Consistent, Deep Roster Leads Cosmos To Back-To-Back Titles

It is no secret the New York Cosmos walk, play, and run among the other teams in the NASL with a giant target on their backs. Be it respect, envy, or a combination of both, they are the team to beat from April to November.

It is now the club with eight NASL titles, three in four years since the club’s reboot in 2013, and now the only team in the league’s Modern Era to win consecutive championships.

“The toughest thing in sports is to win back-to-back titles, everyone is coming after you,” Cosmos captain and defender Carlos Mendes said after New York and Indy Eleven played 120 minutes of scoreless open play before Ryan Richter iced the game when he converted a penalty kick to give the Cosmos a 4-2 victory in the shootout at Belson Stadium on Sunday night.

It was a year that came full circle for Richter, who last year was on the losing end in The Championship Final against New York when he was playing for Ottawa Fury FC. Now the right back for the Cosmos, Richter was one of the important pieces in a jigsaw puzzle manipulated masterly by coach Giovanni Savarese. Throughout this year and other years, Savarese has been fastidious to the point of cliché in stressing the importance of playing one game at a time.

On Sunday night he abandoned that stance in light of the team lifting the Soccer Bowl Trophy for the third time in four years.

“Every time you win you’re always looking to the next game,” Savarese said. “No more. Now we can look back. Winning back-to-back championships shows the consistency of the players. The guys always wanted to win a new championship. It wasn’t about defending last year’s.”

The Cosmos came within the third tiebreaker of winning the Spring Season title, silverware they ceded to Indy Eleven, which went unbeaten in the Spring, based on a single head-to-head result back in April. New York then put together a furious Fall Season title march that now includes a 23-game home unbeaten streak that dates to late last season, including postseason.

“This year was the toughest, craziest of years for the whole team,” Cosmos goalkeeper Jimmy Maurer said. “Winning it again is just amazing. It shows the strength from front to back of the team and the technical staff.”

Though they were held without a goal through 90 minutes and an additional half-hour of extra time, the Cosmos have a certain intangible that goes with a team that is used to winning in myriad ways and through a slew of different players.

“The final was the example of the year we had,” Savarese said. “We never stopped to think about the adversity. It was about solutions. I could not be prouder of these guys.”

How deep did that confidence run? Savarese said that as he prepared his list of who would take the penalties, not a single player turned away, reluctant to put his reputation and his team’s title hopes on the line.

“Usually, you have to see how the guys feel some,” he said. “Some were struggling at the end, and usually you especially want the ones who come to you and say they want to take it. This time everybody came to me. They all wanted to take it.

“At the end they wanted this championship and it’s a big credit to them.”