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Once in a lifetime - The Story of the NY Cosmos

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    Once in a lifetime - The Story of the NY Cosmos

    saw this last night, the story of the NY Cosmos. (have we had a thread?

    Superb, best sports documentary film I have ever seen. In fact it might be the only one. No, I have seen 'when we were kings' which is as good as OIALT, probaly better in fact. So OIALT is the worst sports documenatry film I have seem, but its still excellent

    I had no idea they were basically playing sunday league level when they signed Pele, the guys behind it all disagreed on everything.

    The Giorgio Chinaglia bits were fascinating, a bit of a c**t (as was pele), hated by most but got the goals. One of the english guys who founded them said about him “He was Italian, scored a lot of goals, spoke English with a Welsh accent - and that’s about all the good things I can say about him”

    Sure others can add,

    #2
    Once in a lifetime - The Story of the NY Cosmos

    What was this on, Rick? TV, DVD or at the cinema?

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      #3
      Once in a lifetime - The Story of the NY Cosmos

      sorry, it is a DVD

      made in 2006

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        #4
        Once in a lifetime - The Story of the NY Cosmos

        we did semi discuss it when it came out, I did and so did Liq. very briefly

        the old wsc

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          #5
          Once in a lifetime - The Story of the NY Cosmos

          Yeah, it was on TV a year or so back and I really enjoyed it. I learnt a lot as well, ignorant as I am of football in the States. And no, I'd never heard of Giorgio Chinaglia before and yes he really did seem a bit of a cunt.

          On a vaguely related note, I finally got around to watching Real: La pelicula the other day. About 4 years after it came out. Funny to see all the players in it who you'd almost forgotten about: Walter Samuel, for instance. Well, I've tried to forget about him anyway.

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            #6
            Once in a lifetime - The Story of the NY Cosmos

            read about chinaglia in paul foots history of italian football,the whole lazio team that one the league in 1974 were a gang of right wing lunatics.there were two factions and everyone came to training tooled up with pistols!as you say,he comes across as a right cunt in that film

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              #7
              Once in a lifetime - The Story of the NY Cosmos

              Signed it on from Notting Hill M&V Exchange for £3 on thursday. Saw it first time around.Its OK.

              I had a few PM's on here from Paul Foot regarding my posts on the original thread concerning his book. He went by the name of Calcioman back then and I believe had never started/replied on a thread.

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                #8
                Once in a lifetime - The Story of the NY Cosmos

                rick derris wrote:
                we did semi discuss it when it came out, I did and so did Liq. very briefly

                the old wsc
                It was discussed a lot more in one of the American soccer threads at the time that it was released here (I'll try to track it down). JV dropped mad knowledge and had some stuff to say about the film, as you might expect.

                My problem with the movie was that it was too much of a Cosmos lovefest, and didn't talk about the NASL as a whole all that much. Kind of too be expected when David Hershey was the biggest source the movie used, but still. You could watch the movie and not really have much of an idea that Cruyff, Best, Moore, and Neeskens also played in the NASL (and, since this was made for an American audience, even really know who they were).

                Here's a bit of a Hershey article on the movie:

                Nearly 30 years later, outside the theater at the Tribeca Film Festival, paparazzi were milling around, awaiting the arrival of the Cosmos stars. A rumor had it that Pelé would turn up, but that made no sense, since he had declined to participate in the documentary when the producers balked at his $100,000 fee.

                Beckenbauer would be the next best get, but as the head of the World Cup organizing committee, Der Kaiser was back home in Germany. So all cameras were focused on Chinaglia, who appeared burlier and less hirsute than in his playing days but still instantly recognizable. He looked like a dead ringer for Tony Soprano, right down to the Jersey accent and the eyes that twinkled at once with mischief and menace. When he enveloped me in a bear hug, I wasn't sure whether he was happy to see me after all these years or eager to crush the life out of me for past journalistic sins. The Cosmos hadn't referred to him as the Godfather for nothing.

                "Well, if it isn't the movie star," Chinaglia said with a smile before releasing me to breathe again.

                "C'mon, Giorgio, you're the real star of the movie," I countered.

                "No, I'm the villain," he said. "I'm the one everybody loves to hate. But I don't give a s--- because I delivered. I scored more goals than anybody in the history of the North American Soccer League, and I put people in the seats."

                This was undeniably true, but it struck me as bittersweet, even poignant, that he needed to have his ring kissed 30 years later.

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                  #9
                  Once in a lifetime - The Story of the NY Cosmos

                  I've got the book and the DVD. Really enjoyed both and took them to be a Cosmos 'love fest' rather than the story of the NASL - mybe I was mistaken ...

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                    #10
                    Once in a lifetime - The Story of the NY Cosmos

                    I got this book in Cardiff



                    It's quite interesting; I learnt that Pizza used to be called Italian Rarebit.

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