by JAKE NUTTING

The New York Cosmos went on a little field trip Tuesday afternoon.

The Hempstead based club journeyed to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum on Manhattan’s West Side to conduct a training session ahead of their Heroes Night on Saturday – an annual event where the club honors military personnel, first responders and their families.

The club brought a significant portion of the roster, including stars Raul and Marcos Senna, to the event topay tribute to the members of the United States Armed Services. The Second Battalion 25th Marines from Garden City were all smiles for their photo shoot on the flight deck of the Intrepid.

After the meet and greet between the players and Marines, Head Coach Gio Savarese made a point to address those in attendance and note that the week is all about honoring the “true heroes.”

“We had the pleasure to be able to organize the event with the help of important people from Manhattan. We are lucky to be on the Intrepid today, enjoying soccer,” said Savarese.

Those important people that Savarese mentioned include Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Veteran affairs Loree Sutton and President of the Intrepid Museum Susan Marenoff. All three dignitaries were presented with a personalized Cosmos jersey and Savarese singled Brewer out for her support of professional soccer as one of those involved in organizing the U.S. Women’s World Cup victory parade in July.

Brewer responded with an emphatic “Go Soccer!”

“I am delighted to join the Cosmos today as they will be honoring the military and our veterans on September 12th at their annual Heroes Game,’’ Brewer elaborated. “I am also honored, as a Vietnam War family member, that they chose the Intrepid to host this event.”

The Cosmos are no strangers to Brewer’s borough. In fact, it was at Downing Stadium on Randall’s Island that the legendary Pele made his Cosmos debut in 1975 and the club’s profile began to rise precipitously. The modern era Cosmos currently call Shuart Stadium at Hoftsra University home, but are looking to make a move closer to the heart of the city. While the Cosmos bid to develop a privately funded stadium at Belmont Park has been in limbo for over two years, the club has begun to look elsewhere and the borough of Brooklyn has made the strongest push to bring them into the city proper.

After the business of the photo shoot was out of the way, the Cosmos began their training session in the shade of the Intrepid on Pier 86, yards away from the museum’s Submarine Growler exhibit.

The training session wasn’t nearly as intense as the one conducted in the morning, but a handful of players engaged in a lighthearted kick around and scrimmage with the local Marines. Savarese looked particularly joyful leading from the sideline in the Marine jacket that he donned for the session.

The morale boost could be beneficial to the team coming out of likely their “worst performance” of the year according to Savarese. The league leaders dropped only their second match of the year on the road in Tampa Bay in humid and sloppy conditions.

“[The field] was a little bit slippery, but at the end of the day those are all excuses,” said keeper Jimmy Maurer. “It’s the same game wherever you’re playing, whether it’s on turf or wet grass. The bottom line was we just weren’t sharp enough and paid the price. It’s just another game we lost. We’re mad about it and we move on. We’ve got a big one against Jacksonville this weekend that we’ve gotta get three points out of.”

The opposition for Cosmos Heroes Night, Jacksonville Armada FC, is the only other team to beat New York in league play this year. The expansion side, though, has also failed to win on the road in eleven tries thus far this year.