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Cosmos looking for growth, lessons following major setback in loss to Red Bulls

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Photo by Andy Marlin/USA TODAY Sports

By RYAN TOLMICH

HARRISON, N.J. — Since the start of the 2015 season, the New York Cosmos have stated their intentions of making a deep run through the U.S. Open Cup, but after Wednesday night, that dream is now dead.

The Cosmos were defeated, 4-1, by their local rivals, the New York Red Bulls, ending the team’s cup run while also putting a stop to any hopes of claiming a highly coveted spot in the CONCACAF Champions League.

For months, head coach Giovanni Savarese discussed the importance of the cup. As the only mechanism that could see the Cosmos earn a berth in continental competition, the Cosmos were notably disappointed to see their goal crushed in the quarterfinal stage for the second straight season.

“We have enough players and a good enough team to have performed better today,” Savarese said. “I thought we showed that we could play. We came here away, we didn’t back up. We played. We pressured them high and looked for combinations to get them in trouble and we did it a lot of times throughout the game. Unfortunately, the little things could have looked better and that’s where we got penalized.

“For us, it’s difficult because we take this cup very seriously. We see it as the only way for us to go to the CONCACAF competition, so we take it hard. Getting eliminated, for us, it’s a difficult moment because we try our best to try and make it all the way.”

Savarese says that this year’s competition provided some much-needed lessons, ones that the club will carry into the NASL’s Fall Season and into next year’s tournament.

For one, this year’s cup run shows that the Cosmos can compete with their MLS brethren, especially in the team’s victory over New York City FC. In large stretches, the Cosmos demonstrated that they can go toe-to-toe with those in the top tier and, at times, even have their way with the game.

According to Savarese, there’s no big-picture issues or fixes required of the Cosmos, as the head coach still believes his team has the talent to hang with the best. However, Savarese says his team needs to improve on little things, “moments,” if they are to push any further in the cup in the coming seasons.

“It’s the moments. Everything is about the moments,” Savarese said, “and I think the way we came here and the moment, we could have done better as a team to perform in a better way. I think we had a very good game, but we cannot have lapses in which we give the possibility for the other team to punish us, and that’s what happened tonight. It’s good because our guys are going to grow from it.”

“It comes down to finishing our chances,” added goalscorer Lucky Mkosana. “We’re going to take this as a lesson going forward. We’re a really good team, so we’re not going to let this get in the way. We’re going to focus on our next game.”

That next game comes Sunday for the Cosmos, as the team looks to kick off the NASL Fall Season after going unbeaten through the spring.

Now humbled by their first loss, Mkosana insists that there will be no drop-off despite the U.S. Open Cup defeat nor having already locked up a postseason spot.

“We keep working hard at practice,” Mkosana said. “It’s a different game of course, but we have a really good team. All of the guys, we have a great group of guys that get along together and we’re going to take this as a lesson, and that’s it. We’ll be ready for Sunday for sure.

“Gio said after the game that we have to put our heads up and there’s nothing we can do about what happened today. Just make sure we learn from it and move forward.”

Savarese echoed those statements, while also stating that he was looking forward to seeing his team’s growth on the heels of Wednesday’s defeat.

Despite having to come back from deficits multiple times this season, Wednesday’s loss serves as the first true setback for the Cosmos, giving the team their first test of dealing with true adversity.

With the summer months sure to bring in some additions and changes, the Cosmos are ready to put the loss in the past. Despite all of the frustration that comes with seeing a goal fall short, Savarese now looks forward to seeing how his team emerges from a gut-wrenching setback.

“These are the moments in which you see what kind of team you have and what kind of group we are,” Savarese said. “I think we have a very strong group and I think this is a very good moment for us to continue growing.

“It’s a shame because I would have liked a little more from the game with what we put in, but this is what soccer is, it’s not what you deserve but what you do, but in the end, we lost 4-1 and you have to grow from it.”

Comments

  1. even if the cosmos get a stadium they still only have about 5K fans from long island, no good players who can make an mls squad would bother with any nasl team, including cosmos, why would they? MLS revenue and exposure is growing too much each year and B league can’t compete business wise or on the field, that’s why any good franchises want to move to MLS – I agree that the main way to support growth of soccer in the US is through the MLS – how many US national team contributors will we see on the cosmos roster in the next couple years? – NONE.

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  2. As a Red Bull fan, I thought the Cosmos acquitted themselves well, and I like the ambition that they stated in the article. I think the Red Bulls earned that win, but Cosmos could of/should of had at least another goal.

    Great atmosphere as well with the Cosmos supporters showing up in a big way. Made for a fun evening…

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  3. Easy there Mike S-

    This was the super bowl for cosmos and they will never be better – this was a top showing, Red Bulls had subs in like connor lade, sean davis, no BWP, Sam off injury, crowd was minimal, etc.

    cosmos could not compete week in and out in MLS with travel, injuries, etc.
    Keep in mind they are tops of nasl, and Red Bull are at best mid table – believe in 12th place on points.

    The future does not bode well for nasl and cosmos, b/c what top player will look to them over an MLS club?
    They’ll just get the over the hill gang and rejects…

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    • The only thing Cosmos can hope for is for their stadium deal that they’ve been touting so much, to go through. Only then could they extract revenues large enough to purchase top players and push MLS. Either that or get bought buy oil money and just buy the best players in the world.

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      • Don’t worry.. at least it won’t be call Home Depot or Pizza Hut! Or even worst Red Bull!! Lol what’s next?
        NYCfc is going to be…?? Trump Stadium?

  4. Lets see, cosmos barely won versus nyc, which nyc is a half ass team missing pirlo and lampard. Then red bull beats nyc again, which I think we all saw that coming since nyc has defense issues and needs pirlo and lampard. Now red bull won versus cosmos, a very good D2 team but not that good. I’m not a hater or red bull fan, but red bull won’t win the east conference or mls cup, or us open cup. The east conference is a weak one and basically Orlando can even win the conference. Red bull fans shouldn’t be happy or satisfied, the LA galaxy are about to get loaded with Gerrard and giovani, and tfc might have something up their sleeve.
    For now cosmos need reinforcements and playing in NASL is not going to help them. cosmos need serious reinforcements.

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  5. The scoreline does not reflect how competitive this game was. NYRB were the better side for sure, but the Cosmos impressed me. They have some quality and would be competitive in MLS. Restrepo, Mkosana, Maurer are certainly MLS quality players. That said, NYRB are in form right now and humming like a finely-tuned machine in the midfield with Kljestan and McCarty. Would not be surprised to see them go all the way this year.

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    • Maurer was drafted by the Red Bulls but not offered a contract after playing for them during preseason. Mkosana and Restrepo have bounced around lower leagues here for a while. No reason to think they’d be anything more than fringe players in MLS.

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    • Michael,

      I want NASL to be close or as good as MLS and I want both to be great leagues.
      I think it would be very exciting.

      But there is no way you believe what you are saying. The Cosmos were pasted. There was space for NYRB all over the field.
      This is a NYRB team that is a .500 team in MLS, 12 points back ( which is a lot in MLS ).
      This is after tying the worst team in MLS. I was very dissapointed.

      It isn’t even close. Teams like Seattle and a few others have made the semis more than once when the Sounders were in the other leagues. The Cosmos who when undefeated this spring, were not even close to being able to do that.

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      • You again?! whining like always…
        How could you like Sounders if you live in Boston??..
        Plus Sounders were from NASL!
        You such a Fake!! You just like soccer after you saw some World Cup… you never knew what soccer was before… U Fake! Ha!!

    • Ambitious, but no. I thought the talent gap was apparent. There were flashes of it against NYCFC too. Restrepo would probably start for most MLS teams, and Mkosana could make an MLS roster, but other than that I don’t think many others on the team would. Senna and Raul are good enough to play, but I doubt they could handle the grind, or that an MLS team would pay them what the Cosmos are paying.
      I want the Cosmos and NASL to push MLS for competition and potentially a future with pro/rel, but NASL is decades behind MLS right now. Just look at the players who are coming over to MLS this window! The Cosmos are the only team linked to players who actually have played somewhere of note, but most of them don’t end up signing, or are at the tail end of their careers. I keep waiting for NASL to really open up their wallets and use the “freedom” they keep talking about, but until they start outspending MLS teams, they can’t assume they’ll beat them.

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  6. No one should be surprised by yesterday’s drubbing. The Cosmos, other than Raul and Senna, are mostly MLS rejects or former MLS players no longer good enough to play at that level. Even Raul and Senna are so long in the tooth at this point that they probably couldn’t hack it week in week out in MLS.

    They’re better off leaving the big boys alone and going back to beating teams with 1/10 their payroll so they can proclaim themselves “champions”

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  7. and the cos-shmos are heading to the scrap heap with the criminal nasl league, which won’t be left with any good teams b/c they all are moving to MLS, plus nasl was 0-7 vs the USL — pro/rel anyone?…

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      • You have made this specious point before, with no facts to back it up. Do you mean that MLS academies are taking players away from other academies? Maybe that just means they’re better academies, and it’s hardly stealing.

      • Go read something besides a mls press release, maybe then you can finally write an informed comment.
        mls is stealing lunch money from lil soccer clubs – you must be so proud.

      • I’m asking you for facts, citations, sources, anything at all to back up your claim that MLS is stealing money from either “small development academies” or “lil soccer clubs.” You urged me to read something other than an MLS press release. So what should I read, then? Do tell.

      • Come on, you’re the brain guy, use your brain to do some research. It’s actually probably the biggest story of the week in U.S. soccer player development.
        Incidentally, you notice all the other mls bots are not commenting on it? There’s a reason for that – if you wait a while the mls spin will be forth coming.

      • Yep, that’s what I thought — no evidence at all. Thanks for answering my question with resounding silence.

      • Will someone — anyone — tell me what this person is talking about? He/she refuses to do so. I’m all ears.

      • It’s all that stuff with Yedlin’s youth club asking compensation from FIFA for his move to Europe, since MLS kept all of the earnings from that move, and never paid them when Yedlin went to the sounders.

  8. Hey SBI!! Is Neymar from Portugal??? Lol
    The Referee got a good payment from MLS and USS…
    And SBI gets good $$$ from MLS!!

    Reply
    • you are embarassing yourself.

      Cosmos got beat fair and square. Ref was a non factor.
      Cosmos played well, and beat NYCFC and it was a good game last night.
      Please stop

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      • Wagner,

        that ship ( embarrassing himself ) sailed many seasons ago, for him and a few others.

      • Ohh.. wgner…u shut up nitch!
        Referee was a big factor so if you don’t like it go cry to you mama!

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