Raul, Senna exits give Cosmos extra motivation in NASL championship game

When the Cosmos take the Shuart Stadium field today to play the Ottawa Fury FC for the North American Soccer League crown, they will have extra motivation.

Not only are they aiming for an unprecedented seventh league title, they want to win for two icons of Spanish and international soccer -- Raul and Marcos Senna.

Raul, 38, and Senna, 39, will play in their final matches after long, illustrious careers.

"They've had unbelievable careers and they are focused," Cosmos captain Carlos Mendes said. "They have been doing it all year long. For us to share the field, the locker room with two great individuals and great people is definitely special. We want to send them off as champions."

Raul who connected for the game-winner in the 2-1 semifinal win over Fort Lauderdale last week, has 415 career goals in 977 matches.

"I would like to win another title, but I really want it for my teammates and for the club," he said, adding that there has been "a lot of effort by everyone to be in this position. I have been lucky to win leagues, but I would like to win to finish my career with another title. It's not easy. But we have a lot of chance to win."

The Fury, in only its second year as an NASL team, not surprisingly has some other ideas.

"We're in our bubble," Fury coach Marc dos Santos said. "What can we say about Raul and Senna? there's a lot of respect. We're very focused with winning. There's nothing wrong with Raul retiring and us winning the league."

Quite appropriately, the game pits the two best NASL sides. They are evenly matched as the season series finished at 1-1-1.

The Cosmos secured the spring season crown and finished with the best overall record (15-4-11, 56 points). They have a five-game winning streak, playing their best soccer in months as the second best defensive side (30 goals allowed)

The Fury is hardly a pushover. Ottawa (15-4-11, 56), which finished second via a tiebreaker, has allowed a league-low 23 goals. Its back four has started 26 consecutive matches. Moreover, Ottawa is unbeaten in its last 26 matches (15-1-10) and owns a 13-game unbeaten streak (8-1-5).

"They're a tough team. They're very organized," Cosmos goalkeeper Jimmy Maurer said. "They're very together. They defend with everything. They try to catch you on the counterattack."

Which the Cosmos discovered in a 4-1 loss to Ottawa Sept. 22, breaking their 18-home unbeaten streak.

"It's a funny game. You go back and watch that game, we controlled so much of it," Maurer said. "They had four shots and scored four goals on four breaks. 'It wasn't anything, that 'Oh, my gosh, they dominated us.'

"So it's a game where we're if sharp and if we can play the way we want to play, if we finish our chances, it could be our game, no problem."