With the departures of Raul and Marcos Senna imminent, the New York Cosmos are getting a closer look at another player with a long international resume.
Sources tell SBI that Greek international Georgios Samaras is in New York and has been training with the Cosmos for the past several weeks. The 30-year-old forward, who is currently a free agent, has made 81 appearances for Greece. He has scored nine goals while representing his country and played in a pair of World Cups and European Championships.
“He has been training with us. He trains with us everyday,” head coach Giovanni Savarese confirmed Tuesday on a conference call. “He’s with us at practices and right now the situation is that he is in New York. He’s having a few days in New York. He wanted to have a place to train; he feels very comfortable training with us. He’s getting back his strength and getting back to top shape.”
Samaras’ biggest club successes came as a member of Scottish power Celtic, where he made 171 appearances and scored 57 goals. During his seven-year stay with the club, Samaras and Celtic claimed four Scottish league titles and two Scottish Cups.
Prior to joining Celtic, the 30-year-old forward featured for Manchester City and the Netherlands’ Heerenveen. Most recently, Samaras featured for Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal while on loan from West Brom. His contract was terminated by mutual consent this past July.
The Samaras news comes on the heels of news regarding the impending departure of star forward Raul, who announced last week that he will retire at the conclusion of the NASL season. Raul will be joined in retirement by midfielder Marcos Senna, who will conclude his playing career following three seasons with the Cosmos.
New York returns to action on Saturday with a visit to the San Antonio Scorpions.
What do you think of the latest Samaras news? How would he fit with the Cosmos?
Share your thoughts below.
Makes me laugh how #bushleaguemlsbots make it out like the league is good or something. It’s not LaLiga folks, for that matter, it isn’t even LigaMX.
.
Anyone who attacks NASL players as #bushleaguemls rejects is a person who doesn’t know anything about the game, so when you see that comment its like someone holding up a red flag indicating their soccer iq.
.
Cosmos are already the best soccer club in the US. What’s the controversy?
So here’s the thing, without getting into a debate as to whether or not the Cosmos could or could not beat MLS teams or how they would finish in MLS (pointless discussion since it’s not happening any time soon) – this constant bleating and misrepresentation of facts by MLS fan boys such as Slowleftarmwithnolife about the quality of the Cosmos roster is just not accurate.
Raul and Senna are of course quality and if anyone thinks no team in MLS wanted them, they are deluded – MLS has signed DPs who are the same age or older in recent years, who were far less accomplished eg Marco Di Vaio.
Roversio and Ayoze both played in La Liga and were regular starters for their teams, playing against the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona so obviously they are good enough for most teams in the US.
The likes of Moffat, Mendes, Freeman etc have all said they turned down MLS contracts to sign with the Cosmos, so “MLS rejects” is a bit of a nonsense term. Kyle Renish turned down a MLS contract to sign with the Cosmos and after one year was approached and signed by slowleftarm’s beloved Red Bulls, so clearly the Cosmos roster is not made up of ‘MLS rejects.’
Most of MLS is comprised of players that could be described as “European rejects” so people need to get off their high horse. Look at SKC’s Nemeth – he failed at 8 (EIGHT) European teams between 2007-2014, many of which were lower tier European leagues and in his first year in MLS has scored practically as many goals as he did in his previous 7years combined.
i mean the mls team’s starters maybe will not play in usoc match – they will have a rest so they can play in mls game on saturday.
respectfully, i think nasl (and usl) sometimes teams knock off mls teams in usoc because
– that game means the world to nasl/usl team. they’re playing all their starting, throwing in everything they’ve got into that match
– mls team? maybe it’s a midweek game, and they have an important league match on saturday. so they maybe rest some guys for usoc match.
when usoc reaches final rounds, mls teams maybe get serious. for example, we saw sporting rest some starters in league match and play them in usoc. that was the final match, yes?
the lower div team looks good b/c of the special circumstance, and b/c it’s a one-off. but could they compete in a full mls season? i think no way, imo. (no offense, just sayin’.)
yes! its about proper team.
go cosmos!
Cosmos should just buy red bull for $400 to $500
Red bull want to sell naming rights for stadium, don’t make sense. The use the money for what, what exactly…….
Cosmos have multiple players that were not on the MLS at all. For instance Ayoze who actually played in Spanish second division which is arguably better than the big scam league run over here. So all of you MLS obsessive fans can do some more research and you’ll find that the Cosmos roster isn’t worse than most MLS rosters. BTW slowleftarm a team only succeeds if they function well together. I don’t care if we had college kids because all that matters is that the team can play proper football.
All these comments debating whether or not the Cosmos would succeed in MLS and no one has mentioned that they’ve been the 3rd best team in the NASL for much of this season.
The point I’m trying to make, obviously, is that Ottawa Fury would be a lock for the MLS Supporters Shield.
lol
Does anyone know what kinda money guys like Raul and this Greek has-been are earning?
EDIT: a *bit* misleading, have *some* guys
Saying all that though, I think this iteration of the Cosmos would absolutely be competitive in MLS but wouldn’t set the league on fire or anything. A fringe playoff contender, maybe. At least that’s my opinion.
20 points if they were lucky.
The whole “Cosmos are full of MLS rejects” narrative is a misleading. Yes, there are plenty of players on the Cosmos that played in MLS. But many of those guys – Carlos Mendes, Adam Moffat, Hunter Freeman – have either publicly acknowledged that they turned down MLS contracts to join the Cosmos or have played at high enough levels to absolutely be viable MLS players. Most recent example may be Ruben Bover, who has recovered from a tough injury and is really starting to flourish with the Cosmos.
Not to mention the ‘Mos have a some guys (Ayoze, *healthy* Rovérsio) who haven’t played in MLS but could be excellent players there.
Ruben Bover played several years with RBNY where he was a part-time player not good enough to get in the lineup regularly. Hunter Freeman’s contract option was declined by Colorado, one of the worst teams in MLS, and he tried the re-entry draft but wasn’t signed. Mendes was another part-time RBNY player. No one was interested in Moffat at the end of last season. These guys are the very definition of MLS rejects – they are players MLS no longer had an interest in so they moved down a level. Happens all over the world.
Bover played two seasons with RBNY, no? And I think an ankle injury & front office turmoil may have played a role in him getting waived. At any rate, not like he’s a grisly veteran. He’s a 23-year-old kid and was 21/22 when he was playing in MLS with a quality team.
You’re absolutely right about Freeman’s situation, but I think his form in 2013-14 qualified him for the “viable MLS player”. And I’m fairly certain Moffat himself confirmed that he had at least one MLS offer on the table, though I can’t pinpoint where I read that at the moment. His quality was pretty evident right before he got injured this year, too.
I guess at the end of the day you can spin it however you want, eh? Agree to disagree.
Leave it to the MLS guys to jump on and start talking up MLS. It’s sad already.
Usually “MLS guys” only talk about Cosmos when someone starts claiming they’re better than MLS teams. This happens often – for example the second comment on this article.
Except mathematically they *could* literally beat the majority of MLS teams on a given day. 12 of them to be precise. http://www.openpyramid.com/p/2015-standings.html
Not sure what that is supposed to prove. Lots of things can happen in a one off game but they sure wouldn’t finish above “12” MLS teams over the course of a full season. Use common sense – the majority of Cosmos players are MLS rejects, i.e. players not good enough for MLS. How is a team full of players not good enough for MLS going to compete in MLS?
However, it should be pointed out that Mike Grella, who is tearing up MLS, failed a tryout with the Cosmos. Does that make him an NASL reject?
I think both the NASL guys & MLS devotees need to lighten up & just enjoy the damn games.
Last season he was with West Brom and got loaned to a club in Saudi Arabia. Only a handful of appearances with those clubs for the year. He’s not old, but not young either.
Um why? Cosmos isnt even in mlS. What are they offering him? Is he even worth it?
The NASL doesn’t have the same salary cap restriction as does MLS, so they can probably give him more than an MLS team could. The Cosmos could beat the majority of MLS teams on any given day.
The Cosmos roster is made up mostly of MLS rejects along with a couple of over guys who couldn’t hack in MLS at this point. They’d be lucky to get 20 points in an MLS season. Samaras is unattached so he’s got to take what he can get if he wants to keep playing.
+ 1
Upsets do happen in sports, but I don’t see the Cosmos, as they are right now, making the playoffs in MLS. They would be the league whipping boys during the course of a full season. Not trying to hate on them, as we do need lower tiers in the hierarchy, but just because they may win a game or two does not put them on par with MLS teams.
not a snowballs chance..,.that they make the expanded playoffs even