Exploring the Cosmos: International players such as Franz Beckenbauer and Pelé introduced the glamorous side of football to New Yorkers – both on and off the pitch
results. Or waited until the newspapers printed them, two days after the fact. The internet was more-or-less unknown and American TV didn’t show football. Keane invested a lot of money into a complicated satellite receiver and started showing English league matches, particularly those featuring his club, Manchester United. On his window he wrote: ‘Where Football Is Religion.’ He explains: “In this bar we don’t say ‘soccer’ since the world game of football should never have to act like a second-class citizen.” Fifteen years later, Keane’s bar turned into the epicentre of footballrelated activities in New York. He shows all the important games of all the major leagues in Europe and Latin America as well as most of the inconsequential ones: that’s more than a hundred matches a week on 17 screens. Nevada Smiths also serves as headquarters for official fan clubs of – among others – Olympique Marseille, PSG, HSV, Juve, AC, Inter and most English clubs. Only Liverpool supporters never show up, since their ancient rivalry with Man U won’t allow it. The most amusing days at Nevada Smiths come around every four years,
Name: Mike Messenie, 37 Origin: Newport Beach, USA Profession: Wine importer
Name: Kang, 55 Origin: China Profession: Footballer
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Name: Andrew Sutherland, 32 Origin: Michigan, USA Profession: Artist
The big league: AC Milan’s World Champions Gennaro Gattuso, Andrea Pirlo and Alberto Gilardino try to defend their goal during a friendly against CSC
when decisive World Cup qualifiers are played and matches on all continents take place the same day. People line up in front of the bar for 24 hours straight. The party begins around midnight when matches start in East Asia, bringing Japanese, Koreans and Australians flooding to the bar. One time zone after another kicks off matches and the audience changes nationality accordingly. Indians, Persians, Arabs show up in the morning; Europeans and Africans around noon and in early evening Americans follow them. Keane is proud that in all those years he never had to solve a serious fight. Back to Chrystie Street, where on a cold Tuesday morning, nine o’clock, the CSC boys hop over the frozen ground underfoot. Not every pass reaches its destination, sometimes the feet just don’t execute the brain’s intentions. But, hey, it’s hard to play in this icy place. More important, everyone here wants to have fun and look good. This isn’t a competitive organisation, but a street kick-around in New York. Most CSC players look more than averagely talented. Even some Adidas scouts spotted them during a summer tournament and offered to collaborate on designing a football boot. “We agreed to that one straight away,” says Stochl. “You don’t get an offer like that every week.” Seems even a multinational like Adidas