“Most people didn’t know anything about soccer then,” Eskandarian said. “But they came because they were grabbed by the sport. It was all new to them, and from there it picked up.”
When the team wasn’t competing or training, it would travel throughout New Jersey to run clinics for hundreds of kids.
“We would go out and promote soccer. Most places didn’t have fields or goals — it was all baseball and football,” Eskandarian recalled. “It was giving back to the sport to help it grow. I’m glad we did that.”
Sometimes after Cosmos games, it would take hours to leave the stadium, he said. Fans would wait outside to catch a glimpse of their favorite players or get an autograph.
“People would barbecue outside waiting for us to come out, everybody offering us food and drinks,” he said. “It was a dream. They would treat us like kings. It was a love between the players and the fans. I have that sweetness in my heart, I can’t forget that.”
