Cosmos bring history to S.F.
The New York Cosmos will play the San Francisco Deltas at Kezar Stadium on Saturday, but this isn’t your ordinary North American Soccer League match.
“We know that when you’re playing and coaching against a team like the New York Cosmos,” Deltas head coach Marc Dos Santos said, “you’re coachand ing against a team that has a lot of history. “This is big.” It’s is no bigger than any other game in terms of wins losses in a league that ranks a distant second to Major League Soccer league on the pro soccer totem pole. But it does carry a special significance for the Deltas — essentially a soccer startup in its inaugural season — to play a storied club.
“The match between the Cosmos and the Deltas means the NASL is truly transconti-
nental once again,” Cosmos historian David Kilpatrick said.
Plus, the Cosmos are the NASL’s reigning champions.
With the season just weeks old, the Deltas are in second place in the eight-team league with a 1-0-3 record and six points. The Cosmos sit in a three-way tie for third with five points.
But the Cosmos, more than any other NASL team, carry a cultural significance that resonates beyond league standings. In fact, they could be regarded as a global brand.
Founded in 1970, the club aimed to embody New York from its roster to its very name.
“To us, Cosmos is short for cosmopolitanism,” Kilpatrick said, “The current squad represents that global citizenship in many ways.”
The old Cosmos were at the intersection of sports and entertainment in New York in the 1970s. This was especially the case when they signed international soccer icon Pele in 1975. The club also featured Giorgio Chinaglia, a star in his own right.
But Pele eventually retired, and the club ceased operations in 1985, as did the original NASL.
The Cosmos were restarted in 2010 and have been playing in the NASL since 2013, and they aim to continue in the tradition of the old club.
“We want to be able to operate in an environment that allows us to be the very best club in the world,” Kilpatrick said.
This will be the first time the Cosmos play in Northern California since 1984, Kilpatrick added. The last time the club played there, the opponent was the Golden Bay Earthquakes.
“We’ve got an old sporting rivalry between New York and San Francisco, and we’re keen to revive it on the soccer pitch,” Kilpatrick said.
The Deltas are treating this like any other game.
“On Saturday, I’m just hoping to get a win, and we don’t want to lose any games at home,” Deltas defender Nano Attakora said.
Added Dos Santos: “At the end of the day, it’s another game in the league for us.” Tacuma Roeback is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: troeback@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TacumaRoe