1971 North American Soccer League season

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North American Soccer League 1971 season
Season1971
Champions Dallas Tornado
Premiers Rochester Lancers
Matches played112
Goals scored306 (2.73 per match)
Top goalscorer Carlos Metidieri
(19 goals)
Highest attendance19,437 Rochester @ NY
Average attendance4,154
← 1970
1972 →

Statistics of North American Soccer League in season 1971. This was the 4th season of the NASL.

Contents

Overview

Eight teams competed with Dallas Tornado winning the championship. However Dallas' road to that title was the stuff of legends. In Game 1 of the best-of-three semifinal against the Rochester Lancers, league scoring champion Carlos Metidieri of Rochester mercifully ended the longest match in NASL history, 2–1, late in the 6th 15 minute OT period. The golden goal was scored in the 176th minute, or less than four minutes shy of playing two complete games in one day! Three days later Dallas evened the series at one game each with a 3–1 regulation win. In the rubber match four days later, the two teams ended regulation tied again at 1 goal apiece. This time the game would reach a 4th OT before Bobby Moffat sent Dallas into the Finals in the 148 minute. Incredibly, only four days after that, Dallas lost Game 1 of the NASL Championship Series, 2–1, in the 3rd OT to Atlanta after 123 minutes. All totaled, Dallas had played 537 minutes of soccer (3 minutes short of six games) in 13 days time. Finally the Tornado were able to get control of the finals, pulling away in Games 2 and 3, by scores of 4–1 and 2–0 respectively, to capture the title. [1]

Changes From the previous season

Rule changes

Playoffs series switched from a two-game aggregate score to a best-two-out-of-three match format. Any playoff games tied after 90 minutes would now be settled by golden goal (or sudden death) overtime periods lasting 15 minutes each. [1]

New teams

Teams folding

Teams moving

Name changes

Regular season

W = Wins, L = Losses, T= Ties, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, PT= point system

6 points for a win, 3 points for a tie, 0 points for a loss, 1 point for each goal scored up to three per game.

 -Premiers (most points).  -Other playoff teams.
Northern DivisionWLTGFGAPT
Rochester Lancers 13564831141
New York Cosmos 91055155117
Toronto Metros 5109324789
Montreal Olympique 4155295965
Southern DivisionWLTGFGAPT
Atlanta Chiefs 12753529120
Dallas Tornado 10683824119
Washington Darts 86103634111
St. Louis Stars 6135374786

1971 NASL All-Stars

First Team [2] [3]   Position  Second TeamHonorable Mention
Mirko Stojanovic, Dallas G Leonel Conde, Washington Manfred Kammerer, Atlanta • Claude Campos, Rochester
Dick Hall, Dallas D Clive Charles, Montreal Frank Donlavey, Washington
Willie Evans, WashingtonD Uriel da Veiga, Atlanta Oreco, Dallas
Peter Short, RochesterD John Cocking, Atlanta Gabbo Gavrić, Dallas
John Best, DallasD Charlie Mitchell, Rochester Mick Hoban, Atlanta • Roberto Lonardo, Rochester
Dragan Popovic, St. Louis M Francisco Escos, Rochester Freddie Mwila, Atlanta • Barrie Lynch, Atlanta
Siggy Stritzl, New YorkM Felix Correia, Toronto Billy Fraser, Washington • Keith Pointer, Montreal • Roy Turner, Dallas
Carlos Metidieri, Rochester F Warren Archibald, Washington Tommy Youlden, Dallas
Randy Horton, New YorkF Casey Frankiewicz, St. Louis Iris DeBrito, Rochester
Kaizer Motaung, AtlantaF Franco Gallina, Montreal Mike Renshaw, Dallas
Manfred Seissler, RochesterF Jorge Siega, New York Leroy DeLeon, Washington • Ian MacHattie, Toronto

Playoffs

Bracket

Semifinals
Best-of-3		 NASL Final 1971
Best-of-3
          
N1 Rochester Lancers 21 1
S2 Dallas Tornado 1 32
S2 Dallas Tornado 1 42
S1 Atlanta Chiefs 21 1
S1 Atlanta Chiefs 12–
N2 New York Cosmos 0 0 –

Semifinals

Higher seedSeriesLower seedGame 1Game 2Game 3Attendance
Rochester Lancers 1 - 2 Dallas Tornado 2–1 (6ot)1–31–2 (4ot)September 1 • Aquinas Memorial Stadium • 8,309
September 4 • Franklin Stadium • 6,131 [4]
September 8 • Aquinas Memorial Stadium • 7,635
Atlanta Chiefs 2 - 0 New York Cosmos 1–0(3ot)2–0xSeptember 2 • Atlanta Stadium • 3,160 [5]
September 5 • Hofstra Stadium • 3,800 [6]

NASL Final 1971

Higher seedSeriesLower seedGame 1Game 2Game 3Attendance
Atlanta Chiefs 1 - 2 Dallas Tornado 2–1 (3ot)1–40–2September 12 • Atlanta Stadium • 3,218 [7]
September 15 • Franklin Stadium • 6,456
September 19 • Atlanta Stadium • 4,687

Game one

September 12 Atlanta Chiefs 2–1 (a.e.t.) Dallas Tornado Atlanta Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia
Uriel da Veiga Soccerball shade.svg71:53'
Kaizer Motaung Soccerball shade gold.svg 123:58'		 Report Tibor Molnár Soccerball shade.svg40:39'Attendance: 3,218

Game two

Game three


1971 NASL Champions: Dallas Tornado

Post season awards

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References

  1. 1 2 "The Year in American Soccer - 1971". Homepages.sover.net. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved January 13, 2014.
  2. ↑ "NASL Homepage". Web.archive.org. May 1, 2008. Archived from the original on May 1, 2008. Retrieved January 13, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Steve Dimitry's NASL Web Page". Oocities.org. Retrieved January 13, 2014.
  4. ↑ "Dallas Evens Soccer Series". Atlanta Journal and Constitution. September 5, 1971. p. 6-D. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
  5. ↑ Roberts, Charles (September 3, 1971). "Chiefs Topple Cosmos In Sudden Death, 1-0". Atlanta Constitution. p. 1-D. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
  6. ↑ "Atlanta Moves into Finals". Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. September 6, 1971. p. 3D. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
  7. ↑ "Previo Campeones: Dallas Tornado Ganan Titulo en 1971". September 22, 2015. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
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