NASL's New York Cosmos vs La Liga's Valencia CF Friendly in Regina July 22

[CDNFootballer]

Valencia CF and New York Cosmos will square off in soccer friendly at Regina's new Mosaic Stadium

Though the new Mosaic Stadium is home of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, this summer it will host an international soccer event.

Spain’s Valencia CF and the New York Cosmos will play in a “friendly” game on Saturday July 22, as the Riders are away in Calgary.

Both teams will arrive in Regina on Thursday, July 20. They’ll run training events and practices on Friday. The University of Regina women’s soccer team will play the University of Saskatchewan as part of the festivities.

http://leaderpost.com/news/local-news/valencia-cf-and-new-york-cosmos-will-square-off-in-soccer-friendly-at-reginas-new-mosaic-stadium

 

[Moldy9]

Interesting. I wonder what attendance they'll draw for this match. Is there something more to this game? WC? CPL?

[Steedman]

The most random news regarding soccer in Canada, probably ever.

[hamiltonfan]

14 hours ago, Steedman said:

The most random news regarding soccer in Canada, probably ever.

Agreed - would love to understand how this came about and the economics behind it. 

[CDNFootballer]

New York Cosmos In Regina to take on Valencia CF Today,Saturday,July 22 at 6:00 pm ET. Watch on BeIN Sports TV.

Cosmos Come to the Queen City for the New Mosaic

http://www.nycosmos.com/news/2017/07/21/cosmos-come-to-the-queen-city-for-the-new-mosaic

This will be the first visit to Saskatchewan for the Cosmos. The Saskatchewan Soccer Association was formed in 1906, with games being played by the association code in the province as early as 1889. Jennifer Ellarma, Coordinator of Communications and Funds Development for the Saskatchewan Soccer Association, explained the historic magnitude of the friendly visit:

For us in Saskatchewan, the opportunity to think of a team like the New York Cosmos coming our way is something that, if you talk to many that have been around for decades, they never thought they would see happen. When you talk about the likes of a Pelé and players of that caliber playing in a team like New York, it inspires I would think players of old, who remember that era, and inspires the young families they have, too. So it’s a really great opportunity for us to see almost two-or-three generations of soccer in our province coming out to see a team like New York.

 

[nolando]

My Grade 4 journalism summer school class produces better writing, but here is a write up nevertheless. They drew more than 15 K.

http://leaderpost.com/sports/soccer/international-soccer/cosmos-blank-valencia-in-soccer-friendly

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Going beyond the low key I don't want to be here vibe to the article, how many column inches was that? Looks like some of the older generation hockey football baseball only brigade are still determined to keep soccer sidelined. Impressive crowd assuming everybody paid to get in given neither of the clubs involved is normally a huge draw in North America in a Manchester United or Real Madrid sort of way. That should be more than enough to convince the investors to proceed.

[Greatest Cockney Rip Off]

Wow that is great numbers for two teams that I thought would have a hard time attracting spectators. That is even impressive if all the tickets were freebies. Can't wait to see what they do for a CPL stadium. 

[red card]

Watched parts of the match on BEIN. First shock was seeing the CFL lines/has marks in some sort of yellow which after some thought made sense since it blended in more with the soccer lines. Mosaic logo was also shaded out but still quite visible.

Crowd seemed quite energetic but when showed after the 2 Cosmos goals, nobody seemed to be clapping. Maybe they were all Valencia supporters. There was some chants of ole ole and the prequiste Mexican wave was done during a hydration break.

 

Cosmos players seemed really into the match given their goal celebrations. Valencia didn't show much but I'm assuming this was their first pre-season match. 

For 15k and given the tight camera angles, the stadium only looked empty when the endzone was shown. Plus, the stands shown on tv were largely bathed in the sun, so it was hard to tell the empty seats from people.

[Unnamed Trialist]

Valencia won their first two preseason games, one vs. Sporting Lisbon, but fans and press were teed off by this one, but they do tend to be the most unreasonably demanding in Spain. They spent a lot of last season in relegation zone and were pretty bad, and now they see things still need improvement. The press said they fell apart. Marcelino, the coach, said they made mistakes that they have time to tix. He did praise the stadium, they seemed to be surprised by it. Also, reviewing their time training at U of Regina and the reports from their web in general, they were quite positive about fans coming out, facilities, overall organization.  

The press did point out how unpleasant those CFL lines are, and I agree, and also mentioned the ref called the half at 43:45, suggesting that maybe his counting skills were not so sharp.