1978 North American Soccer League season

The 1978 North American Soccer League season was the 66th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer, the 11th with a national first-division league, in the United States and Canada.

Changes from the previous season

New teams

• Colorado Caribous
• Detroit Express
• Houston Hurricane
• Memphis Rogues
• New England Tea Men
• Philadelphia Fury

Teams folding

• None

Teams moving

• Connecticut Bicentennials to Oakland Stompers
• Las Vegas Quicksilver to San Diego Sockers
• St. Louis Stars to California Surf
• Team Hawaii to Tulsa Roughnecks

Name changes

• None

Season recap

Bolstered by the success of the previous season, the league added six teams to reach 24 in total.^[10] The Colorado Caribous launched in Denver,^[11] the Detroit Express^[12] and Houston Hurricane^[13] became the second and third teams to play in fully enclosed indoor stadiums, the Philadelphia Fury brought soccer back to Philadelphia,^[14] the New England Tea Men would be the third attempt to have NASL soccer succeed in the Boston area and the Memphis Rogues would bring pro soccer to Tennessee.

There were also the usual franchise movements. Team Hawaii became the Tulsa Roughnecks,^[15] the Las Vegas Quicksilver became the San Diego Sockers, the Connecticut Bicentennials became the Oakland Stompers and the St. Louis Stars moved to Anaheim to become the California Surf.

With so many new clubs, the NASL realigned into a six-division format while expanding the playoffs to include 16 teams. The new alignment was a direct copy of the NFL's setup, as the new three-division conferences were called the 'American Soccer Conference' and the 'National Soccer Conference', respectively. Each conference had East, Central and West divisions as well.^[16]

The top two teams in each division would quality for the playoffs. The other spots would go to the next best two teams in the conference, regardless of division. The top three seeds went to the division winners, seeds 4-6 went to the second place teams and the last two seeds were known as 'wild-cards' – another nod to the NFL. The winners of each successive round would be reseeded within the conference. The first round and the Soccer Bowl were single games, while the conference semifinals and championships were two-game series. As in the 1977 playoffs, if both teams were tied at one win apiece at the conclusion of Game 2, there would be a 30-minute sudden-death mini-game and a shootout if necessary.^[17]

The Cosmos would set records for most wins and points in an NASL season, thanks to their 24-6 regular-season mark (shared with the Vancouver Whitecaps) and 212 points. The Cosmos beat the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers, 7–0, on opening day^[18] and never looked back, scoring 88 times while losing just three games in regulation. Giorgio Chinaglia scored 34 goals and 79 points, setting league records in the process. He did not win regular season MVP honors, however. That award went to New England's Mike Flanagan, who scored 30 goals and 68 points while leading the Tea Men to an unlikely ASC East title. At the age of 36, Alan Hinton of Vancouver set a league record of his own with 30 assists.^[19]

Still, the Cosmos needed a major rally to beat the Minnesota Kicks in the NSC playoffs. The Kicks won the first game by an extraordinary 9–2 score behind Alan Willey's five goals,^[20] but the Cosmos won Game 2, 4–0, back at Giants Stadium. The resulting mini-game went to a shootout, and Carlos Alberto and Franz Beckenbauer scored goals to keep the Cosmos alive.^[21] The Portland Timbers were shut out over both games of the National Conference final,^[22] and the Tampa Bay Rowdies were beaten before 74,901 fans at Giants Stadium in the Soccer Bowl.^[23] The Cosmos became the first back-to-back champions in NASL history.

After the season the Colorado Caribous would move to Atlanta,^[24] while the Oakland Stompers would move to Edmonton just two months before the start of the 1979 NASL season.^[25] The Stompers had drawn over 32,000 for their opening game at the Oakland Coliseum,^[26] but were drawing crowds under 10,000 by the end of the season. The Caribous had the worst record in the league and only drew one crowd bigger than 10,000 the entire year.

Regular season

W = Wins, L = Losses, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, BP = Bonus Points, Pts = Point System

6 points for a win, 0 points for a loss, 1 point for each regulation goal scored up to three per game.

 -Premiers (most points).  -Other playoff teams.

NASL League Leaders

Scoring

GP = Games Played, G = Goals (worth 2 points), A = Assists (worth 1 point), Pts = Points

Goalkeeping

Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; W = Wins; L = Losses; SO = Shutouts

NASL All-Stars

First Team	Position	Second Team	Honorable Mention
Kevin Keelan, New England	G	Alan Mayer, San Diego	Bill Irwin, Washington
Carlos Alberto, Cosmos	D	Bruce Wilson, Chicago	Maurice Whittle, Fort Lauderdale
Mike England, Seattle	D	Arsene Auguste, Tampa Bay	Werner Roth, Cosmos
Ray Evans, California	D	John Craven, Vancouver	Jim Steele, Washington
Chris Turner, New England	D	Alan Merrick, Minnesota	Dave D'Errico, New England
Franz Beckenbauer, Cosmos	M	Vladislav Bogićević, Cosmos	Ace Ntsoelengoe, Minnesota
Gerry Daly, New England	M	Alan Ball, Philadelphia	George Best, Fort Lauderdale
Rodney Marsh, Tampa Bay	M	Ray Hudson, Fort Lauderdale	József Horváth, Rochester
Mike Flanagan, New England	F	Steve Hunt, Cosmos	Dennis Tueart, Cosmos
Trevor Francis, Detroit	F	Steve Wegerle, Tampa Bay	Karl-Heinz Granitza, Chicago
Giorgio Chinaglia, Cosmos	F	Kevin Hector, Vancouver	Clyde Best, Portland • Jorgen Kristensen, Chicago

Playoffs

The first round and the Soccer Bowl were single game match ups, while the conference semifinals and championships were all two-game series.^[27]

Bracket

Conference Quarterfinals

Conference semifinals

In 1978, if a playoff series was tied after two games, a 30 minute, golden goal, mini-game was played. If neither team scored in the mini-game, they would move on to a shoot-out to determine a series winner. *Teams were re-seeded for the Conference Semifinals based on regular season point totals. This affected only one of the four series; Tampa Bay versus San Diego.^[28]

Conference Championships

Soccer Bowl '78

August 27

4:00 pm EDT

Cosmos	3–1	Tampa Bay Rowdies
Tueart 30:42' (Iarusci, Hunt) Chinaglia 44:38' Tueart 76:49' (Iarusci, Roth)	Report	Mirandinha 73:34' (Robb)

Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ

Attendance: 74,901

Referee: Jim Highet (Canada)

1978 NASL Champions: Cosmos

Playoff Statistics

Mini-games are not counted as games played when compiling individual statistics. They are included in the minutes played category.

Scoring

GP = Games Played, G = Goals (worth 2 points), A = Assists (worth 1 point), Pts = Points

Goalkeeping

Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; W = Wins; L = Losses; SO = Shutouts

Post season awards

• Most Valuable Player: Mike Flanagan, New England
• Coach of the Year: Tony Waiters, Vancouver
• Rookie of the Year: Gary Etherington, Cosmos
• North American Player of the Year: Bob Lenarduzzi, Vancouver^[29]

Team attendance totals

References

1979 Official North American Soccer League Guide. New York: North American Soccer League. 1979.

Jose, Colin (1989). NASL: A Complete Record of the North American Soccer League. Derby, England: Breedon Books.

Jose, Colin (2003). North American Soccer League Encyclopedia. Haworth, New Jersey: St. Johann Press.

Wangerin, David (2008). Soccer In A Football World. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

External links

• The Year in American Soccer – 1978
• Chris Page's NASL Archive

This page was last edited on 21 February 2024, at 17:00