Ever since the Cosmos failed to join Major League Soccer and become the second team in the New York area they have had a chip on their shoulder. Reviving a legendary name that had been dormant for nearly three decades was not enough to earn a place in the modern soccer business plan.
So they did the next best thing. The franchise joined the North American Soccer League, one step below MLS, and proceeded to beat the first-division teams whenever possible. Their crowning moment came in last year’s U.S. Open Cup, when the Cosmos embarrassed a half-strength Red Bulls team, 3-0, at home in the fourth round, then nearly upset the Philadelphia Union in the next round, only to lose in overtime.
This year, the Cosmos defeated New York City FC, the MLS expansion team that was sanctioned instead, on penalty kicks after rallying for two goals in the second half to tie the score. Technically, that’s a sweep of the New York area teams, but the Cosmos will have another chance to add to their Open Cup glory when they play the Red Bulls in a Round of 16 match tonight at Red Bull Arena.
“I’m excited. I’m really excited to play them,” Red Bulls captain Dax McCarty said. “They have a little swagger about them. They have a little bit of a mojo and they’re undefeated this year so far. They deserve to be confident. I think they’ve earned that. … The stakes are a little different, especially with us being at home.”
The Cosmos won the NASL’s spring season with a 5-0-5 record and have had a couple of weeks off to prepare for tonight’s match. The Red Bulls are coming off a thrilling 3-1 victory over NYCFC on Sunday and will have little time to rejoice or rest.
“It’s big challenge emotionally and psychologically, but this is the task,” Red Bulls coach Jesse Marsch said. “We said (Tuesday) morning that we’re not going to have any excuses just because they’ve had two weeks off and we had to come off a big game that we had to put a lot into. We know we’re going to have to do the exact same thing, and maybe a little bit more.”
The Cosmos, coached by former MetroStars forward Giovanni Savarese, have built the team well. The roster is dotted with former MLS players, including former Red Bulls defenders Carlos Mendes and Hunter Freeman. The team also has a couple of legendary players in former Real Madrid forward Raul, who scored 71 goals in the Champions League and 44 more in 102 caps for Spain, and Marcos Senna, the Brazilian-born midfielder who represented Spain 28 times.
Both, however, are 38 years old.
“If you look up and down their roster they have former MLS players at almost every position,” McCarty said. “And even if they’re not former MLS players, they’re former Spanish national team players and La Liga stars and guys that have big, big reputations. It’s a good team. We’re not kidding ourselves. This game, in some ways, is probably going to be tougher than some of our regular season MLS games because they haven’t had anything for two weeks. They have had their full focus on us, and especially after the way their last (Open Cup) game ended, they should be confident.
“They’re like the villain, so to speak. They come in and they’re in a different league and I think they feel like they should be in MLS and they’ve certainly proven that they’re good enough to be in MLS. They’ve beaten us and New York City and now and they certainly have the right to feel how they feel.”
In last year’s 3-0 loss, the only starters that played for the Red Bulls were forward Bradley Wright-Phillips and midfielder Lloyd Sam. Defenders Matt Miazga and Chris Duvall, starters this year, were working their way into the lineup a year ago. In the end, the Red Bulls were outshot, 21-3, and Duvall was ejected late in the match.
“I didn’t bring that up, but some of the players who were a part of that last year brought up the fact that that was a painful moment for them,” Marsch said. “We’re at home. Whatever you want to say, we want to win this Cup. We want to show that we think we’re the best team in New York and we know we’re in for a real test. It’s not going to take a lot of motivation and big speeches. They’re ready to go.”
Sam, who has missed the past three games with a groin injury, will start, according to Marsch, but defender Ronald Zubar reinjured a previous quad injury in the NYCFC game and will sit out tonight.
“There’s a sense of revenge that we need to win this game,” Miazga said. “At the start of the season Jesse really made it a commitment to win this Open Cup, and that’s one of our goals this year. And now the Cosmos are in our way. Yeah, I played in that game last year and it did suck, losing, 3-0, at their place. Now we’re back at home.
“It’s pretty unique in playing two New York teams in less than four days. It’s going to be exciting and it’s good for the fans. (It’s) another talking point, another New York team coming into Red Bull Arena. It’s going to be exciting and we’re looking forward to it.”
Goalkeeper Luis Robles gave way to backup Ryan Meara last year for the Open Cup match. He didn’t like what he saw either, but he feels this is a great opportunity for the Red Bulls to make a statement about which team is the best in New York.
“It worked out perfectly for the soccer scene in New York. To be able to play against New York City FC at Yankee Stadium, that was historic in its own sense, and to play against the Cosmos, I think in our mind, not only do we want to establish ourselves as THE New York soccer team, but we want a little revenge for last year,” Robles said.
“They’ve earned that right (to brag). They beat us handily down at Hofstra and then they took New York City to penalties and were able to come out on the winning end of that, so everything they’ve accomplished so far has given them the right to at least talk about it. Obviously, going into this game there’s a different sort or rivalry even though it’s not in the same league. But they’re in the same area and we have to respect that. We’re going in with the mentality that we’re going to treat it like it’s a league game because we want to be on the right end of this rivalry, we want to rectify some of our wrongs from last year.”
Marsch, who put out a surprisingly strong lineup in the Open Cup victory over the Atlanta Silverbacks in the last round, plans to do the same tonight, and it’s has nothing to do with revenge.
“We’re putting a very good team on the field and trying to also get fresh legs as well,” he said. “It won’t be the exact same starting lineup but it will be a good team, there’s no doubt.
“I don’t think this is a reflection on the past. I think this is just a reflection of the fact that we want to win this Cup, period. We know that the Cosmos are a good team and we’re not foolish to just put any lineup out on the field. We want to stick to the consistency of what we know is effective and that includes a lot of the first-team guys.”
Still, Marsch said he respects the Cosmos, who have excelled in the NASL and gotten the lion’s share of the league’s publicity. The Red Bulls respect what Savarese has done as a coach. As a player, he was one of the most popular players in MetroStars history and their leader goal scorer with 41 goals until Juan Pablo Angel passed him.
But this game does not give way to the past, especially for a Red Bulls team that has a poor Open Cup track record and has put an emphasis on winning the Cup this season.
“It’s a high-level game. I really don’t look at the Cosmos as a second-division team,” Marsch said. “I look at them as a high-level team, and whether they’re in MLS or not we know that there are good players on the field and we know that they are coached well and that this is a big moment for both clubs, so we’ll be ready.
“The rivalries of these three teams help for the energy and the attention for this sport in this city. Certainly Sunday would be a great example of that. I take that and I think our club takes this moment with a lot of responsibility and we want to emerge from this week as the leader in New York soccer, so that requires us to win the game. We’re going after it in every way, but the biggest reason is we want to win this Cup and we’re going after it.”
