| Season | 1978 |
|---|---|
| Country |  United States Canada |
| Champions | Cosmos (3rd title) |
| Premiers | Cosmos (2nd title) |
| Matches | 360 |
| Goals | 1,240 (3.44 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | Giorgio Chinaglia (34 goals) |
| Biggest home win | DET 10–0SJ (July 12)[1] |
| Biggest away win | LA 0–5MIN (August 2)[2] |
| Highest scoring | DET 10–0SJ (July 12)[3] TOR 8–2OAK (June 30)[4] |
| Longest winning run | 13,Vancouver (June 22 – August 6)[5] |
| Longest losing run | 13,San Jose (May 31 – July 19)[6] |
| Highest attendance | 71,219 Seattle atCosmos (May 21)[7] |
| Lowest attendance | 1,538 N.E. atChicago (May 7)[8] |
| Average attendance | 13,084[9] |
←1977 1979 → | |
The1978North 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.
Bolstered by the success of theprevious season, the league added six teams to reach 24 in total.[10] TheColorado Caribous launched in Denver,[11] theDetroit Express[12] andHouston Hurricane[13] became the second and third teams to play in fully enclosed indoor stadiums, thePhiladelphia Fury brought soccer back to Philadelphia,[14] theNew England Tea Men would be the third attempt to have NASL soccer succeed in the Boston area and theMemphis Rogues would bring pro soccer to Tennessee.
There were also the usual franchise movements.Team Hawaii became theTulsa Roughnecks,[15] the Las Vegas Quicksilver became theSan Diego Sockers, theConnecticut Bicentennials became theOakland Stompers and theSt. Louis Stars moved to Anaheim to become theCalifornia 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 theNFL'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 theSoccer 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]
TheCosmos would set records for most wins and points in an NASL season, thanks to their 24-6 regular-season mark (shared with theVancouver Whitecaps) and 212 points. The Cosmos beat theFt. 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'sMike 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 theMinnesota Kicks in the NSC playoffs. The Kicks won the first game by an extraordinary 9–2 score behindAlan 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, andCarlos Alberto andFranz Beckenbauer scored goals to keep the Cosmos alive.[21] ThePortland Timbers were shut out over both games of the National Conference final,[22] and theTampa Bay Rowdies were beaten before 74,901 fans atGiants Stadium in theSoccer 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 the1979 NASL season.[25] The Stompers had drawn over 32,000 for their opening game at theOakland 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.
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.
American Conference[edit]
| National Conference[edit]
|
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 |
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 Poole | Portland 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 |
| 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 |
The first round and theSoccer Bowl were single game match ups, while the conference semifinals and championships were all two-game series.[27]
| Conference Quarterfinals | Conference Semifinals | Conference Championships | Soccer Bowl '78 | ||||||||||||||||
| A1 | Detroit Express | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| A8 | Philadelphia Fury | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
| A1 | Detroit Express | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| A7 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| A2 | New England Tea Men | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| A7 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
| A7 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| American Conference | |||||||||||||||||||
| A4 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| A3 | San Diego Sockers | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| A6 | California Surf | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| A3 | San Diego Sockers | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| A4 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| A4 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
| A5 | Chicago Sting | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| A4 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| N1 | Cosmos | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
| N1 | Cosmos | 5 | |||||||||||||||||
| N8 | Seattle Sounders | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| N1 | Cosmos | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| N3 | Minnesota Kicks | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| N3 | Minnesota Kicks | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
| N6 | Tulsa Roughnecks | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| N1 | Cosmos | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| National Conference | |||||||||||||||||||
| N4 | Portland Timbers | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
| N2 | Vancouver Whitecaps | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| N7 | Toronto Metros-Croatia | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
| N2 | Vancouver Whitecaps | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
| N4 | Portland Timbers | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| N4 | Portland Timbers | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| N5 | Washington Diplomats | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| August 8 | Detroit Express | 1–0 | Philadelphia Fury | Pontiac Silverdome • 22,456 |
| August 9 | New England Tea Men | 1–3 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | Schaefer Stadium • 18,672 |
| August 8 | San Diego Sockers | 2–1 | California Surf | San Diego Stadium • 6,238 |
| August 8 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 3–1 | Chicago Sting | Tampa Stadium • 26,596 |
| August 9 | Cosmos | 5–2 | Seattle Sounders | Giants Stadium • 47,780 |
| August 10 | Minnesota Kicks | 3–1 | Tulsa Roughnecks | Metropolitan Stadium • 36,478 |
| August 9 | Vancouver Whitecaps | 4–0 | Toronto Metros-Croatia | Empire Stadium • 30,811 |
| August 9 | Portland Timbers | 2–1(OT) | Washington Diplomats | Civic Stadium • 14,230 |
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]
| Higher seed | Lower seed | Game 1 | Game 2 | Mini-game | (lower seed hosts Game 1) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detroit Express | - | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 3–4(SO, 2–3) | 1–0 | 0–1 | August 13 •Lockhart Stadium • 11,517 August 16 •Pontiac Silverdome • 32,219 |
| *Tampa Bay Rowdies | - | San Diego Sockers | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | August 14 •San Diego Stadium • 8,014 August 17 •Tampa Stadium • 32,495 |
| Cosmos | - | Minnesota Kicks | 2–9 | 4–0 | 1– 0(SO, 2–1) | August 14 •Metropolitan Stadium • 45,863 August 16 •Giants Stadium • 60,199 |
| Vancouver Whitecaps | - | Portland Timbers | 0–1 | 1–2 | x | August 12 •Civic Stadium • 16,437 August 16 •Empire Stadium • 32,266 |
| Higher seed | Lower seed | Game 1 | Game 2 | Mini-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 • 16,286 August 23 •Tampa Stadium • 37,249 |
| Cosmos | - | Portland Timbers | 1–0 | 4–0 | x | August 18 •Civic Stadium • 24,515 August 23 •Giants Stadium • 65,287 |
| Cosmos | 3–1 | Tampa Bay Rowdies |
|---|---|---|
Tueart 30:42' (Iarusci, Hunt)Chinaglia 44:38'Tueart 76:49' (Iarusci, Roth) | Report | Mirandinha 73:34' (Robb) |
1978 NASL Champions:Cosmos
Mini-games are not counted as games played when compiling individual statistics. They are included in the minutes played category.
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 |
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 |
| Team | Games | Total | Average[30] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cosmos | 15 | 717,842 | 47,856 |
| Minnesota Kicks | 15 | 462,904 | 30,860 |
| Seattle Sounders | 15 | 338,677 | 22,578 |
| Tampa Bay Rowdies | 15 | 271,856 | 18,124 |
| Vancouver Whitecaps | 15 | 235,866 | 15,724 |
| San Jose Earthquakes | 15 | 214,777 | 14,318 |
| Detroit Express | 15 | 182,906 | 12,194 |
| New England Tea Men | 15 | 180,954 | 12,064 |
| Oakland Stompers | 15 | 178,941 | 11,929 |
| Portland Timbers | 15 | 177,049 | 11,803 |
| Tulsa Roughnecks | 15 | 168,834 | 11,256 |
| California Surf | 15 | 167,569 | 11,171 |
| Washington Diplomats | 15 | 161,741 | 10,783 |
| Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 15 | 157,188 | 10,479 |
| Los Angeles Aztecs | 15 | 139,514 | 9,301 |
| Memphis Rogues | 15 | 135,482 | 9,032 |
| Dallas Tornado | 15 | 128,149 | 8,543 |
| Philadelphia Fury | 15 | 121,127 | 8,075 |
| Houston Hurricane | 15 | 116,247 | 7,750 |
| Colorado Caribous | 15 | 111,266 | 7,418 |
| Rochester Lancers | 15 | 101,402 | 6,760 |
| Toronto Metros-Croatia | 15 | 93,501 | 6,233 |
| San Diego Sockers | 15 | 77,185 | 5,146 |
| Chicago Sting | 15 | 69,267 | 4,618 |
| Overall | 360 | 4,710,244 | 13,084 |
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)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.