More Old School Soccer: Cosmos and Aztecs

The two largest metropolitan centers in America definitely had teams during the NASL era, and one was the most famous soccer team in the country for a long time.

The New York Cosmos was the team that most Americans associated with American pro-soccer, and this is because the Brazilian great Pele played for them in the twilight of his playing days after retiring from the Brazilian leagues. I mention that because much had changed by the time Maradona went and played for Napoli, and the bickering between the two, Pele and Maradona, sometimes centers on how Pele never played in Europe. It just wasn't like that back then, that South America's best players went and played their primes in the top European leagues (Maradona in the '80s, Messi, Forlan, Suarez today).

So...here's a look at the Cosmos logo:

With soccer's popularity on the rise in the States, as well as the growth of the organized minor soccer leagues, the NASL has been reformed, and one of their charter teams is to reform the Cosmos, and use the old logo as the basis for the new team.

This next logo is the new Cosmos team playing in the new NASL:

In the second largest metro-zone in the US, the name of the team represented the heritage of who they figured would make up the bulk of the fan base:

You still see shirts around here with the following orange logo; it seemed to be used fora longer time than the navy and yellow. Personally, I prefer the navy and yellow, but that shows more of my own beliefs about the core California color scheme.

A cool name and cool design. I almost wish the MLS had gone with Aztecs for their LA franchise, but you get the idea they're trying to broaden the horizon of whom can identify with the team.

And, for no other reason than I have them, here are the two NASL logos themselves.

Here's the original:

And here's the new and current logo, with obvious design cues taken from the original: