1977 North American Soccer League Season

North American Soccer League 1977 season
Season	1977
Champions	Cosmos ; (2nd Title)
Premiers	Ft. Lauderdale Strikers
Matches played	234
Goals scored	752 (3.21 per match)
Top goalscorer	Steve David (26)
Highest attendance	77,691 ; (Ft Lauderdale @ Cosmos)
Lowest attendance	1,100 ; (Washington @ Connecticut)
Average attendance	13,558
	← 1976 1978 →

This was the 10th season of the NASL.

Overview

The league was made up of 18 teams. The schedule was expanded to 26 games and the playoffs to 12 teams. Team rosters consisted of 17 players, 6 of which had to be U.S. or Canadian citizens. The NASL began using its own variation of the penalty shoot-out procedure for tied matches. Matches tied at the end of regulation would now go to a golden goal overtime period and, if still tied, on to a shoot-out. Instead of penalty kicks however, the shoot-out attempt started 35 yards from the goal and allowed the player 5 seconds to attempt a shot. The player could make as many moves as he wanted in a breakaway situation within the time frame. NASL procedure also called for the box score or score-line to show an additional "goal" given to the winning side of a shoot-out. This "victory goal" however was not credited in the "Goals For" column of the league table. The Cosmos defeated the Seattle Sounders in the final on August 28 to win the championship.

Changes from the previous season

New teams

None

Teams folding

Boston Minutemen
Philadelphia Atoms

Teams moving

Miami Toros - Fort Lauderdale Strikers
San Antonio Thunder - Team Hawaii
San Diego Jaws - Las Vegas Quicksilvers

Name changes

Hartford Bicentennials to Connecticut Bicentennials
Cosmos drop "New York" from name

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.

Atlantic Conference

Eastern Division	W	L	GF	GA	BP	Pts	Home	Road
Fort Lauderdale Strikers	19	7	49	29	47	161	11-2	8-5
Cosmos	15	11	60	39	50	140	10-3	5-8
Tampa Bay Rowdies	14	12	55	45	47	131	11-2	3-10
Washington Diplomats	10	16	32	49	32	92	6-7	4-9

Northern Division	W	L	GF	GA	BP	Pts	Home	Road
Toronto Metros-Croatia	13	13	42	38	37	115	8-5	5-8
St. Louis Stars	12	14	33	35	32	104	7-6	5-8
Rochester Lancers	11	15	34	41	33	99	10-3	1-12
Chicago Sting	10	16	31	43	28	88	4-9	6-7
Connecticut Bicentennials	7	19	34	65	30	72	4-9	3-10

Pacific Conference

Southern Division	W	L	GF	GA	BP	Pts	Home	Road
Dallas Tornado	18	8	56	37	53	161	11-2	7-6
Los Angeles Aztecs	15	11	65	54	57	147	8-5	7-6
San Jose Earthquakes	14	12	37	44	35	119	9-4	5-8
Team Hawaii	11	15	45	59	40	106	7-6	4-9
Las Vegas Quicksilvers	11	15	38	44	37	103	8-5	3-10

Western Division	W	L	GF	GA	BP	Pts	Home	Road
Minnesota Kicks	16	10	44	36	41	137	11-2	5-8
Vancouver Whitecaps	14	12	43	36	40	124	10-3	4-9
Seattle Sounders	14	12	43	34	39	123	9-4	5-8
Portland Timbers	10	16	39	42	38	98	7-6	3-10

NASL All-Stars

First Team	Position	Second Team	Honorable Mention
Gordon Banks, Ft. Lauderdale	G	Alan Mayer, Las Vegas	Tony Chursky, Seattle
Franz Beckenbauer, Cosmos	D	Ray Evans, St. Louis	Steve Litt, Minnesota
Mike England, Seattle	D	Steve Pecher, Dallas	Jim McAlister, Seattle
Bruce Wilson, Vancouver	D	Humberto Coelho, Las Vegas	Alan Merrick, Minnesota
Mel Machin, Seattle	D	George Ley, Dallas • Arsène Auguste Tampa Bay	Graham Day, Portland
George Best, Los Angeles	M	Charlie Cooke, Los Angeles	Tony Simões, San Jose
Wolfgang Sühnholz, Las Vegas	M	Vito Dimitrijević, Cosmos	Ace Ntsoelengoe, Minnesota
Alan West, Minnesota	M	Rodney Marsh, Tampa Bay	Al Trost, St. Louis
Steve David, Los Angeles	F	Mike Stojanović, Rochester	Willie Morgan, Chicago
Pelé, Cosmos	F	Steve Wegerle, Tampa Bay	Giorgio Chinaglia, Cosmos
Derek Smethurst, Tampa Bay	F	Buzz Parsons, Vancouver	Jimmy Robertson, Seattle

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

First Round		Division Championships			Conference Championships			Soccer Bowl '77

		Fort Lauderdale Strikers	3	2(0)
Cosmos	3	Cosmos	8	3(3)
Tampa Bay Rowdies	0				Cosmos	2	4
					Rochester Lancers	1	1
		Toronto Metros-Croatia	0(2)	0
St. Louis Stars	0(2)	Rochester Lancers	1(3)	1
Rochester Lancers	1(4)							Cosmos	2
								Seattle Sounders	1
		Dallas Tornado	1	1
Los Angeles Aztecs	2	Los Angeles Aztecs	3	5
San Jose Earthquakes	1				Los Angeles Aztecs	1	0
					Seattle Sounders	3	1
		Minnesota Kicks	1	0
Vancouver Whitecaps	0	Seattle Sounders	2	1
Seattle Sounders	2

First round

August 10	San Jose Earthquakes	1–2 (OT)	Los Angeles Aztecs	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum • Att. 4,038

August 10	Tampa Bay Rowdies	0–3	Cosmos	Giants Stadium • Att. 57,828

August 10	Rochester Lancers	1–0 (SO, 4–2)	St. Louis Stars	Francis Field • Att. 7,137

August 10	Seattle Sounders	2–0	Vancouver Whitecaps	Empire Stadium • Att. 21,915

Division Championships

Higher seed		Lower seed	Game 1	Game 2	(lower seed hosts Game 1)
Fort Lauderdale Strikers	-	Cosmos	3–8	2–3 (SO, 0–3)	August 14 • Giants Stadium • 77,691 August 17 • Lockhart Stadium 14,152
Dallas Tornado	-	Los Angeles Aztecs	1–3	1–5	August 14 • Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum • 5,201 August 17 • Ownby Stadium • 18,489
Minnesota Kicks	-	Seattle Sounders	1–2 (OT)*	0–1	*August 14 • Metropolitan Stadium • 35,889 August 17 • Kingdome • 42,091
Toronto Metros-Croatia	-	Rochester Lancers	0–1 (SO, 2–3)	0–1	August 13 • Holleder Memorial Stadium • 10,556 August 16 • Varsity Stadium • 8,062

*Minnesota Kicks hosted Game 1 (instead of Game 2) due to a scheduling conflict with the Twins baseball club.

Conference Championships

Higher seed		Lower seed	Game 1	Game 2	(lower seed hosts Game 1)
Los Angeles Aztecs	-	Seattle Sounders	1–3	#0–1	August 21 • Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum • 9,115 #August 25 • Kingdome • 56,256
Cosmos	-	Rochester Lancers	2–1	4–1	August 21 • Holleder Memorial Stadium • 20,005 August 24 • Giants Stadium • 73,669

#Seattle Sounders hosted Game 2 (instead of Game 1) due to a scheduling conflict with the Mariners baseball club.

Soccer Bowl '77

August 28

4:00 pm EDT

Cosmos	2–1	Seattle Sounders
Hunt 19:05' Chinaglia 77:19' (Hunt)		Ord 23:13' (Cave)

Civic Stadium, Portland

Attendance: 35,548

Referee: Toros Kibritjan (USA)

1977 NASL Champions: Cosmos

Post season awards

Most Valuable Player: Franz Beckenbauer, Cosmos
Coach of the year: Ron Newman, Fort Lauderdale
Rookie of the year: Jim McAlister, Seattle

References

1979 Official North American Soccer League Guide. New York, NY: 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, NJ: St. Johann Press.

Wangerin, David (2008). Soccer In A Football World. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. ISBN 9781592138852.

External links

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