Come on dude, even though I love MLS the level of soccer in NASL was heads above what we have today. Yes it could be argued that the Cosmos killed NASL and soccer in this country, but it could also be argued that NASL inspired such players as Tab Ramos, John Harkes, Tony Meola, and all of that generation. And that generation is the one that kick started MLS! In regards to Cosmos in MLS, it will never happen. And if it does, it will never live up to the legend of the original Cosmos.
I don't believe it was. I lived in Northern Virginia back then, and went to every Diplomats match I could at RFK. It played the most boring version of a 4-4-2 I've ever seen. Even Johann Cruyff couldn't lift that team (1982 season, I believe) above mediocre. It seemed like the Cosmos were the NASL Harlem Globetrotters, and the rest of the teams were the losers assembled to give them a game. I know Vancouver and Seattle and Chicago had at least one good season each to make some competition, but nobody could out-bid Time-Warner for players. Yes, there were those 70k attendance games at the Swamp -- in the days the Cosmos had names like Pele, Beckenbauer, Carlos Alberto, and Neeskens. Even the bar flies at Nevada Smith's would show up to see talent like that. You could just as well claim the short-lived World Soccer tour was a "golden age" with the likes of Man U and AC Milan coming over to play. It's a claim I'd never make; it was a circus that came to town to make money. I wouldn't mind seeing some of that circus atmosphere in MLS, but not at the expense of league stability.
Well, the sight of Beckanbaur next to Garber, followed by some tag line stating that Der Kaiser helped bring soccer to America as part of the New York Cosmos, has to make Garber wish that a player of his stature could be linked, even if in name only, to a current MLS team. With respect to bringing the Cosmos back in MLS, many, many, many posters on BS get hung up with the idea that an MLS version of the Cosmos will have to mirror that of the late 70's, why is that the case? Would having a very ordinary MLS side in New York City proper that goes by the name Cosmos be so terrible? Most MLS supporters would probably agree that given what soccer in America has accomplished since the leagues inception, MLS will one day be a very powerful league on the world stage. Given this, the Cosmos would likely return to prominence at some point in the future as part of MLS. Personally, I would rather them be around at any level, than to just have the greatest club side ever in North America be left as a footnote on the careers of some of the worlds best players.
At this stage, any NY team that calls itself the Cosmos is going to be compared with the NASL legend; it's just begging for a bagging. There is no way out of that. The publicity would be endless -- and all of it bad.
First I would like to see the standings. I don't believe DC was one of the upper echelon teams. Second, a more appropriate comparison would be to say that the Cosmos were NASL version of Real Madrid. BTW They never finished first or won a championship with Pele. They didn't win every game, nor every championship. Four out of the last eight. Their run wasn't as good as the Yankees of the 90's. Standings http://home.att.net/~nasl/nasl.htm FYI close, Cruyff was 80-81
The METROS have sucked up until recently,but i see a bright future ahead with a much improved team and a nice new soccer stadium and will eventually average 20k a game which is excellent.How many teams around the world attract 70k even including the best ones in the best leagues.The PORTUGUESE league is averaging something like 10k.The NASL was a freak show.
The level of soccer in the NASL was not better .Overall the the players of today are faster ,more skilled and more physically fit.Some people will always see the past as the good old days.Let's get with the program.
I think that this is true. I'm convinced that, yes, the NASL Cosmos would dominate today's MLS as they did the NASL in their own time. But, I'm also convinced that if you were to magically transport today's MLS teams back 30 years, they would more than hold their own in the league standings. Aesthetically, since most of the NASL was made up of rejects from other countries' minor leagues, the bulk of the league didn't play the pretty soccer that the top teams did, so to say that the NASL was a better overall "product" or whatever than MLS greatly exaggerates the old league's "level of play," for want of a better term.
Anyone ever tell you about 1977 in Portland? Tony Chursky rolled the ball right to Steve Hunt for one goal. (Given I was sitting in line of the near post, I was probably the one guy in the stands among 35,000 who didn't see Hunt lurking) Giorgio Chinaglia, IIRC, finished a header off a cross. The Flounders scored one meaningless tally in there... I'm not required to remember those. Pele had one decent shot in the match. I remember the rain holding off until after I left the stadium... said something about God crying after Pele's last counting match. Of course, I was 11 at the time.