USOC: NY Pancyprian Freedoms v Brooklyn Italians

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.

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Motor City Madness

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?

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

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?

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

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

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

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"

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!