The Spanish forward recently had his record of 323 Madrid goals bettered by Cristiano Ronaldo, but his haul of 16 trophies with the Santiago Bernabeu club still surpasses the Portuguese’s tally.
Advertisement
Name almost any feat in the game of soccer and Raul has achieved it. The striker is the fifth highest scorer in the history of La Liga competitions. “I would like it”, he said.
Included in that crowd were several members of Cosmos championship teams of decades past, as well as former Italy defender Alessandro Nesta, who is now head coach of the NASL’s Miami FC, and NY Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony, the owner of the NASL’s expansion team in Puerto Rico and fresh off a 29-point game at Madison Square Garden only hours prior.
Ultimately, Heinemann’s brace was not enough to keep his team in it and the Fury’s championship hopes flamed out when the final whistle blew to award the Cosmos their second Soccer Bowl trophy in only three modern era seasons. Raul has planned to retire after the match. “They scored a goal, but we rebounded right back”.
Raul, though, would end his brilliant career, fittingly, with a victory. “We want to make sure it’s a big day for Ottawa Fury FC”.
Cellerino’s second goal came two minutes after Ottawa equalized on a goal by Tom Heinemann off a through ball from Andrew Wiedeman. Ottawa were forced to play without one of their best players, Julian de Guzman, due to a few poor planning by the NASL. The franchise is in another stage of growth following a 29-year absence from the USA soccer scene. This one was even sweeter.
“We’re going to miss them tremendously”, Mendes said of the duo.
“This is like a dream, to finish in one final, to win one hard game, ” he said.
The result proved the flawless send-off for Spanish icon Raul who was playing his final competitive game for the storied United States franchise before retiring.
He told he reporters after the match: “I’m happy but it’s tinged with a few sadness”.
“There’s no point in getting to a final if you don’t win it. I think Sunday you get nervous, you get excited, butterflies, all that but you can’t get too caught up in all that stuff as well because then your mind might not be on the game as much as it should be”. Well when Raul retired, there were no tears from the sky.
Advertisement
“Thank you for having perfectly understood our sense of what it means to overcome, and our maxim of never giving in”.
