The 1984 North American Soccer League season was the 72nd season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer, the 17th with a national first-division league, in the United States and Canada. It was the 17th and final season of the NASL.
Changes from the previous season
New teams None
Teams folding Montreal Manic Seattle Sounders Team America
Teams moving Fort Lauderdale to Minnesota
Name changes None
Map of clubs
Season recap By 1983, the NASL had shrunk to half of the 24 teams that made up the league in 1980. The ongoing salary war with the Major Indoor Soccer League had taken its toll, along with shrinking attendance and a lack of interest from American network TV broadcasters. The league made plans to have both an outdoor and indoor presence, with a 24-game outdoor season and 40-game indoor season scheduled for 1984 and beyond.
The off-season following the 1983 outdoor playoffs saw three more teams fall by the wayside: the Montreal Manic, Seattle Sounders and Team America would all fold. The Fort Lauderdale Strikers decided to move to Minnesota because of a lack of suitable indoor arenas in Southeastern Florida. Things had gotten so bad for the league that the champion Tulsa Roughnecks almost folded two weeks after winning the Soccer Bowl. They survived, thanks to a fundraiser that put $65,000 in the team's coffers. The league would soldier on with nine teams. While there would not be huge changes on the field, the single game Soccer Bowl would be no more. The league moved to a best-of-three championship series format, as was done back in the 1971 Final. The revised NASL playoff format had the two division winners and the two next best teams qualify. The four teams would be seeded 1 through 4.
When the season finally got underway in May, the nine teams were bunched together for most of the year as six teams finished within five points of each other. A hoped-for renaissance in New York never materialized, as the return of former Cosmos coach Eddie Firmani did not lead the team back to the playoffs. Rumors about a possible return by Pelé proved to be without merit. However, not everyone struggled on the field. In Oakland, Steve Zungul and Branko Segota were able to translate their talents from the MISL to the outdoor game, finishing 1–2 in the league's scoring race. Zungul would earn league MVP honors despite the Golden Bay Earthquakes' last-place finish. For the fifth time (and second year in a row), the NASL's points system rewarded a team other than the one with the best record (Chicago instead of San Diego) the regular season title and number one playoff seed. Moreover, Toronto and Minnesota also had better won-loss records than Chicago. Minnesota would not even qualify for the playoffs, despite having a better record than both Chicago and Vancouver.
The Chicago Sting won the last NASL title with a two-game sweep over the Toronto Blizzard. The Sting needed a last-second victory over the Cosmos in their regular season finale to qualify for the playoffs and knock New York out. In the playoffs they won a deciding game over the Vancouver Whitecaps, who themselves only made the playoffs thanks to the Cosmos' loss. Vancouver's Bob Lenarduzzi scored the quickest goal in NASL playoff history 46 seconds into the match, but Chicago rallied for the win.
There were still plans for a 1985 outdoor season as the year ended, but the departures of Chicago Sting, Minnesota Strikers, New York Cosmos and the San Diego Sockers to the MISL for the indoor season made that difficult. The Cosmos left both the NASL and MISL on February 22. A month later, on March 28, 1985, the NASL suspended operations when only Toronto and Minnesota were interested in fielding teams for a 1985 "outdoor" season."NASL suspends operations for 1985" page 1D Minneapolis Star and Tribune March 29, 1985
Regular season W = Wins, L = Losses, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, BP = Bonus Points, Pts= point system
6 points for a win, 4 points for a shootout win, 0 points for a loss, 1 point for each regulation goal scored up to three per game. -Premiers (most points). -Best record. -Other playoff team. -Tied for best record but did not qualify for playoffs.
Eastern Division W L GF GA BP Pts Home RoadChicago Sting13115049441206-67-5Toronto Blizzard 14104633351179-35-7New York Cosmos13114342391159-34-8Tampa Bay Rowdies9154361 35879-30-12
Western Division W L GF GA BP Pts Home Road San Diego Sockers1410514240118 9-35-7Vancouver Whitecaps131151484311710-23-9Minnesota Strikers14104044351158-46-6Tulsa Roughnecks1014424638988-42-10Golden Bay Earthquakes816616249954-84-8
Scoring Leaders GP = Games Played, G = Goals (worth 2 points), A = Assists (worth 1 point), Pts = Points Player Team GP G A Pts Steve Zungul Golden Bay Earthquakes 24 20 10 50 Branko Šegota Golden Bay Earthquakes 24 18 11 47 Ron Futcher Tulsa Roughnecks 23 18 8 44 Karl-Heinz Granitza Chicago Sting 24 16 12 44 Peter Ward Vancouver Whitecaps 24 16 10 42 Ade Coker San Diego Sockers 22 16 7 39 David Byrne Toronto Blizzard 20 12 13 37 Alan Willey Minnesota Strikers 24 15 4 34 Jean Willrich San Diego Sockers 22 5 20 30 Roberto Bettega Toronto Blizzard 23 8 13 29
Leading Goalkeepers 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 Paul Hammond Toronto Blizzard 21 1937 25 1.16 14 7 7 Hubert Birkenmeier New York Cosmos 22 2007 34 1.50 13 9 2 Tino Lettieri Minnesota Strikers 18 1622 28 1.55 10 8 4 Victor Nogueira Chicago Sting 18 1663 30 1.62 9 9 3 Winston DuBose Tulsa Roughnecks 22 1931 38 1.77 10 12 4 Paul Bradshaw Vancouver Whitecaps 24 2161 46 1.92 13 11 4 Jim Gorsek San Diego Sockers 15 1369 32 2.10 7 7 0 Arnie Mausser Tampa Bay Rowdies 23 2100 57 2.44 9 14 3 Bill Irwin Golden Bay Earthquakes 21 1964 54 2.48 7 14 2
All-NASL Teams First Team Position Second Team Honorable Mention Hubert Birkenmeier, New York G Paul Hammond, Toronto Paul Bradshaw, Vancouver Andranik Eskandarian, New York D Dwight Lodeweges, Minnesota Gregg Thompson, Tampa Bay Johan Neeskens, New York D Victor Moreland, Tulsa Fernando Clavijo, Golden Bay Kevin Crow, San Diego D Bob Lenarduzzi, Vancouver Dan Canter, New York Bruce Wilson, Toronto D Terry Moore, Tulsa Barry Wallace, Minnesota Ray Hudson, Minnesota M Pato Margetic, Chicago Kaz Deyna, San Diego Frans Thijssen, Vancouver M Jimmy Nicholl, Toronto Brian Quinn, San Diego Vladislav Bogicevic, New York M Fran O'Brien, Vancouver Ace Ntsoelengoe, Toronto Steve Zungul, Golden Bay F Alan Willey, Minnesota Carl Valentine, Vancouver Karl-Heinz Granitza, Chicago F Branko Šegota, Golden Bay Roberto Cabañas, New York Peter Ward, Vancouver F David Byrne, Toronto Ron Futcher, Tulsa
Playoffs Top team from each division qualified automatically. The next two teams with the highest point totals qualified regardless of which division they were in.
Bracket
Semifinals Higher seedSeriesLower seedGame 1Game 2Game 3*(higher seed hosts Games 1 and 3)Chicago Sting 2 - 1 Vancouver Whitecaps 0–1 (OT) 3–1 4–3 September 18 • Comiskey Park • 5,484September 23 • BC Place Stadium • 14,753September 28 • Comiskey Park • 10,139San Diego Sockers 0 - 2 Toronto Blizzard 1–2 0–1 x September 18 • Jack Murphy Stadium • 4,204September 21 • Varsity Stadium • 12,460
Soccer Bowl Series '84
Chicago Sting 2 - 0 Toronto Blizzard 2–1 3–2 x October 1 • Comiskey Park • 8,352October 3 • Varsity Stadium • 16,842
Game One
Game Two
1984 NASL Champions: Chicago Sting
Playoff Scoring Leaders GP = Games Played, G = Goals (worth 2 points), A = Assists (worth 1 point), Pts = Points Player Team GP G A Pts Pato Margetic Chicago Sting 5 6 1 13 Karl-Heinz Granitza Chicago Sting 5 3 6 12 Manny Rojas Chicago Sting 5 2 3 7 Ace Ntsoelengoe Toronto Blizzard 4 1 3 5 David Byrne Toronto Blizzard 4 1 2 4 Roberto Bettega Toronto Blizzard 4 1 2 4
Playoff Leading Goalkeepers 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 Paul Hammond Toronto Blizzard 4 360 6 1.50 2 2 1 Zoltan Toth San Diego Sockers 2 180 3 1.50 0 2 0 Victor Nogueira Chicago Sting 5 459 8 1.60 4 1 0 Paul Bradshaw Vancouver Whitecaps 3 279 7 2.33 1 2 0
Post season awards Most Valuable Player: Steve Zungul, Golden Bay Coach Of The Year: Ron Newman, San Diego Rookie Of The Year: Roy Wegerle, Tampa Bay North American Player of the Year: Branko Šegota, Golden Bay
Team Attendance Totals ClubGamesTotalAverageVancouver Whitecaps12182,49415,208Minnesota Strikers12171,15114,263New York Cosmos12153,80712,817Toronto Blizzard12137,42011,452Tampa Bay Rowdies12131,19410,933Golden Bay Earthquakes12123,38310,282Chicago Sting12100,5128,376Tulsa Roughnecks1293,5677,797San Diego Sockers1268,4225,702OVERALL1081,161,95010,759
References
External links The Year in American Soccer – 1984 Chris Page's NASL Archive Complete Results and Standings