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 –
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