The Cosmos blanked Valencia, 2-0 (Photo courtesy of the Cosmos)

REGINA,  Saskatchewan – The Cosmos defeated La Liga’s Valencia CF, 2-0, in the first international soccer exhibition match at New Mosaic Stadium Saturday afternoon.

Eric Calvillo and Emmanuel Ledesma tallied for the Cosmos.

“It’s been fantastic for us to be here,” Cosmos head coach Giovanni Savarese said. “We’re very privileged to have been invited to play in front of this beautiful crowd in this beautiful city.”

In the 54th minute, Eugene Starikov sent a low pass from the left side of the box towards Calvillo, who trapped the ball before drilling a right-footed shot past goalkeeper Neto.

New York doubled its lead in the 77th minute. Ryan Richter found Eugene Starikov at the top of the box, and the forward fired toward the net as Neto blocked the shot, but was helpless against Ledesma, who got on the end of the rebound to slot the ball home.

Cosmos goalkeeper Kyle Zobeck made several saves to preserve the shutout.

“I think the guys did very well,” Savarese said. “It’s a great result for them to now be confident against Miami.”

The Cosmos will kick off the 2017 North American Soccer League fall season when they host Miami FC at MCU Park next Saturday at 7 p.m.

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.