ClapDavid Beckham says Cosmos rumor is “not true” but bigger questions lie in wait for the NASL expansion team.
While speaking to the press on Thursday in advance of the MLS Cup Championship which plays out at Home Depot Center on Saturday afternoon, David Beckham finally addressed last weekend’s report in the Irish Sunday World that the NASL’s Cosmos could be in his future. The paper reported that a high level Cosmos official had said that Beckham was considering the offer and would make a decision by Christmas.
“I’ve been hearing the Cosmos thing for the last two-three years,” Beckham said. “This is not true. My manager has definitely not had conversations with them, that’s definitely not true.”
Beckham went on to say, “I’ve got some interesting and exciting options on the table. I am very flattered by some of the options that I’ve got. I still feel I can play and I’m not considering retiring.”
It seems the Cosmos currently have more pressing issues to deal with than David Beckham. That is, how to get a team on the field this coming year now that they have Erik Stover in place as COO and Giovanni Savarese as coach.
The big question that everyone seems to have for the NASL and the Cosmos, is if they will actually be ready to play in the first half of the new Apertura and Clausura type season that the NASL will experimentally roll out in 2013. Rumors persist that the Cosmos will not be ready to play the first half [Apertura] season.
I asked new NASL Commissioner Bill Peterson that exact question at his press conference last Tuesday afternoon. While Peterson did not skirt the issue he didn’t answer it either. He explained that he will be traveling to New York in the first week of December to visit with the Cosmos and will be doing some fact finding himself.
“I don’t really want to address that,” said Peterson. “I think that’s really a team issue and if there is an issue – and I’m not saying there is – I think after I go up there and get a better feel for where they are in their plans and what their plans actually are, they will be in a better position to address that.”
The Cosmos supporters group, the Borough Boys, will be hosting a Q & A with the Cosmos front office on Saturday, December 1st at Jack Demsey’s in Manhattan at 3:30 PM with the MLS Cup final immediately following. I have been told that same question will be asked at that Q & A.
In 2010, the NSC Minnesota Stars were able to assemble a team that took the field in the spring for the USSF D2 Pro League despite not deciding to field a team until mid December of 2009. And both the Carolina RailHawks and the Atlanta Silverbacks were able to assemble teams from scratch in 2011 within several months after the NASL was provisionally approved by the USSF in mid February of that year.
Savarese was recently on the First Touch podcast and he does talk about his task of building the Cosmos’ first squad in 29 years.
