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Cosmos add two more players to squad

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By DAN KARELL

The New York Cosmos continue to add pieces ahead of their first North American Soccer League match on August 3.

Former Blackburn Rovers forward Jemal Johnson and defender Chris Rodd have signed contracts with the team, the Cosmos announced on Friday, putting the current squad at 17 players.

A Paterson, N.J. native, Johnson grew up in England and had stints with Blackburn and Wolves, and is currently with the Fort Lauderdale Strikers through the end of the spring season.

Rodd hasn’t played since retiring after a serious foot injury in 2009.

The Cosmos also announced the hiring of Simone Lucchesi as the club’s full-time fitness coach.

What do you make of this news? Like the signings? Think Rodd can make a full comeback from injury?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. I know more about ur hate for Cosmos, than what team u cheer for. Should be great atmosphere if the Cosmos should grace your stadiums w/ their illustrious presence.

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  2. As a Cosmos fan I’d love to see more coverage of the other NASL teams too. The Cosmos aren’t the only ones making moves right now. Virginia Cavalry just broke ground on their stadium which I would call newsworthy. Of course, they’re also a brand new team and haven’t played their first game yet so I guess everyone still thinks they’re a bunch of frauds.

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  3. The Cosmos have Pele, Eric Cantona and Carlos Alberto working and affilited with them. They also have a shirt sponsorship, rich owners and a great history behind them. I’m not going to rush out to see a Cosmos game. However, I find stories about them intriguing. I don’t have any statistics behind this theory but if there were separate internet articles about the Cosmos and Rochestor Rhinos. The Cosmos story would get alot more hits.

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      • A brand new team is coming together, their first game is less than 2 months away. That seems like interesting news to me.

  4. What makes the Cosmos different, far apart from their name or location, is their money.

    They’re looking to build a $400 million stadium. They are MASSIVELY bankrolled with an ownership group that is a great deal more than talk and empty promotion, as their last group was.

    They aren’t your typical NASL team. In fact they aren’t your typical anything. It’s going to be very, very fascinating to see what an essentially indie team that can spend what it wants to spend, on who it wants to spend it on, is going to be able to accomplish in the future.

    Personally I’d like to see several more huge-money superclubs with this kind of bankroll dive into NASL. The faster NASL grows, the more pressure gets applied to MLS…the ideal situation would be an NFL/AFL type situation that eventually compels a merger…at that point, you get promotion/relegation and pro soccer in the USA really is off to the races.

    I’m rooting for the Cosmos. We need 2-3 more teams just like them diving into the NASL.

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    • Question: do they actually have any money? Seriously. How much money does a Saudi Arabian sports promoter actually have (Sala Sport) to lose? (I assume Sala, like most other things Saudi, is a front for a Royal) Seamus Obrien doesn’t have $400 million lying around, does he?

      Has this ownership consortium actually spent any money? Real money? Are they really going to spend hundreds of millions to play Rochester and Ft. Lauderdale? Saying you have money, and actually spending that money are two completely different things. Just a word of caution.

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  5. Is it that really big of a deal if the Cosmos are gaining attention on this site? You know you don’t have to open the link to the article,. You can skip right past it. I’m not a Cosmos fan by any stretch and whether I like it or not, because they are in the biggest market, they are going to garner interest and press. It’s the same with every NY team. That’s just the way it is.

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    • There’s been a big time increase in the amount of content that is coming out of this site recently. I like that a lot but stuff like this just clutters the home page along with NWSL, NASL, USL-Pro ect. This site clearly wants to be everyone’s home for soccer news and such, but I think it should be organized differently than one main news feed.

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      • The more soccer news the better. I like NASL stories. Its pretty difficult to have less clutter if there is more news.

      • Ah — I’ve got nothing against NASL news. However, the Cosmos pieces aren’t getting the attention that they’d get as a NASL team. They’re still being treated as if they’re a prospective MLS team, which I think is no longer true — but, they still dream, and they are making deals aimed at that goal. The shirt deal, stadium news — I would agree that’s significant, given the money involved. It’s unlike anything we’re seeing in the lower divisions, with the exception of Orlando.

        The players they’re signing now are another matter. Strictly minor league stuff. There’s no coverage of other teams in this respect. Now, that could change — and maybe it will change if the Cosmos bring a bigger spotlight to the NASL. It’s just that now, an NASL team bringing in some players is not much of a story — at least, not until they sign someone that would be newsworthy. When Adu winds up there, that will be interesting.

      • Fischy, I will only say this once. If you aren’t interested then move on. Stop trying to tell us how to run the site. If you can’t respect that you should probably just stop commenting altogether.

        As long as there is interest in the Cosmos, we will cover it, and despite what you might think, there are plenty of people interested. In fact, Cosmos posts draw more traffic than all other NASL content. You don’t have to like that, but it’s the reality. If Cosmos coverage isn’t your cup of tea then feel free to ignore it. Otherwise you are simply trolling.

        This goes for everybody, not just Fischy.

      • Remember, this is a New Jersey centered site. Obviously the Cosmos are a bigger deal there than say, dc.

      • Like I said I like the increased amount of content. From what I’ve heard they’re looking to increase it even more. I just think maybe a new organization of the home page could be a good thing. Maybe tabs for different news streams? I think the content and site traffic have outgrown one main page.

      • I like the fact that this is a gentleman’s site. For any trolling or smut visit mlssoccer.com or, worse yet, goal.com. I stopped going to goal.com and started frequenting this site. WELL, portugal 1 Russia nil.

      • i like having everything centralized. i wouldn’t see a lot of stuff if i had to click another tab to get there.

  6. I come here specifically for the Cosmos content. I wanted to hear about their 3 million dollar shirt deal and I’m eager to hear about progress on the stadium.

    Part of coming to a site like this is seeing a lot of stories that interest someone else. I don’t give a crap about women’s soccer or college soccer so I just skip past them without leaving a comment.

    This is Ives’ treehouse. He’ll decide what’s important. We can skip it or even stop showing up.

    Simple

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  7. Remember when the boards were calling for a Johnson (Eddie) and Johnson (Jemal) starting forward tandem for the USMNT? We are long from those days, aren’t we?

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