The New York Cosmos won the first battle for New York supremacy when they defeated the Brooklyn Italians 2-0 Wednesday in the third round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup tournament.
The game, played at Belson Stadium at St. John’s University in Queens, was the first meeting between the Cosmos and the Italians, a team in the fourth tier American soccer division.
“I think first of all we have to say it was a beautiful night of soccer,” Cosmos head coach Gio Savarese said after the game. “Two organizations that have great tradition and you felt that beautiful atmosphere here at St. John’s in Queens. So, I think from that standpoint it was a success because it was a soccer festival tonight.”
The Cosmos will now face Major League Soccer team New York Red Bulls in the fourth round of the tournament on June 14 at Hofstra University.
Savarese said playing two New York-based teams in a row was something that will boost the popularity of soccer in the state.
“This was a festival of New York soccer and it will continue against Red Bulls,” Savarese said. “It’s about growing New York soccer.”
S
avarese coached the Red Bulls youth development team from 2005, when they were the New York MetroStars, to 2007.
Cosmos captain Carlos Mendes, a former Red Bulls player, said he was excited to face off against his former team.
“Obviously they are a very good team and it’s going to be a good challenge for us,” Mendes said. “It will be exciting.”
Before the starting whistle, the Cosmos presented the Italians with an engraved plaque to commemorate the first meeting of the two clubs.
After the start of the game, there was no love lost between the two sides as eight cards were handed out to Cosmos and Italian players.
“It was a little bit scrappy with some tackles coming in late, but that’s all part of it and I think the refs did a good job of handling that,” Mendes said.
Two Italian players, Yannick Diese and Salvatore Barone, were given red cards by referee Andres Pfefferkorn, bringing the team down to nine men by the end of the game.
Cosmos players Jimmy Ockford and Hagop Chirishian scored their first goals of the season during the first half of the game.
Ockford headed the ball into the back of the net in the 16th minute off a corner kick from Ayoze.
The Cosmos were able to double their lead 15 minutes later when Chirishian rebounded a shot that was saved by Italian’s goalkeeper Sheldon Parkinson.
“It was a good opportunity. You work hard all season to get a chance to play, and once you get it you give your full effort to help out the team in any possible way,” Chirishian said after the game.
The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup is the country’s longest lasting soccer tournament, where 80 teams from every division in the country are invited to play in the single elimination contest.
The winner of the annual tournament receives $250,000 and will have their names engraved on the Dewar Challenge Trophy, which is housed in the U.S. Soccer House in Chicago.
The tournament dates back to 1914 and in 1999 was renamed in honor of Lamar Hunt, a promoter of the sport who died in 2006.
