Or rather, that he would be had he stayed in England. Fulham, then returned to the States, is still a star, so important to the Tampa Bay Rowdies that without him they are no match for the Cosmos in the final?Įven those of us who greatly admired Marsh's maverick talent with the Queens Park Rangers and Manchester City know that his career in the English league is long since over, that he is now playing on borrowed time. We in England, especially, look at the line-ups of the teams the Cosmos play against and are a little amused.Ĭan it really be that New England's Mike Flanagan a very good Second Division striker with London'h Charlton Athetic, but never yet picked for the full England national team - as NASL publicity keeps asserting - is the most valuable of the NASL?Ĭan it be that Rodney Marsh, who a few years ago played briefly in the Second Division for another London club. Even Liverpool and Manchester united, even Milan, Juventus and Inter of Italy, even Real Madrid of Spain (though its stadium can hold 120,000) cannot boast such huge, regular gates Europeans are fascinated, and no doubt envious, too of the immense sums of money the Cosmos pay their players: $4 1/2 million to Pele, $2 1/2 million to Franz Beckenbauer, smaller but substantial fortunes to the likes of Giorgio Chinaglia and Yugoslavia's Vladislav Bogicevic.Īt the same time, Europeans are exceedingly sceptical of the value, and validity, of the Cosmos' success. Those colosal, 75,000 person crowds at the Meadowlands that average attendance of more than 50,000. At the same time, European players are fascinated, intregued and perhaps envious. They are regarded less as a soccer team than as an extension of show business, and the Europeans don't really believe in them. The attitude of these, their own English players, fairly sums up what Europe, by large, thinks of the Cosmos, who are on tour there. Scarcely had the Cosmos won the North American Soccer League title than Steven Hunt, their English left Winger, packed his bags and came home to join Coventry City of the English First Division.ĭennis Tueart, Hunt's English colleague in the Cosmos' attack, said that though he was happy in America, he didn't blame Hunt a bit: If you wanted to make a name in soccer, you had to make it where the competition was truly hard.
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