1972 North American Soccer League season

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North American Soccer League 1972 season
Season1972
Champions New York Cosmos
Premiers New York Cosmos
Matches played56
Goals scored156 (2.79 per match)
Top goalscorer Randy Horton
(9 goals)
Longest winning run5, St. Louis Stars
Highest attendance24,742
(Mosc. Dynamo @ Dallas)
Lowest attendance1,100 (Dallas @ Montreal)
Average attendance5,340
← 1971
1973 →

Statistics of North American Soccer League in season 1972. This was the 5th season of the NASL.

Contents

Overview

Eight teams took part in the league with the New York Cosmos winning the championship.

Changes from previous season

Rules changes

The league changed its offside rule during the season on June 26. They created a "Blue Line" which was an offside line across the field, 35 yards from the goal line. Thereafter, no player could be offside unless he had crossed the 35-yard line. This made the NASL unique in the soccer world; the league received temporary approval for the change from FIFA on an experimental basis only. The league also switched the playoff format to single-match elimination contests rather than series. [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
New York Cosmos 734281677
Rochester Lancers 653202264
Montreal Olympique 455192057
Toronto Metros 464182253
Southern DivisionWLTGFGAPT
St. Louis Stars 743201469
Dallas Tornado 653151260
Atlanta Chiefs 563191856
Miami Gatos 383173244

NASL All-Stars

First Team [2] [3]   Position  Second TeamHonorable Mention
Ken Cooper, Dallas G Dick Howard, Toronto Sam Nusum, Montreal
John Best, Dallas D Dick Hall, Dallas Adolfo Gori, Rochester
John Sewell, St. LouisD Clive Charles, Montreal Charlie Mitchell, Rochester
Peter Short, RochesterD Wilf Tranter, St. Louis John Cocking, Atlanta
Willie Evans, MiamiD Brian Rowan, Toronto Joe Puls, St. Louis
John Kerr, New York M Francisco Escos, Rochester Mick Hoban, Atlanta
Graeme Souness, MontrealM Dave Metchick, Miami Larry Hausmann, St. Louis
Pat McBride, St. LouisM Siggy Stritzl, New York Billy Fraser, Miami
Randy Horton, New York F Carlos Metidieri, Rochester Mike Renshaw, Dallas
Paul Child, AtlantaF Art Welch, Atlanta Warren Archibald, Miami
Michael Dillon, MontrealF Jorge Siega, New York Casey Frankiewicz, St. Louis

Playoffs

All playoff games in all rounds including the NASL Final were single game elimination match ups.

Bracket

Semifinals NASL Final 1972
      
N1 New York Cosmos 1
S2 Dallas Tornado 0
N1 New York Cosmos 2
S1 St. Louis Stars 1
S1 St. Louis Stars 2
N2 Rochester Lancers 0

Semifinals

August 15 Rochester Lancers 0–2 St. Louis Stars Busch Memorial Stadium • Att. 5,319
August 19 Dallas Tornado 0–1 New York Cosmos Hofstra Stadium • Att. 5,026

NASL Final 1972

New York Cosmos 2–1 St. Louis Stars
Horton Soccerball shade.svg5' (Young)
Jelinek Soccerball shade.svg86' (pen.)		 Report Frankiewicz Soccerball shade.svg52' (Sewell)
Hofstra Stadium, Hempstead, New York
Attendance: 6,102 [4]
Referee: Roger Schott (USA) [5]

1972 NASL Champions: New York Cosmos

Post season awards

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References

  1. ↑ "The Year in American Soccer - 1972". homepages.sover.net. Archived from the original on March 25, 2015. Retrieved January 16, 2014.
  2. ↑ Christopher S. Page. "NASL Homepage". Archived from the original on May 1, 2008. Retrieved January 16, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Steve Dimitry's NASL Web Page". oocities.org. Retrieved January 16, 2014.
  4. ↑ Flachsbart, Harold (August 27, 1972). "Stars Lose Title Match". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. p. 1C. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  5. ↑ "The Montreal Gazette - Google News Archive Search" . Retrieved January 16, 2014.
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