Cosmos make a comeback in the States

The New York Cosmos, who signed Pele and other football stars in the 1970s to help the game make a splash on the US sport scene, will make a comeback in 2013 in the North American Soccer League. Team officials announced on Thursday that they will begin play in the revived NASL, which folded as an elite league in 1984 after 17 seasons. The league, a level below Major League Soccer, now features US, Canadian and Caribbean teams. But in its heyday, with Pele helping spark New York to the 1977 NASL title in his final season with the club, the Cosmos were an all-star team of famous names aimed at raising the profile of football in America through star power. Germany's Franz Beckenbauer, late Italian striker Giorgio Chinaglia and former Brazil captain Carlos Alberto were among the stars that joined Pele on the Cosmos roster, helping the club sell out its 78,000-seat stadium for the 1978 final, which the Cosmos won over Tampa Bay.