Cosmos return, lose 3-1 to Portland at home

When the opening whistle blew at Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson, NJ, the Cosmos were back playing professional soccer for the first time since the fall of 2020. But the team's debut in USL League One ended with a disappointing 3-1 loss to Portland Hearts of Pine.

It was a day that mixed spectacle and soccer. It starred the Cosmos, a team with a legendary name that, with little warning, announced a return to play last summer. Today, 4,099 fans were in attendance at the historic venue to watch the latest iteration of the Cosmos take the field.

Cosmos head coach Davide Corti said after the game that Portland was a good test for his unit. "Overall, we played against a very good team, of course, more experienced than us because of the previous seasons that they played already together last year, if I'm not wrong, they ended up playing the playoffs," Corti told Hudson River Blue. "That tells you a lot about the strength of the team that we played against. But, I believe that as the first game we played very well.

In a game when five players – including four starters – made their professional debuts, the home side showed their youth and inexperience at times. But they were bolstered by veterans who could create plays.

Hearts beat, Cosmos flux

The first 45 minutes of the game were cagey. The Hearts, who reached the league semifinals last year only to lose in penalty kicks, needed to see if a team in its sophomore season was the real deal. The Cosmos needed to find out what they were at all. The same could be said of the crowd, which filled in more and more as the bottlenecked entrances at Hinchcliffe finally allowed the fans to enter.

The announced attendance of over 4,000 included close to 600 Hearts fans.

Portland's Titus Washington, the team's co-Rookie of the Year in 2025, got the first big break of the match in the 12th minute. Midfielder Masashi Wada threaded a pass through the Cosmos backline to an onside Washington, who was in on goal and curved a shot past Cosmos keeper Tristan Stephani that hit off the right post. (He also ended the half with another great chance when Mo Mohamed sent a cross into the box where a jumping Washington caused Stephani to make a point-blank save just as the half ended.)

As the time wore on, the Cosmos started to look less like an exhibition team and more like a unit. A team sequence opened with Massimo Morabito crossing the ball from the left side into the box in the 22nd minute. Midfielder Ajmeer Spengler quickly headed it toward Cosmos veteran Sebastián Guenzatti, whose one-touch redirect required a reaction save by Hearts' keeper Hunter Morse.

It's hard to say what changed exactly in that first half. But striker Guenzatti, speaking after the match, was quick to praise the run of bodies right behind him. "I thought (Christian) Koffi today in the first half was a huge part of our game, you know? Without him out there, probably none of the chances would have happened," Guenzatti said, also noting how that saved early chance could have changed the entire complexion of the match. "Same thing with Spengler. Everybody had a really good game."

Christian Koffi, the team's high-performing but probably not-sexy-to-most-people addition, was a threat on the wide wing. Balls on the left side were a constant issue for Portland thanks to the former Chicago Fire II star's ability to get wide and either drive in or launch to the middle. Spengler played like a Swiss Army knife who could either assist or attack in the box.

The Cosmos ended the first half with the majority of shots (5:2) and shots on target (2:1). Darren Sidoel, Koffi, and Justin Milovanov all had chances within three minutes of each other just after the half-hour mark. The former's chance was the biggest when a Davide Galazzini long ball was cleared to Sidoel 30 yards out from goal. He launched a shot that rang off the crossbar which could have been a goal of the year contender.

Portland pours it on

The Cosmos started the second half well – unlike the ESPN video feed, which had technical difficulties at multiple points during the match – but it was Hearts who scored first. Because of the broadcast glitch, the only Portland fans to watch it in real time were the 600 who made the trek to Hinchcliffe.

Cypriot midfielder Konstantinos Georgallides scored his first professional goal in the 56th minute, off a cross from Masashi Wada that led to a header with force that Stephani had no chance to stop.

Stephani had been getting tested just before that. English midfielder Ollie Wright had back-to-back chances in the 50th and 52nd minutes. The former was a shot right at Stephani that was saved, leading to a Cosmos counter that couldn't be finished before the attacking player fell in the box due to pressure. A minute later, Wright curved a shot from the top left of the box, getting the ball just over a diving Stephani, but it just skidded over the crossbar.

Even when the Cosmos equalized in the 73rd minute, Portland were able to respond right away. A Portland corner kick couldn't be fully cleared, and found John Kamara on the left side, who one-touched the ball into the middle, where Wada quickly gave a left-footed shot to the right side of the net to make it 2-1.

The goal sucked a lot of life out of the neutrals in the crowd who weren't sitting in either team's supporter section. The Cosmos did have chances, both from Koffi and Spengler. Koffi caused issues dribbling on the left side, even getting an ill-hit chance on goal in the 83rd.

Spengler, meanwhile, had his own runs, many of which went nowhere once Portland got around him. The best of which came in the 84th minute, when a through ball to Guenzatti went just a bit too far. Corti said after the game that it was something Spengler needed to get better at.

"In the second half, we had probably a couple of chances where Spengler was driving the ball for a big chunk of field," Corti explained. "I guess that once you do that and you end up at the edge of the box and there's not so many options, you should probably pass the ball on the side, and I guess that we had the chances a couple of times. That's the only thing that I can tell him to get better at."

Portland clinched it in the 86th when a long goal kick from Morse found Wright, who nicely side-kicked a pass to an on-the-run Aboubacar Camara. The halftime sub held off the defenders on him and ran into the right side of the box, poking a shot into the opposite netting.

Welcome to history, Darren Sidoel

The first goal in this new iteration of the Cosmos came in the second half, down by one, with the fans erupting for the moment.

A throw-in by teenage defender Massimo Morabito found Dutch midfielder Darren Sidoel, who quickly passed off to Ajmeer Spengler. Under pressure from Portland, Spengler quickly passed it to his right back to a running Sidoel, who drove through the defense to the top of the box.

He ripped a shot from the top, sending Portland keeper Hunter Morse to his right, where he wasn't able to make contact to stop the ball. In the 73rd minute, history was made when the score was equalized at 1-1.

Sidoel, who at 28 has already played across Europe and for the Dutch youth national teams, spoke to the media after the match about the historic goal.

"It feels really good always to score goals, feels good. They didn't bring me here to score goals, but I know I have the quality to shoot from outside the box," he said with a smile. "It's one of the qualities I have, and I know I can score a goal from there. So, yeah, happy that, that it went in.

He joins an illustrious list of players to score the first goal for the Cosmos in various leagues.

• On April 17, 1971, Bermuda international Randy Horton scored the first-ever Cosmos goal against the St. Louis Stars on the road at the original Busch Memorial Stadium in the North American Soccer League season opener.
• 42 years later, on August 3, 2013, Yugoslavian forward Peri Marošević scored the first goal of the second Cosmos iteration in the second North American Soccer League. That game took place at Shuart Stadium on the campus of Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY, against the Fort Lauderdale Strikers.
• Finally, on August 15, 2020, in front of a COVID crowd of zero fans at Mitchel Athletic Complex in Uniondale (minus those watching behind chainlink fencing), Montenegrin forward Bljedi Bardic scored the first league goal for the Cosmos in the National Independent Soccer Association against Michigan Stars FC.

Funny enough, in a very Cosmopolitan way, he also represents the fourth nationality to score the first goal — none of whom were American.

Moving forward

The Cosmos are back, and now we are left with the question: What next?

For Corti, it will be getting his team more disciplined and cohesive. The Italian head coach said after the match that his group needs to be more cynical and fundamental in their training.

"I'm comfortable and happy that we're going to be doing something better the next time," Corti said. "[The players will] be more cynical, and that's what we lack sometimes. We like to play more, sometimes, superficial drills, I would say, instead of being more effective. That's something that I need to speak to the team about. I guess that if we work on those, taking off those Ronaldo things. That are slowing down the guys with the with the ball in their feet, we're gonna get something more out of every game."

Guenzatti, who previously spent four seasons with the Cosmos in NASL 2.0 and won three league championships, spoke highly of the youth players. The 34-year-old striker said that a lot of them played up to the necessary level.

"Most of the game, I thought we played really well. There were some mistakes that cost us the goal. It was some reaction mistakes that we could definitely improve," Guenzatti explained. "But I thought the guys did an unbelievable job. We have a 17-year-old playing out there, playing up to the standards. Like I said before, I'm really happy, really happy, that what they gave, everything they gave, out there."