of downtown Minneapolis. This stadium plan is not completed though as legislators are opposed to the project because the local county would have to impose taxes to pay its share. So while MLS speaks of its intentions, it appears that there is going to be a game of tug of war with the stadium.

Is it something to worry about? Of course! Look, it is almost June 2011 and there is still no public stadium plan in New York City. The league and New York Cosmos state that they continue to work with the city on a stadium solution, which is positive news, but until all the details are finalized, nothing is certain.

There also exists the possibility that Major League Soccer has come public with this to motivate all involved to get something done in New York. There is a bit of grandstanding going on between the league and the Cosmos and this a way for the league to make the statement "we have options".

The plot thickens in the chase for the 20th MLS expansion spot.

5 Points Press: May Issue

2011-05-11T10:45:00.010-04:00

LINK TO THIS ISSUE / - LINK TO OUR ISSUU.COM PAGE
The latest issue of the 5 Points Press Magazine: An online soccer Journal for NYC Soccer supporters is out.

Cosmos vs. Ocean City

2011-05-06T20:45:00.000-04:00

According to Ocean City FC, the Cosmos and Nor'Easters will be playing a home and home series this summer with the first game taking place June 8th in New York City and the Jersey leg being played on July 6th.

It appears the New York leg will be played at Columbia University, which with public transportation and pubs nearby, will a great venue to enjoy a match at.

Stay tuned for more information as it comes in.

Cosmos in PDL

2011-05-04T11:43:00.001-04:00

The New York Cosmos are joining the PDL. Announced today, the U-23 side will be playing a limited exhibition schedule in 2011 and then becoming a full member in 2012.

This was one of the topics spoken about at the Q and A with The Borough Boys in March and the promise has been delivered. While they will only be playing limited exhibition games this year and not be eligible for major competition, it will offer a great opportunity for the Cosmos academy to get some time against the experienced PDL teams.

“We are excited to be a part of the USL family and are putting forth the dedication and resources necessary at every level within our organization to rebuild The New York Cosmos in the right away,”

This is a good step for the Cosmos as it should further silence critics who feel they are only interested in branding as now the Cosmos not only have produced an academy on both costs, they are now amember of the USL family.

The fans also can capitalize on this as not only can they go and watch the Cosmos in action locally but they can also practice some songs and chants.

There is no word yet on where the team will play home matches.

FCNY drop home opener

2011-05-01T18:41:00.003-04:00

On a beautiful Saturday night in Queens, FC New York lost their first ever home game in front of a solid crowd at Belson Stadium.

The opponent was the Lions of Orlando City, and while supporters joked towards the Lions that their city is dominated by a 6 foot mouse, Orlando came out the hungrier side. FCNY's lackluster play resulted in Orlando taking control of the game and going ahead in the 13th minute on a header by Lawrence Olum. The Lions took the 1-0 lead into the dressing room.

While the FCNY play improved after the break, Orlando still had control of the game. However, in the 54th, Owen Morrison took advantage of bad defense by the Lions to chip in a cheeky equalizer. It was FCNY's first ever home goal for you trivia buffs.

Orlando, who really never lost control of the game, got the winner in the 81st minute as Lewis Neal bent a free kick around the FCNY wall and into the net. In celebration, Neal and some of his teammates signaled the main stand to silence which resulted in jeers by the home crowd. The last laugh was had by Orlando as when the final whistle blew, the scoreboard read Orlando 2, New York 1.

FCNY are now 0-2-1 in their inaugural campaign, but one has to imagine as the season moves forward, so will the play of the upstart franchise.

The loss could not get in the way of the festive evening for President Doug Peterson, who was seen greeting supporters all evening with a smile.

For those looking for a "live footie fix" in the area, FCNY are definitely worth a look and with season tickets start at only $108 it will not strain the wallet.

FCNY next hosts Harrisburg this coming Saturday at 7:30pm at Belson.

CosmosCopa Kicks off in Style

2011-04-27T11:27:00.004-04:00

By: Nick Laveglia

There are not many cities in the world diverse enough to hold its own World Cup style tournament. Fortunately for New Yorkers, we can!

Last night, at the Polish Consulate, the 2011 CosmosCopa kicked off in grand fashion. Just from last night’s event, you can see the power this tournament can truly have in our city. As we waited for guest speaker Tommy Smyth of ESPN to start off the tournament draw, you enjoyed pick food and beverages and mingled with a crowd that was as diverse as the 4 train during rush hour. The only difference was, instead of pushing and cramming for space in the car, this diversity was all brought together in celebration of one thing. Soccer! By far my favorite was the Ghana contingency that came all decked out in Ghana scarves showing that the communities involved take this seriously.

Talking with another member of our group in attendance, we realized that all these people in attendance normally would stay in their local community and celebrate the game their own way, and someone from across town would never really get to experience that. Luckily, Spencer Dormitzer and Chris Noble not only had the vision to create this tournament and put in hours of hard work to implement it.

If you did not attend last year’s tournament, you really missed a chance to experience something special. The Irish fans came all decked out in green, the Argentineans marched into the field with drums playing music, the Polish won a fantastic final in a penalty shootout and everyone just had a festive time with it.

While the 2011 version will offer even more teams and hopefully more great matches, it’s really up to the fans to maximize this experience and unite with fellow soccer fans. If the supporters do it right, you can not only celebrate your heritage but share it with fellow New Yorkers and maybe offer a learning experience.

As stated before, there are other cities in the world that can pull off this kind of tournament; but none have the character that New York has to make it a truly fantastic cultural experience. Get behind your background, come on out to the CosmosCopa and share with New Yorkers, your love for the game of Soccer.

Remember, the goal is for all New Yorkers to be under the same roof creating a soccer environment second to none in this country for a New York City based team, why not start working on that now?

Letter To Garber

2011-04-26T13:50:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, the Borough Boys supporters club, representing New York City's Soccer fans, hand delivered a letter to Commissioner Garber's office, expressing concern about the $100 million price tag he has put on the New York City franchise. The new franchise fee was reported in the New York Times last Sunday, April 17.

Don Garber

Major League Soccer Commissioner

420 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10018

Dear Commissioner Garber:

Since 2007, the Borough Boys have worked to bring an MLS team to New York City. We have “made noise”, as you asked us to do, built a grassroots movement, and lobbied City officials and met with potential owners to show them that soccer is good business and good politics.

So, after four years of laying this groundwork, we were hugely dismayed to find that Major League Soccer has made itself a major impediment to the MLS2NYC movement. It was reported in the New York Times magazine on April 17 that a New York franchise could cost $100 million, two and a half times the fee of the next most expensive franchise.

A $100 million franchise fee can mean only one of two things: 1) scaring off potential investors by making a NYC team financially impossible, or 2) forcing investors to pass YOUR fee on to the fans.

Either way, we are very concerned about the stance of the league. We know you’re from Queens, so presumably you know the borough. Take a long walk, start out on Greenpoint Avenue and end at the Flushing side of Roosevelt Avenue. You’ll find a rich soccer culture amidst hard scrabble, working poor and middle class neighborhoods. These are the people who will fill your stadium, if you allow them. These are the people who will create the electric environment around the stadium on game days. These are the people who will make New York one of the great soccer destinations of the world, and increase the interest and value of your league along with it.

Price them out and you’ll just have an MLS stadium dead zone. You might still have a viable team, but not a special team. When you go to any of the great soccer capitals in South America and Europe you realize that it’s not just the quality on the field, or even the singing in the stands, but the atmosphere, before and after the game, and the culture of the team that make the experience great. Do not undermine this very special opportunity for our city and your league. Be fair with New York and you will be rewarded with not only the greatest soccer scene in MLS, but among the best in the world.

We thank you for your consideration and look forward to a response.

Sincerely,

The Borough Boys Supporters Club &

New York City Soccer Fans

MLS still wants NYC - Wilpons/Cosmos

2011-04-21T15:11:00.003-04:00

At a meeting today with the Associated Press, Mark Abbott, the president of Major League Soccer talked a bit about MLS expansion to NYC. While nothing new came out of the meeting, it is important to note that the league still in fact wants New York City.

"We would like (New York) to be the next (expansion) team, if we could," Abbott said, but identified the most substantial hindrance to another franchise in the area is a viable stadium solution."

Abbott later goes on to say:

"A potential ownership option in New York is the Wilpon family, who own the Mets, especially since Abbott cited Queens as a "favorable geographical spot" for a soccer-specific stadium. "We continue to have discussions with them about their potential involvement with (an expansion) team," Abbott said."

One curious thing is how Mr. Abbott speaks of the Wilpon family's INVOLVEMENT in an expansion team. Does that mean they will not be sole owners? Mr Abbott did of course speak of the Cosmos as another option.

While the league has always favored the Wilpon family, there still seems to be signs pointing towards a Wilpon/Cosmos partnership. Not only have the Cosmos spoken about meeting with the Wilpon family, but just this past week, in a New York Times Magazine article, Citi Field was mentioned as the potential location for a Cosmos "Inspirational Game".

As the parties involved continue to work behind the scenes, fans are patiently waiting for the answers to the questions Who? When? Where?

Donnie's New York Soccer Surcharge

2011-04-16T09:45:00.014-04:00

By: Leo Glickman

In tomorrow’s New York Times Magazine, available on line right now, there’s an excellent article about the Cosmos and MLS. Check it out if you can.

We have linked the article so we won’t recite it chapter and verse here, but a few points.

We must all thank Pepe Pinton for preserving the physical history of the Cosmos like the royals protect the crown jewels. I was lucky enough to see some of it in the Cosmos office, and it’s beautiful, and there are some real gems.
Citifield is mentioned as a possible site for the Cosmos inspirational game that’s long been planned.
If there was any doubt, Kemsley and the Cosmos want IN on MLS real bad.
Garber is committed to the present MLS model of parity.
Oh, and Garber expects $100 million from a New York City MLS franchise.

ONE HUNDRED MILLION??? He foresees a 150% increase over other recent franchise fees for New York City.

Now, if you’re a New Yorker, you’re used to being ripped off. It’s 13 bucks to cross a bridge for god’s sake. Everything is more expensive, and everything seems to include a New York City surcharge. And now Don Garber wants his pound of financial flesh from New York City soccer fans in the form of a grossly over-priced franchise fee?

In case we have any readers unfamiliar with the capitalist system, let me explain. People who invest money try to recoup their investment, plus make a profit. Now it’s certainly true that the business of sports doesn’t always follow a scientific capitalist model, because some team owners get something other than money by owning a team – their egos stroked. Nevertheless, by and large owners want a return on their investment.

Who would the Cosmos, or any other prospective investment group, recoup the New York City franchise fee premium from? The fans, of course. Television rights are negotiated by the league, so they’d need to get their money back in the form of ticket prices and gear. By my back of the envelope calculations, that’s 25 bucks per ticket for five years to the fans, that’s how you make back the extra franchise fee.

This is what the self-proclaimed “boy from Queens” has planned for you, a Queens soccer surcharge. He wants you to pay extra money, and exclude the hundreds of thousands of working poor soccer fans from around the globe who live within spitting distance of the stadium. The very people who would make the Flushing Meadows site such a special place for US soccer.

With the possibility of the inspirational game being played at Citifield, we are reminded that everyone is looking to Flushing Meadows as the best option for a soccer stadium. But the league – in addition to showing no regard for the fans – is being utterly short sighted. Flushing Meadows works with a fully engaged community brimming with excitement and electricity on game days. If you make it too pricey for lower middle class often immigrant families to go to games, you undercut the excitement. Ask a tennis fan if Corona is a particularly exciting place to be during the US Open. Of course not. And ditto for Mets games.

Higher taxes, higher tolls, higher rents, higher prices to see a damn movie. But a Soccer surcharge? Maybe it’s time we take our advice from the great Howard Beale, stand up, and shout “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!”

Mission Incredible...Smashing College out of Soccer

2011-04-13T08:59:00.000-04:00

In most other countries across the world, soccer is more than a sport but an investment by a particular club or outfit and their mindset in developing the premier talent that one can find or hope to invest in. In the English system all of the largest clubs have some of the deepest pockets built not only for superb stars to transfer in but also for some fantastic young guns to develop their trade at an early age. In Holland every local community has a deep scouting network that helps the nearest clubs and sometimes the biggest clubs locate talent that can replenish the diminshing ranks of the senior squad after one of their players transfers, retires, or bosmans. (Free Agency) But in this US we have a completely different system that has caused more grief than help; more sorrow than ecstasy and we have a innocent name for it, College Soccer.

No other place in the world outside of the American influenced Korean and Japanese school systems have as much grief from the higher education systems than America. And it is not so much to do with the amount of power or wealth colleges have, but due to the fact that for many College Soccer was the highest level an American kid could play at. Outside of the NASL years (debatable as well due to the price on foreign talent) and the more recent MLS years, College Soccer was the highest level Jonny Thunder could play at. Even nowadays the college realm is arguably the highest level for about 90% of the athletes across all sports. Rarely do people continue outside of it and if they do they are the cream of the crop; or nationally known superstars who have dominated their respective sports to the degree of amazement. But why is college a bad thing?

I mean these kids get an education and four years of freedom, what's so bad? Well the first issue is the age most college soccer players get out. If we go conservatively and say they enter at 18 they'll leave when they turn 21. 21 is a young age for most of the world but for soccer players its completely different. At 21 Pele, Maradona, and Messi were household names. At 21 Landon Donovan was shipped overseas and at 21 George Best was one of the best. For athletes age is the biggest issue and if you can play at a higher level at a younger age you have a better chance to be the best. The US' college system hinders this as most coaches care less about what you do after college and hinder in on what you can do during college. Ruud Guilit even said this about the draft picks and how they had to be re-taught the basics that college coaches out of them.

More importantly athletes at the larger schools which have more influence over the professional sports leagues are given shortcuts to easier classes, easier professors, and lack-luster grade rubrics. Some of the best examples are that a school on the map will get personal coaches or coaches who write and hand in their reports to the professors. And the answer isn't why but why do we judge college as a beacon of education when the athletes cannot be educated by themselves? Do athletes gain from college or is it just a farce? Can we judge an athletes grade with a grade of someone else? Instead of getting that straight forward answer we get more questions. Even parents will ask that question, "Well if you go to college you can get an education, what would you do if you got hurt?" The child's response nearly always is "I don't know" but it should be "we'll get to that bridge when we get to that bridge."

The final issue with college is pay. Really these athletes deserve it especially when they put the college on the map and help the school gain more money. Why is it that the labor only gets a discounted education and that's it. At most schools a discounted education does nothing for them, it only lets them get to class and have cheaper books but won't help them get a meal plan or some sort of income. At a certain state college were I was friends with a soccer kid, he was lucky enough to have parents with some means. All of his friends were either in-state students are also children of means. Imagine if you go to a school outside of this realm and the answer is many of them are. And now they are expected to dish out that type of money, you're kidding yourself if you think it should be this way. Also because they want free labor they keep all the kids from having agents and the income the school receives from tournaments cannot be given to them. So no agents trying to get kids to sign a contract with a shoe dealer and no kickback money for winning a tournament. Talk about slavery.

So what is MLS doing that is breaking down the barrier? Well first it is having every team open their own academy in the hope of building young players from the ground up. Also putting an influence on developing academy systems throughout the world and more importantly having teams set-up academies here in the states. Is this the right way forward? Right now it is but if US Soccer continues to depend on college for the talent it needs; we as well as MLS is doomed for good.

"You talkin to me?"

2011-04-11T12:52:00.001-04:00

Is NYC born Hollywood star Robert De niro getting involved with the New York Cosmos?

According to this report as well as another, YES!

While just a rumor, this would be a great addition to this movement as not only would there be international soccer stars behind it, but also a figure many New Yorkers love and can relate to. Mr. Deniro has a quote that says it all:

“I go to Paris, I go to London, I go to Rome, and I always say, 'There's no place like New York. It's the most exciting city in the world now. That's the way it is. That's it.'”

Don Garber, how can you possibly pass this group up?

YLSsoccer.com

2011-04-10T21:20:00.001-04:00

During the recent New York Cosmos Q&A session held at Legends Bar NYC, I had the pleasure of meeting with Daniel Perez. He is the founder of Youth League Soccer (YLS), an online social network for soccer players, teams and parents which was developed to encourage young soccer players to follow their dreams.

According to Perez, the idea for the site came about while attending his sons’ first soccer game. After scoring his first goal, his sons’ passion took Daniel back to his youth days and how important the game was to him as a child.

After doing some research, Perez felt there was a need to develop a soccer community for both players and teams. The website is free of charge and it focuses on motivating players to self promote their skills and talents.

The motto of the YLS is "Helping kids reach their goals" and if you browse through their site, you will see that many kids are already jumping at the opportunity to post videos and photos. showcasing their skills for all to see.

The intention of YLS is to offer agents and scouts a portal where they can search talent. In fact, they have already received several emails and affiliation requests from agents and scouts in Europe and South America.

The site is not only to be used on an individual basis but the in depth team pages allows teams not only to promote themselves for prospective players and parents, but also offers a new way to communicate events, contact numbers, photos, videos and even drills.

Yes, the exclusive interactive FieldCreator, which was developed in house by YLS, offers coaches and trainers a new interactive way for soccer players to learn drills. The technology allows coaches to create a play formation or drill simply by dragging players, arrows and images onto the online soccer field.

In New York City there are many adult recreational leagues and when asked if adults can also utilize the YLS website, Daniel said "Absolutely, we welcome any age group soccer player, soccer team to come along for the ride and create their own free Soccer website"

Now, being a Cosmos-themed site, I had to ask if the organization was in fact supporters of the New York Cosmos and to our surprise, not only were they, but they offer their members (Players and teams) page with a Cosmos skin design. (Shown above)

Daniel Perez said that the Cosmos played a very important role in his childhood and truly hopes that they will be the next MLS team.

YLS soccer can be viewed on any browser, mobile device or even the ipad and iphone. It is also available in 8 languages.

To Contact the YLS, you can email them at online@ylssoccer.com or call them at 866.783.1116. Below you can find other ways to follow them.

Websitet: http://ylssoccer.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/YLSSoccer

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/YLSSoccer

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/YLSSoccer

5 Points Press Magazine - Issue 2

2011-04-08T11:34:00.003-04:00

LINK TO THIS ISSUE / - LINK TO OUR ISSUU.COM PAGE

The latest issue of the 5 Points Press Magazine: An online soccer Journal for NYC Soccer supporters is out.

Donnies mood today: "within year"

2011-04-06T20:50:00.002-04:00

Don Garber was in Montreal today taking a look at the progress of next years expansion team. When the question of expansion came up, Garber seemed now like NY WILL be 20.

"Garber said they hope to add a 20th club in the New York City area by 2013 or 2014, but so far have no specific expansion plans beyond that.

MLS wants a second team in North America's largest urban centre to go with the New York Red Bulls. There is talk a reviving the New York Cosmos, a prominent club from the original NASL in the 1970s and 1980s.

"Our focus is on it being in the New York metropolitan area," he said. "We have a lot of work to do to achieve that.

"Unlike the success we had here with working with the municipality on expansion of Saputo Stadium, we're at ground zero as it relates to that soccer stadium for a team in New York. But we're working on it. Hopefully within the next year we'll be able to get something finalized.""

This really is not news, but being anything CAN happen, it is still good to see the league focused on NYC for being that next expansion team.

The curious part of this story is that Garber saying they are at square zero on a stadium plan but the Cosmos saying they are working with architects and construction crews. Of course there is probably a lot going on behind the scenes that can not be public, but would be nice to see the gap closed on these two stories.

Live Blog: Cosmos online Q & A

2011-04-05T10:55:00.024-04:00

Wrapping up:
Slightly new info, but alot of the same we heard at the Q and A at Legends.
The PDL team sounds intresting, and we should hear something about that in the next
few weeks according to the Cosmos Front office.

On if the Cosmos joining the league is a risk for MLS due to the failing RedBull attendance:
"Our conversations to date with both MLS and the Red Bulls representatives are welcoming the opportunity to create a rivalry in New York. If you look at Los Angeles, there are currently two teams, in Chivas USA and the Los Angeles Galaxy, and if you look at most soccer cities around the world there are normally more than one team which creates these historical soccer rivalries. "

On the purpose of the Asia Tour:
"We were invited with Pelé and Eric to visit both Singapore and Hong Kong to discuss future grassroots partnerships and develop future relationships within the international soccer community. "

On how they got Eric Cantona:
"We drew up a shortlist of candidates that we interviewed for Eric's position and having met with Eric it was clear that he shared our passion and ambition for The Cosmos and wanted to be a part of the future. "

On if the Stadium will be close to public transportation:
"Public transportation is one of the major initiatives that we are taking into consideration when working with the city to develop a stadium site. "

On the Cosmos Academy West issues:
"Cosmos Academy West is a completely separate entity from LAFC and will continue under the coaching of Teddy Chronopoulos. "

On the difference between the Cosmos in the past, and the nature of football today:
"During the last 18 months we have started the process of our comeback by working closely from the ground up through our grassroots initiatives as well as closely with the communities. As we continue to grow, these partnerships will grow with us. "

On style of play:
"The Comos style of play is being developed at the moment by Eric Cantona, Cobi Jones, Gio Savarese and Teddy Chronopolous. We are playing the same system as Barcelona: 4-3-3 but as Eric believes firmly and continues to remind us, its the players not the system that wins games. "

wow :" Robert de Niro has invited Pelé personally to the Tribeca Film Festival which Pelé has accepted and will be present at as part of NYFEST. "

On what roles Pele and Giorgio might play:
"Pelé is our honorary president and has been involved with the club since its relaunch. Giorgio is currently an international ambassador and will be working with us in the future. We will also be announcing three coming ambassadors in the next month. "

On the possibility of having an academy that creates income by selling young players abroad:
"Our intentions are to develop home grown academy players that will be the future backbone of The Cosmos team however soccer as a business always unearths special talent that at some point will attract global attention. Should we receive that level of attention with any of our players in the future we will consider whats best for both the player and The New York Cosmos. "

On possible future community based tournments and outreach:
"Copa NYC will be relaunched as Cosmos Copa and has expanded to over 40 international communities in NYC. There will be an announcement in the coming months about our development with the New York City department of education. "

On scouting in the US:
"Currently we have relationships with clubs, managers and players globally that we will tap into moving forwards in order to benefit The Cosmos to the maximum. "

On possible big name stars to come to the Cosmos:
"The MLS currently allows for a maximum of three designated players once we are successful in achieving our ambition of becoming MLS' 20th club we will look at what DL caliber players are available to choose from. "

On what kind of players do the Cosmos want?
"Good question. The Cosmos want ambitious, technically sound and athletically strong players who fully understand the game and want to continue to improve. "

On possible PDL players being groomed for MLS:
"The PDL team is so that our college age kids can continue to play in the Cosmos system and our younger academy kids can play with college level talent. "

On specifics of the stadium:
"Our plan is to have the most iconic soccer specific stadium in this country that caters to all our fans. Our hope is to secure a ground in excess of a 30k capacity. We definitely have plans to have a supporters section."

On Private vs City/State supporter stadia:
"The current stadium discussions include both private and state funding options however we will not know until we know the final location if there will be state funding. "

On current talks with MLS:
"The MLS talks continue to be positive and are moving forward on a weekly basis. "

On the Umbro issue:
"All parties are aware of our ambitions to become a club in MLS. "

On how the supporters can help the Cosmos:
"Continue to support the growth of The Cosmos with our upcoming initiatives and continue to spread the word to the grassroots communities."

On a possible European tour:
"There is no European tour this year. There will be European games in 2012. "

On where the PDL team might play:
"We are currently working on this. The venue will be part of the upcoming announcement. "

On locations of the previous mentioned All-star games:
"We are currently working on a strategy for games this year and over the coming weeks and months there will be regular announcements. "

On the role of the supporters in the Cosmos plans:
"Supporters are critical to the success of The Cosmos. We are happy to work with any supporters group and we are currently working with the Borough Boys supporters who graciously hosted a Q and A with us last week. "

On where their talent pool will come from:
"If we do our job correctly, the core of our players will be from our academy. "

On activities of Eric Cantona:
"Eric comes over regularly and works with our academy coaches to further develop Cosmos players and will continue to do so over the coming months with an emphasis on player development."

Btw, Joe Fraga and Terry Byrne are today's reps from the Cosmos front office.

On who might coach the PDL team:
"We are discussing as we speak several options to coach the PDL team. We hope to announce the coach as the same timeframe as the PDL team.

On possible stadium locations:
"We are looking within New York City's five boroughs. "

On playing a match this summer:
"We are currently exploring our options for playing a match this year which would be part of our 40th anniversary celebrations. "

In Regards to the PDL team:
"In regards to the PDL team, We are in the process of finalizing the agreement with USL and we are planning on making an announcement in the next two weeks."

The Cosmos are about to hold their online Q & A.
We'll be keeping those who can't follow updated here.

Cosmos holding online Q and A today

2011-04-05T10:02:00.000-04:00

Reminder that today the New York Cosmos will be holding an online chat for fans today.

To participate in the Q and A simply follow this link http://www.nycosmos.com/online-fan-qa at 11:00 AM EST.

Donnie Riddles at it again

2011-03-31T10:41:00.002-04:00

Today MLSINSIDER blog posted an interview that Don Garber did with Forbes.

During this interview, the topic of NYC expansion came up and Garber says we are no where near close to finalizing a deal. That is a fine statement to make, but when you look back at recent history, he is contradicting himself a little bit.

In October we were 12 months off

“Our focus on the 20th expansion team is going in full swing," Garber said. "We’re having discussions with a number of different ownerships groups in New York and hope to continue to make progress in those discussions. We’d like that team to be in the NY metro area. … We hope in the next 12 months to finalize that.”

At halftime of a playoff game just 10 days later we were 6-8 months off

"We want to see a 20th team and we want to see that in New York"

"The Cosmos have relaunced that brand and have done a great job"

"Maybe its them, maybe its someone else, we hope to get something done in the next 6-8 months quite frankly"

Earlier this year, in an interview with SI

" There are others much less public than the Cosmos who continue to express interest. Sometime by the end of the year we'll have a better sense as to where we're going with the 20th team. But I'm committed to trying to finalize a deal so it can be here in New York."

If you have been following the 20th expansion spot closely, your head might be spinning. Being the timeline seems to get larger, one might conclude that talks must be going backwards, but the Cosmos have stated that talks with the league and city are progressing. What the F#%K is really going on?

Don Garber is a fantastic commissioner and should get nothing but praise for the work he has done with Major League Soccer. However, when it comes to expansion and releasing news he just confuses the hell out of you.

Which is why we call him "Donnie Riddles"

Q and A Review

2011-03-24T09:25:00.004-04:00

(Photo courtesy of Christopher Dobens)

UPDATE - YOU CAN WATCH THE Q and A HERE: http://www.youtube.com/user/NYCCosmosBBAO?feature=mhum

In what was a great night, The New York Cosmos answered questions from supporters on a cold and wet spring evening.

A special thanks goes out to The New York Cosmos, Legends bar and all the fans that came out and asked fantastic questions. There were so many questions on site that we could not even open the mailbag.

While many of our members were working the event and could not really get much in terms of a proper report, we wanted to throw some bullet points on what was covered. We will add links to reports as they come out as well. We will add photos later this evening.

Working with city on various locations (Bronx, Queens, Randalls Island)
Soil samples and testing have been going on for a while.
A lot of the plans were started 8 years ago and they are re opening those plans
They have hired architects and have some stadium designs.
Designs include a "kop" like end for supporters
They have met with Wilpons and shared the vision, although its up to the Wilpons to join aboard if they wish.
Met with DOT and MTA about stadium (This is actually an interesting point, hopefully will have more on this later)
Dream of coming 20th MLS team but the Cosmos are not going anywhere if they dont get 20. They will keep the academy and keep knocking on the MLS door.
Goal is to start in their own stadium in 2013.
Cosmos looking at a 40K seat stadium.
Cosmos discuss less luxury boxes and more seats for supporters
Will meet with Borough Boys once a month to discuss the fans concerns.
Strong focus on academy.
The job of academy is to prepare for professional career
Academy will encourage players to continue education
Academy is free
4-3-3 is the system of choice
Cosmos working on PDL team for this year (More details to come)
Presented Borough Boys with a gift "Pele" banner.

Review Articles
Bleacher Report: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/644002-borough-boys-sc-host-successful-qa-with-the-new-york-cosmos-front-office

Totalfootblog: http://totalfootblog.com/2011/03/24/drinks-with-the-new-york-cosmos/

Soccer Photo Exchibit in DUMBO

2011-03-21T22:41:00.001-04:00

Not Cosmos related but supporter culture related. This looks like it could be a great exhibit.

Garber: "Subway ride to stadium WILL BE replicated in NY"

2011-03-19T16:25:00.002-04:00

Was this a slip by Don Garber? When speaking to The Canadian National Post about expansion and soccer specific stadium, it brought about a very interesting quote.

"Another key issue facing the league is the need to get soccer-specific stadiums built in each market. How are things progressing in that regard?

When the league was founded, we had great owners and yet we were playing in large NFL stadiums. And that plan wasn’t working and we needed to switch and start building soccer stadiums, and that helped us create the momentum we’ve been able to ride to today. It’s also about building a stadium in the right location. Toronto’s BMO Field was the first stadium we had that, in essence, proved downtown stadiums really work and can provide fans an opportunity to go from work, or go from a local pub, and walk or take a short subway ride right to the stadium. And that’s been replicated in Seattle and will be replicated again in Portland and New York. There are so many great facilities that are in the communities where our fans live and work. That’s become a newer-stadium model for the league."

You can say that perhaps he was speaking of RedBull arena but his choice of words: "WILL BE" says to me that he might be speaking of New York City and the potential 20th team.

If this is true, then Don Garber and his "preliminary talks in NYC" are much farther along than he is stating. If he can comfortably make this quote,then discussions are going pretty well.

Let the speculation begin about that "pretty darn good piece of land" the Wilpons sit on, which as we know is just a one train subway ride from Grand Central Station.