Young Americans: the (almost) forgotten Cosmos

Mention of the Cosmos teams from their Giants Stadium era likely conjures up images of Franz Beckenbauer, Giorgio Chinaglia, Pele, Carlos Alberto and Johan Neeskens in the memories of aging New York City/New Jersey-area soccer fans. Those international stars may have grabbed the headlines and attracted the crowds, but I recall a less heralded group of U.S. players on the Cosmos just as fondly. 

These young Americans toiled at a time when the U.S. was habitually absent from the World Cup, but they provided the Cosmos a spark and their fans some thrills. Often, they also enabled the veteran Cosmos stars to preserve their legs on the hard, hot Giants Stadium turf.

If you assembled the young American Cosmos players during the peak of their careers, they probably would have formed a strong North American Soccer League club and competitive U.S. National Soccer team, perhaps one that could’ve qualified for a World Cup. Here’s how I think this team would’ve looked:

Goalkeeper: David Brcic or Shep Messing

Defenders: Jeff Durgan, Santiago Formoso, Werner Roth, Bobby Smith

Midfielders: Boris Bandov, Rick Davis, Angelo DiBernardo

Forwards:  Chico Borja, Mark Liveric, Steve Moyers

Rick Davis was arguably the best American player during the years the Cosmos played at Giants Stadium in front of huge crowds while winning the NASL title four times and hosting international teams between 1977-84. A clean-cut kid from California who was only 19 when he joined the Cosmos, Davis’ game grew leaps and bounds playing alongside Beckenbauer, whose number 6 he wore near the end of his Cosmos career, after the legendary German had retired.

Davis drew the wrath of some fellow American players in 1983 when he refused to join Team America, a short-lived NASL club intended to include the best Americans and strengthen the country’s chances of qualifying for the 1986 World Cup. But, he was quite happy to remain with the Cosmos and, in fact, was an honorable mention NASL all-star that season, when the league required teams to field only a few Americans.

Jeff Durgan, who made his Cosmos debut as an 18-year-old alongside Carlos Alberto, accepted the call from Team America after three seasons with the Cosmos. Durgan benefitted immensely from playing with the crafty Brazilian for a couple of those seasons, showing courage and strength defending against the league’s top attackers, and developing a mental aptitude for the game not normally associated with such a young American.

Durgan remained humble as his star in U.S. soccer circles rose quickly, and retained a great sense of humor. Watching Wayne Gtretzky on TV after a difficult Cosmos indoor game at Madison Square Garden, Durgan (sarcastically) quipped Gtretzky “plays hockey like I do indoor soccer.” He also wore a “No Bozo the Clown” patch over the Cosmos crest on his uniform one time for a road game.

Two other Cosmos and Team America clubmates of Durgan perfected their skills in the U.S. and featured on the national team after arriving in the country as youngsters. Ecuadorian-born Chico Borja played at New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, near his family’s Belleville home and Giants Stadium, before making his Cosmos debut in 1981. He dribbled the ball and shot on goal with confidence rarely seen in Americans at the time. Boris Bandov, born in Yugoslavia, spent 1979-82 with the Cosmos, his fourth NASL club. Comfortable in midfield or defense, Bandov was a calm and steady presence on the field.

Mark Liveric and Angelo DiBernardo, on the other hand, although they also were born overseas and established their professional credentials in the NASL, were more difficult to overlook during a game. Liveric was a cheeky attacker. During the second year of his second stint with the Cosmos in 1980, he once delayed a game after hanging on to the crossbar and bringing the whole goal down after scoring. When healthy between 1980-84, DiBernardo was perpetual motion on the field, causing midfield teammate Vladislav Bogicevic to yell, “Easy, easy, Angelo!” loud enough for fans to hear during a game.

Bobby Smith was another young American difficult for fans and opposing players to overlook during games. A Trenton native and prolific goalscorer for Rider University in Lawrence, Smith began his NASL career with Philadelphia before spending three seasons with the Cosmos between 1976-78 as a respected, fearless, hard-nosed defender.

Many soccer fans walking through the Giants Stadium parking lot to games during 1978-79 didn’t have to guess who owned the 25^th anniversary Corvette near the entrance with the license plate, “Santi.” It belonged to defender Santiago Formoso, who immigrated to New Jersey from Spain and was perhaps a bit ahead of his time with overlapping runs from the back of the field.  

Another American Cosmos defender during much of the 1970s, Werner Roth, became a heart throb of many young female fans with his long black hair and twinkle in his eyes and smile. There was no doubting his steely presence on the field, however, and he was cast as a stoic German player for the 1981 movie, Victory, which also featured former teammate Pele, Sylvester Stallone and Michael Caine.

Among the Cosmos players also popular with female fans was Steve Moyers, the blond attacker who was a prolific scorer during the last three years the Cosmos played NASL games at Giants Stadium. Moyers also showed good footwork on the dance floor of the Front Row, the now-defunct nightclub in the shadows of the stadium.

Of course, few American Cosmos could match the magnetism of Shep Messing, the Harvard-educated mustached goalkeeper who posed nude for Viva magazine during his first of two stints with the club. Messing parted from the Cosmos a second time in 1977, after minding the nets in the club’s championship game win, and became the league’s highest-paid American.

You could argue, however, that David Brcic was as fine an American goalkeeper as the Giants Stadium-era Cosmos ever had. Brcic joined the club as a 19-year understudy to Messing in 1977, and was Hubert Birkenmeier’s backup for many of his eight years with the Cosmos. His quick reflexes, however, gained him lots of playing time with the indoor squads of the Cosmos and other teams for many years after the original Cosmos ceased operations.

Although most Americans who played for the Cosmos during their Giants Stadium era between 1977-84 found themselves in the shadows of more renowned players with international credentials, their contribution to the club cannot be underestimated. Nor, for at least one aging New York City/New Jersey soccer fan, are they forgotten.

An edited version of this article along with some great photos was published in the Empire of Soccer website on October 12, 2017.

Remembering "El Flaco"

Missing from nearly all the tributes to the great Johan Cruyff today, as news spread of his passing away from lung cancer at age 68, was the impact he had on U.S. soccer fans. Well, some of us, anyway.

After his contract with F.C. Barcelona expired and he declined to play for Holland in the 1978 World Cup, Cruyff came to the U.S. to resume his career. Initially, it was hoped he would be the next big star to sign for the Cosmos. After appearances in a few exhibition games with the team that fall, however, a longer term deal was not worked out.

Instead, Cruyff signed to play for the North American Soccer League's Los Angeles Aztecs during the 1979 season. He wound up winning the NASL's Most Valuable Player award and boosting the team's fortunes on the field and at the gate that year, although Aztecs crowds averaging 14,000 looked tiny in the huge Rose Bowl.

The following year, Cruyff moved on to Washington D.C. to play for the Diplomats. His 45 minutes of brilliance in a match against the Cosmos at the Meadowlands that summer included a moment I will never forget.

With his back towards Cosmos defender Andranik Eskandarian, Cruyff controlled a pass with one foot raised to his waist and, a split second later, used his other foot to juggle the ball over his head and that of Eskandarian. In a flash, Cruyff ran onto his own pass as Eskandarian -- a starter on Iran's 1978 World Cup team and among the NASL's best defenders-- could only turn around, flat-footed, and watch Cruyff race towards the goal.

That stroke of skill and genius by a 33-year-old Cruyff made flying back home from my brother's wedding early that Sunday morning worthwhile. Cruyff was substituted at halftime -- he disliked playing on artificial surfaces -- and within a year he was out of the NASL altogether, choosing to end his brilliant career back in Europe.

"El Flaco," as he was affectionately known to Spanish soccer fans  during the mid-1970s, was a unique talent, a visionary both on and off the field. Certainly, he will be remembered as one of the greatest players of all time.

(Photo of Johan Cruyff from Pinterest)

Cosmos soccer, once… and again?

One six-letter word that makes me smile with fond memories of wonderful moments and great people is “Cosmos.” It makes me think of a time in the late 1970s and early 1980s when a galaxy of soccer stars drew huge crowds to Giants Stadium. I can still recall Pele scoring three times in a match, Giorgio Chinaglia inciting the crowd with an important goal, Franz Beckenbauer weaving through a maze of opponents, Carlos Alberto coolly stepping up to intercept a pass, and Johan Neeskens slide tackling a ball to set up a counterattack.

I also remember a pig roasting in the parking lot before a championship match, fans slowly, loudly and constantly chanting “Cosmos” inside the stadium, traveling with other diehards to away games in Washington DC and Toronto, and getting every players’ autograph while accompanying them on a flight to San Francisco.

A new effort is underway to bring back the Cosmos, which closed shop in the mid-1980s along with the North American Soccer League after declines in attendance and financial losses. Four British men have set up an office in New York and declared their intention to make a new Cosmos the 20th team in Major League Soccer sometime during the next few years.

A new Cosmos team in the MLS faces a number of big hurdles. The new owners have no stadium. Their financial resources are unknown. And, if they were to raise the money to build a stadium and join the MLS, how could the team reproduce the magic of the original Cosmos? MLS restrictions on salaries and imported players would prevent the building of a super club.

Another group of Brits probably nailed it five years ago in a book and companion documentary film about the Cosmos, “Once In A Lifetime.” The phenomenon known as the Cosmos many years ago will probably never be witnessed again in the foreseeable future.

Although it’s hard to blame anyone for trying to leverage the Cosmos name for a new New York team, it’s also difficult to envision how this effort could ultimately succeed in attracting thousands of older fans and a generation of new ones to the Cosmos aura of years gone by. Of course, if the MLS is serious about fielding a second New York area club – the league has two Los Angeles area teams, with mixed results – a club carrying the Cosmos name may be as good as any, particularly if it draws outer borough and Long Island fans who may find the Harrison, NJ home of the New York Red Bulls team a bit inconvenient.

I wish the new Cosmos owners well. Seeing players wearing Cosmos uniforms on a field again is sure to make me smile and bring back nice memories. It’s 2011 not 1981, however, and the New York Red Bulls (and its previous incarnation as the MetroStars) are now my favorite pro soccer team. I’m still rooting for the Red Bulls to win their first championship, Cosmos or no Cosmos, and generate some new memories with Thierry Henry and Rafael Marquez on the field.


The accompanying photo was taken before a May 1984 benefit game between current and former Cosmos. How many players besides Pele (with mustache) can you identify?