New York Cosmos soccer legends Pele, left, and Franz Beckenbauer pose at the Empire State Building on April 17, 2015 in New York at an event to launch the start of the team’s 2015 spring season. (Photo by Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images)

By Peter Schwartz

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Over the last two years, the Red Bulls and NYCFC have built up a pretty heated rivalry in Major League Soccer. But there’s another rivalry involving a local soccer team that dates back to the 1970s.

When the Cosmos and all of their world class players like Pele, Giorgio Chinaglia, and Franz Beckenbauer played in the original North American Soccer League, there wasn’t another local club, so their biggest rivalry developed against the Tampa Bay Rowdies.

The Cosmos/Rowdies series was particularly intense back in the ’70s and ’80s and it picked up right where it left off when the Cosmos returned to the pitch in 2013 after a 29-year absence. The storied rivalry will be renewed on Saturday night at 7 p.m. when the sides meet at Hofstra University’s Shuart Stadium in a critical NASL contest.

“Obviously with the history of the two clubs, when the Cosmos rebooted Tampa was the first team we knew about,” said Cosmos captain and defender Carlos Mendes. “Since we’ve been back playing them they’ve always been tough.”

The teams last met at Al Lang Stadium in St. Petersburg, Florida, on July 23, and the Cosmos held a 2-0 lead late in the second half but had to settle for a 2-2 draw. In the 85th minute, the Rowdies cut their deficit in half on a Cosmos own goal and then Joe Cole converted a penalty kick in stoppage time.

“That kind of left a sour taste,” Mendes said. “Anytime you’re up late in the game and you give up the lead, it’s disappointing. It was a chance for us to leave there with three points, but we left with one.”

The Cosmos/Rowdies rivalry really began to take shape in 1976, Pele’s second season in New York. Other NASL teams were starting to bring in international stars to try and keep up with the Cosmos.

“They were the other team with ‘stars’ at the time as were the (Ft. Lauderdale) Strikers,” said former Cosmos goalkeeper and current television analyst Shep Messing. “So we hated the Rowdies and Strikers. That’s why the rivalry was so good. We were the best and they wanted to be us.”

The Rowdies dipped into the foreign player frenzy and brought in striker Rodney Marsh from England. Upon his arrival in Tampa, Marsh was asked about being described as the “white Pele.” That question would ignite a feud between Marsh and Pele.

“I said that’s not quite true,” Marsh said in the 2006 film “Once in a Lifetime.” “Pele is the black Rodney Marsh. That didn’t seem to go down to well.”

When the Cosmos took on the Rowdies on July 14, 1976, at Yankee Stadium, Pele sent a message to Marsh by delivering a hard foul.

“Their feud was real,” Messing said.

That day, the Cosmos and Rowdies lit up the scoreboard as New York won a thriller, 5-4, a month after losing to Tampa Bay, 5-0. Messing said he didn’t like giving up four goals, but, as a Yankees fan who grew up in the Bronx, he relished the win.

“A wild game for goalkeepers,” Messing said. “But to win it made everything right.”

However, the Rowdies wound up with the upper hand that season when they eliminated the Cosmos with a 3-1 win in the second round of the playoffs. In 1977, the Cosmos added to their international roster by signing Beckenbauer. The German star made his debut against the Rowdies on May 29, in Tampa.

It was a rough day for the Cosmos as they lost to the Rowdies, 4-2, in front of a crowd of 45,288, which at the time was the second-largest regular season crowd in NASL history.

“Franz was in shock in his first game with the crowd, the cheerleaders, pom pom girls and the game itself,” Messing recalled. “I got kicked in the face in the second half. I needed seven stitches above my eye and had to leave the game because of the bleeding.”

On that play, Beckenbauer was called for a hand-ball in the box and Marsh converted a penalty kick against backup goalkeeper Erol Yasin.

“They deserved the win, but it made the rivalry better,” Messing said.

The Cosmos would go on to win Soccer Bowl ’77, giving Pele a championship to end his career. The following year, the Cosmos made it back-to-back titles with a 3-1 win over the Rowdies in Soccer Bowl ’78 at Giants Stadium. Not only had the Cosmos won another championship, they had done it on their home field against their arch rivals.

The Cosmos would go on to win two more Soccer Bowls in 1980 and 1982 before the franchise and the league folded two years later. Against the Rowdies, the original Cosmos went 16-9-1. Nearly three decades later, the Cosmos returned to action in the modern-day NASL and that meant the resumption of their rivalry with their hated enemies.

“Bitter rivals spawned from genuine animosity,” said Dr. David Kilpatrick, the Cosmos team historian. “Yes, it seems the hatred was ready and waiting to be rekindled.”

During the 2013 season, the Cosmos and Rowdies brought back their rivalry in dramatic fashion.

On Sept. 29, at Hofstra, the Rowdies built a 3-1 halftime lead before the Cosmos roared back in the second half to tie the game. Then, in the 82nd minute, midfielder Marcos Senna scored off of a brilliant free kick to give the Cosmos a 4-3 victory.

“We didn’t come out strong, but we never gave up,” Mendes recalled. “We fought and we battled, which is what a rivalry is all about and we found a way to win.”

And the Cosmos would also find a way to win another Soccer Bowl during their reboot season.

This Saturday, the Cosmos must find a way to beat their rivals so that they can begin to make their move in the standings. After falling just short of the spring season title, the Cosmos are currently in third place in the fall season as they trail Indy and Edmonton by three points. They also sit in third place in the overall standings, which would be good enough to qualify for the playoffs.

With the Rowdies coming to Cosmos Country, there’s nothing like a rivalry game to get the juices flowing.

“It’s an intense game all the time,” Mendes said. “I think they have a very good team and it’s a fun game to be a part of. You need wins at home. This is a huge game for us.”

Since the reboot, the Cosmos have gone 4-2-2 against the Rowdies, but it’s worth noting that whether it was the original NASL or the modern day version of the league, the Cosmos have never lost to the Rowdies at home.

The Cosmos/Rowdies rivalry is arguably the best in NASL history. Whether it featured Pele going at it with Marsh back in the day, or the current-day teams in green battling on the pitch, it’s must-see soccer between two teams that really don’t like each other.

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