Pelé

On Aug. 14, 1977, the New York Cosmos met the Fort Lauderdale Strikers in the Division Championship of the North American Soccer League playoffs. A NASL record 77,691 fans were in attendance to see the Cosmos defeat the Strikers 8-3 in the first game of the series.

By Dr. David Kilpatrick Among the many memorable elements of the spectacle that elevated soccer’s status on the New York sports scene, the glamorous Cosmos Girls danced and cheered their way into the hearts of fans throughout Cosmos Country. Even after all these years, the Cosmos Girls remain a tight-knit group, sharing a bond from their time together as a troupe and they recently enjoyed a reunion at the Cosmos front offices in Manhattan.

Growing up a soccer crazy kid in Venezuela, ten-year-old Gio Savarese got the opportunity of a lifetime when he was invited in 1981 to attend the Pelé Soccer Camp in New York City. At the time, the young Savarese knew he wanted to be a professional soccer player but little did he know, this trip to New York would take him to the stadium where he would achieve legendary status as a player and to see the team that he would eventually manage.

On August 28th, 1977, Pelé played his final competitive soccer match when he lead The New York Cosmos to a 2-1 win against the Seattle Sounders in Soccer Bowl 77 in front of over 35,000 fans at Portland's Civic Stadium (now Jeld-Wen Field.) Steve Hunt opened the scoring when he stole the ball off of Sounders goalkeeper Tony Chursky to bundle the ball in to the back of the net:

August 5th, 2011 - Míchel Salgado is one of the world class players to represent the New York Cosmos against Manchester United on August 5th at Old Trafford (Fox Soccer, 2:30 PM ET). We were able to catch up with Michel ahead of the massive match at Old Trafford and talk with the Spaniard about what wearing the Cosmos jersey means to him... New York Cosmos: What do you think about the names behind The New York Cosmos?