Former Real Madrid legend Raul officially unveiled by New York Cosmos

Raul being unveiled by the New York Cosmos

Seamus O’Brien, Cosmos Chairman

Good morning everybody – the counsel general of Spain, Señor Salazar, North American Soccer League Commissioner Bill Peterson, to our players past and present, particularly club captain Carlos Mendes, to our partners, to the media gathered here and from around the world.

But above all, to our wonderful supporters, and our friends –welcome to what is another special day in the history of this great football club. I’ll be brief, as I know that there’s only one man that you really want to speak to today, but there are just a few things I’d like to say, if I may.

Firstly, and I know Fernando [Fiore, conference moderator] just touched on it; I’d like to send you all best wishes from our club president, Pelé. He had planned to be here with us today, but as you all know, he’s had a difficult few weeks, and very reluctantly couldn’t join us. However, I am happy to report that he’s faring much better, and I believe even today, he should leave the hospital.

But this announcement continues the extraordinary legacy unique to this club, and is something very close to his heart, indeed. And I’m sure that you’ll join me in wishing him a speedy recovery to full health.

But this welcome party, if I can call it that, is about so much more; more than just building another storied chapter in the life of this team. As an organization, we are committed to laying the strongest foundations possible, on which to build our future success. And that is both on and off the field, and as part of the global game.

Raúl’s commitment, not only to play but to lead our academy in the years ahead, is central to our plans for ensuring our long-term growth and development. But perhaps most importantly, for building the ties to the communities, in which we live and work.

18 months ago, when we announced our long-term partnership with Emirates Airlines in this very room, the Cosmopolitan Room, there were six iconic jerseys up on the stage –their other partner clubs from around the world. Little did I think then, that a year and a half later we’d be all gathered here again, celebrating the arrival in New York City, of perhaps the most iconic player of his generation from one of those great teams, Real Madrid. But, that’s life, that’s football, and this is the New York Cosmos.

So with that, ladies and gentlemen, I’d now like to hand you over to our stellar head coach, Giovanni Savarese, who has done an outstanding job in just a very short period of time, to just come and say a few words. Gio. Thank you.

Giovanni Savarese, Cosmos Head Coach

Thank you very much Seamus. Thank you all for being here today.

When we started this adventure, we were fully aware of the history of the Cosmos – the great players the Cosmos have had in the past, the legacy that was created, and those years of beautiful soccer that they were able to give us.

I had the chance to be there once to watch them play, so when I was able to be a part of it, I had great pride. For me it was a great honor to be a part of this project. But we knew that we had to create a new future. We had to create a new future in which we had to honor that past. We had to make those players that participated in the past proud, and we have worked very hard, day by day, to make sure that we do that, and we have a lot of work to do in the future.

But in such a short amount of time, we were able to win a championship, we’re able to be connected with the community, we’ve been able to define a clear style of play that we want to keep on growing. We’ve been able to attract local players, and we were able to attract another player in particular, Marcos Senna, who was a vision at that moment, because we hadn’t even played one game at the time. He was convinced to be a part of the club.

In order to continue going forward, we have to make big steps. I go back to the time in November 2013, when we traveled for Marcos Senna’s testimonial match at Villarreal, and I was interviewed at that time by a journalist in Spain.

Out of the blue, the journalist asked me, “If you had the chance to pick one player right now, that you could sign, who would you pick?”, and I said “Raúl”, as a matter of fact, never thinking in a million years that months later we’d be able to meet in Qatar, and spend one day completely with him, and find out a lot more than everything that’s written out there in the newspapers.

Raúl is a player who broke so many records, who won so many titles, who did so much in soccer, and will do so much in soccer, still. I found a person who is passionate about the sport. I found a person that cares about the little details. And most of all, I found a person with a great passion for developing players; for making a difference. That’s what he was doing in Qatar.

So talking throughout that day, I found he was the person for us to bring in. It took a little while, a few months, to explain the project, to make him understand what we were. And once he came here to New York, and we were able to meet his beautiful family –because that’s the other thing, he’s a great family man – he was convinced that everything that we said was true.

It’s a true project – what we have on hand. And not only is he going to help us on the field, but he’s going to help us in the structure of building the club back to where it belongs in the future as well.

So, I’m very pleased to say thank you for accepting, for being here today, and I’m excited for the future, because we’re going to make the past proud of what we’re going to build in the future. Thank you.

Raúl, New York Cosmos Forward

Good morning, and thank you everyone for being here today. I want to thank Seamus for giving me this opportunity, for being able to come play for the New York Cosmos, and I also want to thank Giovanni for trusting me with this project. It’s a great honor to become part of this historic and grand club. I hope to add to the great history of the New York Cosmos, and contribute to its great future.

My focus will be on the field, helping the team win many games, and to pass along my experience to the younger players.

I will also help to develop the structure of our youth academy.

Thank you again for being here, and I’m looking forward to seeing everyone this season.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Earlier this year you visited New York and the Cosmos, and you got a chance to meet the players. What was it about the players that convinced you to come here, and why did you decide to come here rather than continue playing overseas, or return to Real Madrid?

Raúl: Giovanni Savarese was calling me every month, every other month.

The project convinced me because I was looking forward to coming to the United States, and there’s no better city than New York to be in, and the club has had some great stars like Pelé.

I was able to participate and train with the club, and after that I had very little doubt that this was indeed a great project, and I was ready to sign. I’m very much looking forward to starting.

There’s a very important word for me which is passion – this word has been transmitted to me.

I know that this is going to be a challenge, professionally and personally, as well as at a family level. But I think it’s going to be great, and I’m ready to move forward with this.

How do you feel the level of the play in the U.S. is compared to Europe, since a lot of great players are coming here?

Raúl: You can’t compare the level of play in Europe to any other place in the world. But I was really surprised to see NASL games, and while I expected to see maybe only physical games, it was a great game. The level is improving basically day by day, and the United States National Team did a great job in the World Cup in Brazil. I’m very pleased that the level of American soccer is getting better and better.

What do you think of teams like Manchester City, who are now becoming an owner of a team here in the United States?

Raúl: It will help, but this is not necessarily the norm. Since there are so many millions of people here that can have great teams, we basically don’t need to get all the big teams in Europe to bring teams here to the United States.

During the summer time there are many of these big teams, like Real Madrid and the Manchester clubs and so on, that come to play tournaments here in the United States, from north to south and east to west. And we’re filling up the stadiums. That is great because a lot of kids can go see those big teams, and that will get them involved in soccer. The kids are the future of soccer in the United States, we know that.

How do you feel about Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, breaking record after record, and how do they compare with players of your generation?

Raúl: Messi and Cristiano are great players who you can’t compare with anybody. They are breaking records week after week, and obviously they’re going to keep breaking records over the years, but there are many other great players.

What are the details of your contact with the Cosmos?

Raúl: I have a contract for two years. I will try to play those two years, but it might be one, maybe two, maybe even three years. If the body says this is it in six months, I will be more involved in the academy. I moved here with something in mind – bringing my family to enjoy New York, which is one of the best cities in the world, and I’m committed to that. There are no limits and no deadlines. I will hopefully play for many, many, many years.

Savarese: I want to make a point about the academy. His involvement from the beginning is that he will be helping the director, which we are going to add to our staff. The director will be full time, but Raúl will be advising this director about building the curriculum, building the structure, and building the entire academy for us. We want to make sure that it is uniform, from the top to the bottom.

I’ve had many people talk to me who are so excited about the fact that we signed Raúl. He is definitely one of the greatest players in the history of the game, and for me it’s a great honor to be able to coach a player like him.

Do you have any plans to go back to Spain?

Raúl: My plan is to build an academy, and work on this project with the Cosmos. It won’t take six months for this kind of big project, but I’m committed to being here with the Cosmos now. If I return to Spain at any given time, for obvious reasons it would probably be with Real Madrid.

Whatever I’m doing here now with the Cosmos would be a great experience to go and apply with Real Madrid, or anywhere else. This is a great project that I’m embracing very much.

Do you think Real Madrid is going to do well this year?

Raúl: I will follow my team in the Champions League and so on, but the decision for the league is in May, where they will be fighting for that trophy with the other teams – Atlético Madrid and Barcelona.

Since you’re going to be playing in Long Island, and there are a lot of Latin people there, some of whom are Barcelona fans, what are your expectations about the reception you will receive?

Raúl: I have friends in Barcelona. I hope that starting in April, a lot of the Latin people in Long Island, and everybody in Long Island will embrace the Cosmos. I’m ready for April. I’m ready to start playing.

Raúl would be a huge signing for any club in the United States, but especially for a division two side. You’ve said in the past that the club has aspirations to be at the top tier of American soccer. Is Raúl a sign of the Cosmos’ endeavor to achieve just that?

O’Brien: If you want to call it second division. When I last looked we won the league [in 2013], which in my world means we are first division, aren’t we?

As that doesn’t happen to exist here at the moment, there’s nothing much we can do. We’ve proven on the field that we’re a match for anyone in this country. We are 16 months old – we first kicked a ball again last August. We’re on a journey; who knows where that journey is going to go?

We can only play within the structure that exists here today. We’ve chosen a path for very good reasons – there are players in this league who we believe in. We’ve chosen the business model of this league, which we believe in, because it’s the one that the rest of the world plays. We believe it’s competitive, it’s getting better every month, and let’s just see where that journey goes.

We’ve shown here today, as we did with Marcos Senna, and indeed as other teams in the league have shown, we have no limits to where we think we can go. And today is just an example of that. In the years ahead there will be more. We know where we’re going.

Since there are so many top players from Europe coming to the United States, what experiences do you think they bring to the United States?

Raúl: They will bring the kids, the attention, because they are the big idols. I would like to be a part of this movement, and see the kids getting out of school and going to play soccer, and follow those big idols coming from Europe.

A few days ago, I was in Central Park, and next to a baseball field they started to kick the ball around, and all of a sudden there were 14 kids playing soccer. That is the main reason, and that is why the academy will try to develop those kids to help soccer grow in the United States.

Savarese: There are many players in Europe, and we get calls from many players on a consistent basis, but it needs to be the right people. We have a lot of work to do. We have people like Raúl, who is passionate, who wants to teach, and wants to help and share his experience. We need those people. We don’t just need names to come in here because of what they did in the past. We need people that want to be here because they want to help the growth of soccer.

And that’s what I found with Raúl, and that’s the passion that he wants to share here.