One of the greatest footballers of all time, captain of arguably the ultimate World Cup-winning side and scorer of arguably the finest goal in World Cup Final history, Carlos Alberto Torres joined the New York Cosmos midseason in 1977, arriving in New York during the infamous blackout that summer.

The missing piece to the puzzle, his arrival signaled a fresh start for the club, beginning its storybook run to the title.  After a last-minute omission from Soccer Bowl ’80, Alberto joined the California Surf for a season before returning to the Cosmos in 1982.  Like his dear friend Pelé, he retired from soccer as a champion, after the Cosmos' 1-0 win over Seattle in Soccer Bowl ’82. It was his his fourth NASL championship with the team. 

Dr. David Kilpatrick: How are you?

Carlos Alberto: I’m okay. I miss the Cosmos!

We miss you. It’s great to talk with you.

It’s a big pleasure for me. Anything for the New York Cosmos.

When you decided to join Cosmos in 1977 from Flamengo, what was the deciding factor in coming to New York?

I wanted to share, to cooperate with the development of football in New York and also the United States. And also Prof. Júlio Mazzei [coach of the Cosmos' 1982 championship team] at that time called me and said, “Carlos, we need you to be with us, to put soccer up in the stars.”

This is why I decided. Of course I had other reasons: to play again with Pelé, to play with Franz Beckenbauer, to play with Giorgio Chinaglia. But to cooperate to bring football to the top in the United States was the main reason.

I was talking with coach Eddie Firmani the other day and he said switching you from right back to sweeper was the best decision he ever made in his life, in 1977. Of course, you scored the greatest goal in World Cup Final history from the right back position.

When I went to play for the New York Cosmos, I was playing in this position in Brazil as a sweeper. And I know the move that we made in the team – putting myself at sweeper and moving Beckenbauer to midfield – this was the big thing [that helped] the New York Cosmos go to the championship. This is my opinion, this is what I think. I don’t know if others agree with me but, I think, when I stayed playing as a sweeper it gave the freedom for Beckenbauer to go forward with his high quality playing in the midfield. This was really great for the team. We were very lucky because everything was good.

What stands out most for you in terms of that championship run in ’77?

That move to go to New York was a dream for me. We followed the [soccer] news in Brazil, and every week more people came to the stadiums to watch the New York Cosmos. And that news was good for myself, because I started to think, to dream, to be with my friends with the New York Cosmos, to help them, and I think I helped the Cosmos become champions in 1977. And I also helped Pelé say goodbye to football as a champion.

Sometimes I talk to Pelé, of course joking, and I say, “You have to thank me for coming to the New York Cosmos, because if I don’t come to the Cosmos, you go out of football without being a champion.”  Of course, I’m joking when I say this to Pelé.

You mention Prof. Mazzei, and I just mentioned coach Firmani still being pleased with moving you to center back. For someone coming into the Cosmos with such a successful leadership background, how did you find working with the different managers here? The managers that you worked with here, how did you feel about their styles, working with them?

First was coach Eddie Firmani. I liked the way he works because he talks with the players. He insists until we understand what he wants for the team. Very, very nice coach.

Prof. Mazzei, I knew him from Brazil working with Santos, with Pelé before.

And [Cosmos head coach from 1980-1982] Hennes Weisweiller was one of the greatest coaches. I had a little problem with him, okay, but he brought a new kind of discipline for the group. We had a very nice kind of drill, training with the ball, one touch. What Barcelona does today, to think 35 years ago, we practiced this with Hennes Weisweiller. Every day, only one touch. Only one touch to the ball. Thirty-five years ago. And I remember that was great advice to start to touch the ball quickly. It was good for the young American players that Hennes Weisweiller came to coach the New York Cosmos.

So I had three coaches with the New York Cosmos. It was wonderful to work with all of them. Also because they gave me lots of cooperation for football in the United States with the New York Cosmos.

I’m curious what it was like for you working with the young American players. When you retired in ’82, Darryl Gee took your jersey number, No. 5. Obviously on the back line with you in ’77 you had Werner Roth and Bobby Smith. How did the American players fill out on the roster with superstars such as yourself?

It was good to work with them, to play beside them, because they were very interested to learn how to play real football with us. Werner Roth, Bob Iarusci, Santiago Formoso, Ricky Davis… It was great. They came to us all the time, to ask the best way to help the team to play the best way.

You scored arguably the greatest goal in World Cup Final history. Do any stand out for you that you scored with the Cosmos?

The shootout. I remember that I scored a few goals, but that evening against Minnesota, that goal was great. I cannot forget.

If I [miss], Cosmos go home. I was watching all the players to take the shootout and I remember when Eddie Firmani called to me, “Carlos, take the shootout,” and I said, “Me? I never!” I never took a shootout [attempt] before, but I said, “Okay, let’s go there.”

I remember I was watching the goalkeeper, and he kept going out to the line of the penalty area, and I thought, “I can put the ball up and when the keeper comes out, he’ll rush and then I put the ball up and in.” I was lucky. If the game was played on natural grass I could not have scored that goal. But we knew our field very well and I could score. And after Beckenbauer scored to put the final icing on the cake.

Was that scoop something you had practiced at Giants Stadium before the game?

Yes. We knew the bounce from the ball. How much and how far when the ball comes to us, if you let the ball bounce before going to the ball. We had a very good idea about the bounce of the ball to play on our field. I don’t remember how many games we lost on our field in the five years playing with the Cosmos. There were very, very few games we lost on our field because we knew the field.

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