In this five-part series on the return of the New York Cosmos, site editor Chris Nee looks at all aspects of the club’s meteoric ascent back into the world soccer consciousness. The series is examining the Cosmos in more detail - who’s running the club, who’s playing for it and where it’s all going to happen - and will culminate in the Cosmos’ entry into our Icons series. Here’s the third post in the latest twofootedtackle.com series: Reviving the Cosmos.
Major League Soccer is changing. To date, it’s been quintessentially American, punctuated with college drafts, playoffs, all-star games and, at the league’s very core, the single-entity system. It’s been ridiculed abroad as a result, but it has allowed the league to become stable, give or take the odd near death experience at its lowest ebb, resolved at the eleventh hour in a meeting of big cheeses on a ranch. However, MLS is gradually shifting from the college system to more of a “traditional” structure.
The Homegrown Player Rule, which allows MLS clubs to produce and then retain the rights of young, local talent, was introduced in 2006 with a restriction on two homegrown players in a squad. In 2010, that rule was relaxed ahead of the 2011 season and the clubs can now include in their squads as many homegrown players as they like, potentially spelling the end of the college draft as we know it and encouraging MLS clubs to increase their focus on academies and player development.
The SuperDraft will remain, but it will likely deteriorate in the coming years. Should the New York Cosmos get their wish for a spot in Major League Soccer, they could become the first MLS team to entirely eschew the benefits of the college draft, choosing instead to get the talent in at a younger age and bring them along as Cosmos players. In fact, even the Expansion Draft - the mechanism by which new clubs can populate their squads with players from the existing ones - isn’t really on the Cosmos radar, as Vice-President Terry Byrne told This Is American Soccer:
“I think part of the league would require us to have that [expansion draft], but our plan from building an under-8 team to an under-18 team and bring [Academy Directors] Gio Savarese and Teddy Chronopoulos in was to build that future production line for the Cosmos. We know already we have some good kids, and we need to hold on to them and protect them, nurture them, make sure they become good people.”
On the face of it, it’s a fluke of timing that the Cosmos will probably join MLS just as the switch from college to homegrown players really begins to take hold. With their focus on youth, and standing in player development thanks to Peppe Pinton’s choice of function for the unwanted name he held for decades, the Cosmos are bound to benefit from being able to hit the ground running while the more established squads adjust to the new era.
For me, the fact that the Cosmos could become the first club to exist solely in this new atmosphere of youth focus qualifies them as a new kind of (theoretical) MLS club. They will make limited use of the various drafts available; ticking boxes, as Byrne indicates. Outside of that, they could well build up international spots and allocation money in exchange for their SuperDraft picks, which are likely to become devalued in their own right in the next five years.
Allied to this, the Cosmos player turnover should they join MLS is very likely to be much lower than the league average, with kids raised “the Cosmos way” matched up on the field with players other clubs probably couldn’t afford. Excitingly, they might even have a bigger focus on US talent as a result of their commitment to youth soccer.
The Cosmos have highlighted that commitment to youth ever since their return, which was announced at the final of the Copa NYC youth tournament back in August, a tournament that the Cosmos annexed as part of its high-profile launch. It is not, of course, an entirely altruistic exercise, nor is it a cash cow. Joe Fraga, an Executive Director at the club, told TIAS during the same series of interviews that:
“It’s not about, oh, let’s churn camps and make money. It’s really about that we have an amazing under-12 team that four or five years from now, some of those players will be signing for our first team.”
In short, the Cosmos are talking big on youth. They have academies on both coasts, with former Venezuela striker Giovanni Savarese overseeing the operation in New York and Ted Chronopoulos matching him stride for stride in California. Crucially, both academies and all the players within will be playing the same way, suggesting a long-termism that perhaps contradicts our traditional view on what the words ‘New York Cosmos’ truly mean. Again, from the TIAS interview with Fraga:
“I know for sure that Teddy, Gio, and Terry are all in unison; they are all communicating, and we know that down the line we will have a system that someone will recognize as the Cosmos way. Both academies, even though they are 3,000 miles apart, will be playing the same kind of ball. It’s one of those things that will take some time, but I think we have the right people to make that happen.”
Those aren’t traditionally the words of the Cosmos, nor are they the words of any American soccer club. They’re Barcelona words, Ajax words. But they won’t just benefit the Cosmos; they could prove to be a good thing for Major League Soccer and even to the United States national team.
In fact, there’s a definite argument that the Cosmos as a whole would - assuming of course that we can take them at their word (they are after all just a press release to date) - be beneficial to MLS. It’s quite clear that the Cosmos will increase the profile of the league around the world, a phenomenon that we’re already seeing thanks to features on the likes of the BBC’s Football Focus show and with the enthusiasm shown for Umbro’s quite beautiful line of Cosmos merchandise. By embracing the heritage and credibility of a global football icon, MLS can become a more attractive stepping stone for young players even from outside the Cosmos’ own youth system.
Just as exciting is the prospect of a Cosmos-wielding MLS seeing a more worthwhile use of the Designated Player Rule. While David Beckham, Thierry Henry, Juan Pablo Angel and Rafael Marquez clearly have their upsides, the promotions of players like Landon Donovan and Fredy Montero are more thrilling for genuine MLS enthusiasts. It’s Montero that encapsulates ‘a different way’ - young DPs joining MLS on the way up rather than older DPs signing for a last paycheck. If the Cosmos help to build up the league’s reputation overseas then a few more talented youngsters might see MLS as a viable option en route to Europe. Ironically, they’re probably not the kind of player the Cosmos will be looking at for their big bucks.
The national team might just get a helping hand too. With players set to come through at a younger age thanks to the relaxation of the Homegrown Player Rule, teams will need to have in place a robust youth system. Having all teams at all levels within a club playing to the same system seems the obvious way to go, and if it works for the Cosmos on two coasts then others will emulate it (Toronto FC, who recently appointed Aron Winter, appear to have shown a willingness to adopt this approach already). A generation of young, comfortable footballers who know exactly what’s required of them can only be a good thing.
Regardless, it’s almost inconceivable that the Cosmos - being the Cosmos - won’t bring in three big-name designated players. Their history suggests it’s a must-have for the club, and the way the current management and ambassadorial personalities have been assembled echoes that completely. Assuming all is as it seems with this club (i.e. assuming this will even be a club), I’d expect their three DPs to be genuine stars (albeit declining stars) of world football within this decade. I’m not sure that’s necessarily for the best.
That said, the current focus on youth, and apparent long-termism in that approach, is genuinely exciting - again, assuming all is as it seems. Brashness is part of the Cosmos DNA, but so is beating a new path. By helping to prod MLS over the edge of the youth soccer cliff, the Cosmos would be doing just that.
Tags: New York Cosmos