14 August 1977 - They Were Masters Of Time And Space

On 14 August 1977, the New York Cosmos set a couple of records when they routed the Fort Lauderdale Strikers 8-3 in the NASL playoffs.

The Strikers had just finished their first season in the league and did so with the best record, winning 19 games and losing only 7. That earned them a first-round bye in the post-season tournament and took them straight into the division championship. There, they met the Cosmos, who had played and beaten Fort Lauderdale twice during the regular season, both times by the score of 3-0.

New York hosted the first leg at Giants Stadium, where a record NASL crowd of 77,691 turned out for the occasion. They were rewarded by a dominant performance from the home side. Led by their star quartet of Pelé, Franz Beckenbauer, Carlos Alberto, and Giorgio Chinaglia, the Cosmos rolled to a 4-1 lead at the break with goals from Steve Hunt (2), Beckenbauer, and Chinaglia. (Maurice Whittle scored for Fort Lauderdale).

Early in the second half, Tony Field extended the lead to 5-1, then Chinaglia completed his hat-trick with two strikes in quick succession before the Striker's Norman Piper closed the gap. Gary Etherington added an eighth goal for New York, setting a record for the highest score by a team in the NASL playoffs, while Whittle's final score of the day set the 8-3 result.

The second leg was closer, with New York winning in a shootout before going on to win the final over the Seattle Sounders.

7 July 2006 - It Was A Very Short Lifetime

On 7 July 2006, Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos premiered in New York City.

Directed by John Crowder and Paul Dower and narrated by Matt Dillon, the documentary chronicles the rise and fall of the Cosmos from their founding in 1971, through their heyday in the late '70s, to their collapse in 1984.

Although Pelé, the Cosmos's most famous player, declined any involvement in the film (reportedly because the filmmakers would not pay his requested fee of $100,000), the directors did interview several other people from the club's history, including founding owner Ahmet Ertegun and a long list of Cosmos players such as Franz Beckenbauer, Giorgio Chinaglia, Shep Messing, and Werner Roth. Together, they described the club's meteoric rise from NASL expansion team to a global brand, driven primarily by the signing of Pelé in 1975.


After Pelé's retirement in 1977, the Cosmos began to suffer financial pressures due to dwindling crowds and the loss of monetary backing by the former parent company, Warner Communications. As the league imploded, the Cosmos tried a season of indoor football, but could not remain afloat and folded in 1985. 


The film received favorable reviews from critics and fans, but has earned only a paltry $9,805 on its opening weekend, due in part to a limited release.