Following an initial report from the11.ca, TICC can confirm that the Cosmos are in discussions to play a friendly with Valencia CF of La Liga at Mosaic Stadium in Regina, Canada, the second year in a row they play a Liga side in a friendly and their third overall.
TICC has also learned that Cosmos midfielder Andrea Mancini will be departing the club shortly and looks to return to Europe. Continue reading
Photo: Steve Hamlin/TICC
Gloria al bravo pueblo
que el yugo lanzó,
la Ley respetandola
virtud y honor.
These words abound from the mouths of the chorus with fiery pride, with a raucous orchestra sprinting behind them. This is the beginning of the Venezuelan national anthem, proudly played every day on radio and television broadcasts at 6am, 12pm and 12am. The hymn, “Glory to the Brave People”, was originally composed as a rallying cry for rebels fighting for Venezuelan independence against Spain in 1810. Within it, the tune screams for death to oppression and unity amongst the Venezuelan people.
Just over 200 years later, Venezuela again is in a struggle. This time, the war is internal. Many parallels remain: struggles against oppression, the courage of the people. But, a new element has come to the forefront: soccer. The sport, long struggling to gain national importance in baseball-crazy Venezuela, has reached new heights in popularity in recent years. Now well imprinted in the national conscience, soccer has reached a new political importance, challenging many of those who play it both in the country and outside of it, including the Cosmos’ very own Juan Guerra and Giovanni Savarese.
Giovanni Savarese at the home opener [Photo: Steve Hamlin/TICC]
Savarese, with a smile, folds his arms and looks up.
“Every year with the Cosmos has been unique and different.” Continue reading
Giovanni Savarese [Photo: Steve Hamlin/TICC]
The question hangs out there for Giovanni Savarese, head coach of the New York Cosmos, to answer. Posed by a Latino journalist at Media Day, it’s one that has weighed on the minds of many that follow this team. In a moment where every player had been released, where nearly every staffer had been terminated and while owed money, where the team was on the verge of being sold to an unknown party who would effectively end the Cosmos for the second time around, why did Savarese stay? What made him withstand everything, wait when the announcement was made that the club would no longer exist?
For anyone who’s followed Gio’s career as a coach closely, the answer should come as no surprise.
2016 Season Review
Fresh off a title in 2015, the New York Cosmos came out of Raul and Marcos Senna’s joint retirement poised for the same result. Boasting new signings such as former Tottenham star Niko Kranjcar, MLS standouts Michael Lahoud and Jairo Arrieta, and returning many key elements of the 2015 team, many believed the Cosmos had assembled their deepest and most talented squad in the modern era. In fact, many in Cosmos Country expected this to be the year the Cosmos advanced another round deeper into the U.S. Open Cup. Continue reading
[L-R] Carlos Mendes, Jimmy Maurer, and Ayoze in new kits [Photo: Eytan Calderon/TICC]
In their first broadcasting moves in the post-One World Sports era, the Cosmos announced Thursday morning that they had reached agreements with both WPIX (Channel 11) and MSG Networks to broadcast Cosmos games locally during the 2017 NASL Spring Season. The club also announced that a number of games will be available through the national television deal expected to be announced by the NASL next week, which could hint at Rocco Commisso’s repeated promises of the Cosmos arrival on beIn Sports. Continue reading
Nexxfield being laid down in its previous home at Miller Stadium for Rayo OKC [Photo: Nexxfield]
On Sunday, August 1st, 2010, Pele stood in the middle of a soccer field in Flushing Meadows Park and proclaimed the New York Cosmos were back.
On that day, NYC Poland defeated NYC Jamaica in the then-COPA NYC final and BW Gottschee partnered with the Cosmos organization led by Paul Kemsley. The mission was on to get the legendary New York Cosmos back into the top level of the US Soccer ‘Pyramid’.
Fast forward to today and we are just under two weeks away from the start of the 2017 NASL season. Meanwhile, the league and Cosmos are coming off a near death experience this offseason. Continue reading
Giovanni Savarese in an Inaria-branded top. [Photo: Atlantico FC Twitter]