In the months of September and October 1979, the mighty New York Cosmos embarked on a tour of Asia and Australia.

The tour was organised by Johnny Warren, who had become friends with Cosmos' Team Manager Julio Mazzei while chaperoning Australian children to the Pele Soccer Camps which were held in the USA. Mazzei was keen on adding Australia to the itinery as were Cosmos' owner Warner Communications.

Upon his return to Australia, Warren sought financial backing from Frank Lowy and then the Australian Soccer Federation, but both thought the risk was too high. In an act of desperation, Warren wrote about what was occurring, in his weekly football column and soon after received a called from entertainment booking agency, International Artists.

They were keen on staging sporting events, the Cosmos game interested them greatly, Warren was impressed by their enthusiasm, and a partnership was formed. In Warren's book, 'Sheilas, Wogs, and Pooftas', he says, "It turned out to be one of the most exciting times I have had working in football. I was working with new people with innovative ideas and a fresh approach to staging a soccer match and it opened my eyes to how much more could be achieved in staging high-profile sporting events in Australia."

In August of that year, astute Victorian Soccer Federation chief Michael Weinstein negotiated a $50,000 deal which saw the Cosmos play an extra game against Victoria at Olympic Park. He was quoted as saying at the time, "this will be the biggest promotion soccer has had in this country." Philips Soccer League side, Newcastle KB United were reported as being interested in hosting a game, but pulled out of the running, as the cost involved was much higher than thought. Adelaide City then entered into negotiations and secured the last game of the tour.

Cosmos arrived at Melbourne Airport without Brazilian Marinho, African Player of the Year Adbul Razak from Ghana and Ricky David, an American International, who had all been sent home after sustaining injuries earlier on the tour.

28,000 fans saw the multi-million dollar team begin the tour by winning it's 1st match against Victoria 3-2 in what turned out to be a hard-fought encounter. Dutch midfielder Johan Neeskens scored the winning goal with only five minutes left. Victoria trailed 0-1 at half time after a goal by Italian Giorgio Chingalia, but fought back strongly to equalise twice in the second half.

 

Soccer Action's Laurie Schwab wrote, "Franz Beckenbauer reigned supreme against Victoria because he was given room in which to play, but the surprises of the Cosmos team were left winger Seninho and centre back Nelsi Morais, both relatively unknown in Australia. Seninho was like a scalpel slicing up the Victorian defence and Morais, a Brazilian, was tough in the tackle and devastating when going forward. In my opinion, Morais was the best player of the match. But it was Beckenbauer who captured the imagination of the public and who caught the eye of the many players in the crowd. The players marvelled at Beckenbauer's icy composure, his miserly economy of movement, his uncanny ability to hit passes with any part of either foot over any distance. How often did he send the ball 40 metres crossfield to a teammates foot?" 

Victoria looked best when Gary Cole, Tommy Cumming (right), and Jimmy Rooney were in full attack. Jim Tansey was outstanding in defence, and goalkeeper Yakka Banovic had possibly his best game of the season. Victoria was playing well enough to deserve a draw, but in the end the greater individual talent of the Cosmos players was decisive. There was nothing the Victorian defence could do when Beckenbauer sent a corner kick into the penalty area, where Neeskens threw himself backwards to get his foot at the right angle to score the winning goal.

Johan Neeskens (pictured below right) wrote.

"The New York Cosmos were fortunate to beat Victoria 3-2 the last few minutes at Olympic Park yesterday. After Victoria's strong fightback we would have been happy enough with a 2-2 draw. The Victorians gave every ounce of their strength and courage in the second half, which was surprising in the light of their first half performance. We had been led to believe that they would mark us closely and that Franz Beckenbauer, Vladislav Bogicevic and I were in for special  attention. But it was very easy for us in the first 20 minutes. The Victorians weren't putting pressure on us at all.

Beckenbauer really enjoyed himself. He's usually marked closely anywhere we play, so this match was like a holiday for him. Without opponent he was able to show off his skills and be had time to play 30 and 40 metre passes from one side of the field to the other. Boaicevic was able to stroll around doing as he liked and I was also given room to play which was just as well as I had a badly swollen ankle which restricted my running.

We were moving the ball around well and we were making the Victorians do all the running, but the game got much harder for us after half-time. Suddenly, every Cosmos player was being challenged, everyone had an opponent at his heels. The two Victorian strikers, Gary Cole and Carl Gilder, started giving our defence a lot of trouble, although I must say that these two were good also in the first half.

The little winger, Tommy Cumming, impressed me as wll. He is so small, but he fights like a tiger. He had a lot of trouble with his opponent, Iranian Andranik Eskandarian who is a much bigger fellow, but Cumming was willing to take him on at soccer as well as in the rough stuff. Jimmy Rooney was excel­lent in midfield for Victoria after half-time. He was in the Australian team I admired so much during the 1974 World Cup finals. Little Cummming scored a good goal which levelled the scores.

Having come from behind, the Victorians now played with new energy and determination, while Cosmos found it hard to maintain their first half form. It was, after all, our 11th game of a five week tour.

But Senihno continued to have the better of his opponents on the wing. He suddenly broke away and played the ball square. Chinaglia let it go to me and I shot hard with my right foot - the bad one - for the goal that put us back into the lead. I understand now how Victoria managed to beat AEK Athen and Partizan Belgrade in it's past two games because before had been able to settle down to consolidate our lead, Jimmy Rooney waltzed through our defence and equalised again! We were worried now. I think most of the players were hoping that we would atleast hold on for a draw, We have lost games before after playing well.

With 5 minutes to go Beckenbauer played a short to Gary Etherington, got the ball back and shot hard into the middle. Chi­naglia headed it forward to­wards me. I was akward­ly placed but I hit it side ­ways on the volley while falling backwards,  and it went in for the winning goal. I do not want to single out good or bad players in the Cosmos side. It is up to the coach to do that. My own game would have been better had I not been slowed down by the bad ankle, but I was pleased atleast, to get the two goals. The game was slow bv American standards. We play most of our games on Astroturf.

Our centre back Morais (pictured right in a tussle with Gary Cole), came in for some criticism from the crowd when he caught the ball overhead in the

second half. He was shown the yellow card for it, and right­ly so, but he had no option but to catch the ball. Had he not done so, it would have gone to Cole who was running towards goal unmarked. I would have done the same as Morais.  It was a professional foul - a neccesary one to prevent a goal.

I look forward to playing 11 against Australia in Sydney on Wednesday night. If the Australians play with the same spirit they showed in the 1974 World Cup we are in for a difficult match."

And a difficult match it was.

International Artists had promoted the game heavily via newspaper, radio and unheard of at that time, television commercials which featured Johnny Warren. They also pre-sold tickets to the game, which was another first for Australian football fans who were use to arriving at the ground and purchasing a ticket at one of the turnstiles. 43,000 tickets had been sold for the game which was to take place at the Sydney Showgrounds. However an extra 15,000 fans turned up and climb over walls, backs fences and side gates to get in. An extra 150 police were called in, the streets around the ground came to a standstill as a 'deluge' of people flooded the area. Many fans, many with pre-purchased tickets, began leaving at halftime when they realised they could not get in. This was in stark comparison to the national league at the time, whose attendances were tumbling.

Inside the ground things weren't much better. Fans climbed the roofs and light towers, and thousands stood on the running track inside the fence. Despite the huge number that had turned up, police estimates at the time were between 100-150,000, there were no reported incidents. Pre-game entertainment consisted of skydivers and fireworks and Socceroo and Cosmos branded merchandise, such as a satin tour jacket, was available for purchase.

Michael Lo Proto attended the game as a ten year old boy with his father. "My father wanted to see Chinaglia play, and as we were Marconi fans, we also wanted to see how the Marconi players played for Australia. We parked about 5 kilometres from the ground because of the gridlock and walked to the ground. There were people everywhere. Some jumped fences to get in, and once were inside we were packed in like sardines. We stood behind the goals, watched the skydivers, and I remember everyone impatiently waiting for the game to kick off. At no time though was my father worried about our safety. My father purchased a Cosmos hat for me, we watched the game together and celebrated when we won. My father was amazed when the crowd spontaneously ran onto the field at the end of the game and carried the players off the ground. It was a memorable night for those lucky to be there."

Cosmos was dealt a blow before kick off when Neeskens and Tueart withdrew from the starting lineup. Despite this they started well with Beckenbauer striking the post after two minutes. However Australia soon got into their stride and took the lead in the 18th minute when Captain Jimmy Rooney nodded a crouching header past Cosmos' goalkeeper Berkenmeier.

Australia took control of the match from that moment and spurned 4 or 5 great chances to further increase their lead. In the 77th minute and against the run of play, Chinaglia scored the equaliser. The Cosmos side seemed content to settle for a draw but the Australians continued to press, and got their reward four minutes from time.

Rooney sent in a corner, and Tony Henderson was on hand to head it home.

When the final whistle blew, the crowd erupted and ran on the field to embrace their heroes, and for that moment it was not Beckenbauer, or Chinaglia who were chaired off the ground but rather Henderson and Rooney.

A Sydney Morning Herald journalist best summed up the feeling. "Cosmos Team Director Julio Mazzei was at pains to point out that the team had travelled many thousands of kilometres and played 11 matches on tour and did not have the player depth he would like. Few people at the ground would have felt it would have made much difference. The simple fact was, Australia's $100 a week players outgunned their millionaire opponents."

The Cosmos had one game left, and that was against the Philips National Cup Champions at the time, Adelaide City. If the game ended in a draw, it would be decided by a 'shootout', rather than penalties. In the 'shootout' which was introduced by North American soccer officials,  the kicker runs from halfway with the ball before shooting from the edge of the penalty area, but the Adelaide City players, who had been practicing the technique, never got the chance to try it out as the Cosmos ran out easy 2-0 winners. Goals to Tueart in the first half, and Chinaglia in the 72nd, secured the victory. 

After the game, Mazzei paid Adelaide's defender Bobby Russell a major compliment by stating that he was the best player he had seen in Australia. "I was most impressed with his work in defence and the way he shut down Giorgio (Chinaglia) out of the game. I'd welcome him. I said before the tour that we were on the lookout for Australian players in our team - we don't have any - and Russell is the type we are looking for."