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
Map of clubs
Season recap Bolstered by the success of the previous season, the league added six teams to reach 24 in total. The Colorado Caribous launched in Denver, the Detroit Express and Houston Hurricane became the second and third teams to play in fully enclosed indoor stadiums, the Philadelphia Fury brought soccer back to Philadelphia, 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, 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.
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.
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 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.
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, 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. The Portland Timbers were shut out over both games of the National Conference final, and the Tampa Bay Rowdies were beaten before 74,901 fans at Giants Stadium in the Soccer Bowl. The Cosmos became the first back-to-back champions in NASL history.
After the season the Colorado Caribous would move to Atlanta, while the Oakland Stompers would move to Edmonton just two months before the start of the 1979 NASL season. The Stompers had drawn over 32,000 for their opening game at the Oakland Coliseum, 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.
American Conference Eastern Division W L GF GA BP Pts Home RoadNew England Tea Men (2)191162395116510-59-6Tampa Bay Rowdies (4)181263485716511-47-8161450594714312-34-11Philadelphia Fury (8)12184058391117-85-10
Central Division W L GF GA BP Pts Home RoadDetroit Express (1)201068365617610-510-5 Chicago Sting (5)12185764511237-85-10 Memphis Rogues10204358411018-72-13 Houston Hurricane1020376136965-105-10
Western Division W L GF GA BP Pts Home Road San Diego Sockers (3)181263565616412-36-9California Surf (6)13174349371159-64-11Oakland Stompers12183459311037-85-10San Jose Earthquakes822368135834-114-11
National Conference Eastern Division W L GF GA BP Pts Home RoadCosmos (1)24688396821214-110-5Washington Diplomats (5)161455474914511-45-10Toronto Metros-Croatia (7)16145847481449-67-8Rochester Lancers141647524713110-54-11
Central Division W L GF GA BP Pts Home RoadMinnesota Kicks (3)171358435415611-46-9Tulsa Roughnecks (6)151549464213211-44-11Dallas Tornado14165153471319-65-10Colorado Caribous822346633815-103-12
Western Division W L GF GA BP Pts Home Road Vancouver Whitecaps (2)24668295519913-211-4Portland Timbers (4)201050364716713-27-8Seattle Sounders (8)151550454813811-44-11 Los Angeles Aztecs921366934883-126-9
NASL League Leaders
Scoring GP = Games Played, G = Goals (worth 2 points), A = Assists (worth 1 point), Pts = Points Player Team GP G A Pts Giorgio Chinaglia Cosmos 30 34 11 79 Mike Flanagan New England Tea Men 28 30 8 68 Trevor Francis Detroit Express 20 22 10 54 Kevin Hector Vancouver Whitecaps 28 21 10 52 Rodney Marsh Tampa Bay Rowdies 26 18 16 52 Jeff Bourne Dallas Tornado 30 21 8 50 Karl-Heinz Granitza Chicago Sting 22 19 9 47 Alan Willey Minnesota Kicks 30 21 3 45 Ivan Lukačević Toronto Metros-Croatia 17 16 5 37 David Irving Fort Lauderdale Strikers 28 16 5 37 Bob Lenarduzzi Vancouver Whitecaps 29 10 17 37 Vladislav Bogićević Cosmos 30 10 17 37
Goalkeeping Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; W = Wins; L = Losses; SO = Shutouts Player Team GP Min GA GAA W L SO Phil Parkes Vancouver Whitecaps 29 2650 28 0.95 23 6 10 Erol Yasin Cosmos 22 1916 24 1.13 17 5 6 Mick PoolePortland Timbers 30 2783 36 1.16 20 10 9 Steve Hardwick Detroit Express 30 2734 36 1.19 20 10 9 Kevin Keelan New England Tea Men 29 2609 36 1.24 18 11 7 Winston DuBose Tampa Bay Rowdies 15 1352 19 1.27 8 7 4 Željko Bilecki Toronto Metros-Croatia 17 1550 23 1.34 10 7 6 Dave Jokerst California Surf 17 1574 24 1.37 9 8 6 Colin Boulton Tulsa Roughnecks 28 2531 39 1.39 17 11 10 Tony Chursky Seattle Sounders 28 2617 41 1.41 14 14 9
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.
Bracket
Conference Quarterfinals August 8Detroit Express1–0Philadelphia FuryPontiac Silverdome • 22,456
August 9New England Tea Men1–3Fort Lauderdale StrikersSchaefer Stadium • 18,672
August 8San Diego Sockers2–1California SurfSan Diego Stadium • 6,238
August 8Tampa Bay Rowdies3–1Chicago StingTampa Stadium • 26,596
August 9Cosmos5–2Seattle SoundersGiants Stadium • 47,780
August 10Minnesota Kicks3–1Tulsa RoughnecksMetropolitan Stadium • 36,478
August 9Vancouver Whitecaps4–0Toronto Metros-CroatiaEmpire Stadium • 30,811
August 9Portland Timbers2–1 (OT)Washington DiplomatsCivic Stadium • 14,230
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. Higher seedLower seedGame 1Game 2Mini-game(lower seed hosts Game 1)Detroit Express - Fort Lauderdale Strikers 3–4 (SO, 2–3) 1–0 0–1 August 13 • Lockhart Stadium • 11,517August 16 • Pontiac Silverdome • 32,219*Tampa Bay Rowdies - San Diego Sockers 1–0 1–2 1–0 August 14 • San Diego Stadium • 8,014August 17 • Tampa Stadium • 32,495Cosmos - Minnesota Kicks 2–9 4–0 1– 0 (SO, 2–1) August 14 • Metropolitan Stadium • 45,863August 16 • Giants Stadium • 60,199Vancouver Whitecaps - Portland Timbers 0–1 1–2 x August 12 • Civic Stadium • 16,437August 16 • Empire Stadium • 32,266
Conference Championships Higher seedLower seedGame 1Game 2Mini-game(lower seed hosts Game 1)Tampa Bay Rowdies - Fort Lauderdale Strikers 2–3 3–1 1–0 (SO, 2–1) August 20 • Lockhart Stadium • 16,286August 23 • Tampa Stadium • 37,249Cosmos - Portland Timbers 1–0 4–0 x August 18 • Civic Stadium • 24,515August 23 • Giants Stadium • 65,287
Soccer Bowl '78
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 Player Team GP G A Pts Dennis Tueart Cosmos 6 6 5 17 Alan Willey Minnesota Kicks 3 7 0 14 Giorgio Chinaglia Cosmos 6 5 2 12 David Irving Fort Lauderdale Strikers 5 5 0 10 Rodney Marsh Tampa Bay Rowdies 5 3 3 9
Goalkeeping Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; W = Wins; L = Losses; SO = Shutouts Player Team GP Min GA GAA W L SO Phil Parkes Vancouver Whitecaps 3 270 3 1.00 1 2 1 Alan Mayer San Diego Sockers 3 225 3 1.00 1 1 0 Steve Hardwick Detroit Express 3 306 4 1.33 2 1 2 Mick Poole Portland Timbers 5 457 8 1.60 3 2 1 Winston DuBose Tampa Bay Rowdies 6 574 10 1.67 3 3 1
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
Team attendance totals
TeamGamesTotalAverageCosmos15717,84247,856Minnesota Kicks15462,90430,860Seattle Sounders15338,67722,578Tampa Bay Rowdies15271,85618,124Vancouver Whitecaps15235,86615,724San Jose Earthquakes15214,77714,318Detroit Express15182,90612,194New England Tea Men15180,95412,064Oakland Stompers15178,94111,929Portland Timbers15177,04911,803Tulsa Roughnecks15168,83411,256California Surf15167,56911,171Washington Diplomats15161,74110,783Fort Lauderdale Strikers15157,18810,479Los Angeles Aztecs15139,5149,301Memphis Rogues15135,4829,032Dallas Tornado15128,1498,543Philadelphia Fury15121,1278,075Houston Hurricane15116,2477,750Colorado Caribous15111,2667,418Rochester Lancers15101,4026,760Toronto Metros-Croatia1593,5016,233San Diego Sockers1577,1855,146Chicago Sting1569,2674,618Overall3604,710,24413,084
References
External links