February 2025 BAYERN LIFE
Another honour : The Cosmos won the North American Soccer
League Trophy in 1980 .
equipped , and the Cosmos played in a stadium on the former prison island of Randalls in the middle of the East River , with broken glass on the pitch . But Roth had already established himself in his profession so he was fine with the way things were . He worked during the day and trained in the evenings – until the glamour factor increased abruptly and immeasurably with Pelé and Beckenbauer and the games were suddenly played in the Yankee or Giants Stadium , with over 75,000 spectators in the stands . Roth says he learnt a lot from Beckenbauer : “ He was always professional , always on top of things !“ He went to pick up the “ Kaiser “ again the day after his arrival , to chauffeur him from the hotel to training this time . “ I was late , as usual ,“ says Roth , “ Beckenbauer , quite the punctual German , was already waiting in the lobby – and he was angry .“
The new teammate threw his bag in the boot and said nonchalantly : “ Trust me , they won ‘ t start training today without you !“ That broke the ice . “ Franz kept saying : Thank God you ‘ re here , Werner !“ The two got on well on the pitch and socialised in the evenings , and a bath after every game was part of their regeneration programme . Kissinger once came into the dressing room while the duo were relaxing in the bathtub . “ Please remain seated , gentlemen ,“ he said in fluent German , he only wanted to have met Franz Beckenbauer once in his life . The New York Cosmos players were stars in the city packed with the famous . “ The artist Andy Warhol lived in Beckenbauer ‘ s neighbourhood , and if you went jogging in the morning , you would meet Yoko Ono walking her dogs ,“ says Roth , “ at night we were at the bar with Mick Jagger at ‘ Studio 54 ‘, and when Cassius Clay –
FC Bayern Magazine 69