1973 North American Soccer League season

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North American Soccer League 1973 season
Season1973
Champions Philadelphia Atoms
Premiers Dallas Tornado
Matches played90
Goals scored246 (2.73 per match)
Top goalscorer Warren Archibald
Ilija Mitić
(12 goals)
Longest unbeaten run13, Philadelphia
Highest attendance21,700 (Dallas @ Phil)
Lowest attendance1,100 (NY @ Montreal)
Average attendance6,290
1972
1974

Statistics of North American Soccer League in season 1973. This was the 6th season of the NASL. [1]

Contents

Overview

Nine teams took part in the league with the Philadelphia Atoms winning the championship.

During the season, Tiburones Rojos de Veracruz from Vera Cruz, Mexico, played each of the nine NASL clubs in exhibition games that counted in the league's final standings. The 1973 season would be the last season in which games from non-league clubs counted in league standings. [2]

A week before the NASL Final 1973, commissioner Phil Woosnam announced that no team in the league made a profit during the season. [3]

In a unique twist, the team with home field for the NASL Championship Game determined the date and time the game was to be played. When the Dallas Tornado won their semi-final, setting up the final with Philadelphia, they chose August 25 as the date of the game. They did this because the NASL loan agreements with players from the English First Division (the precursor to today's Premier League) expired before that date. [4]

Because of this, Philadelphia's two leading scorers, Andy "The Flea" Provan and Jim Fryatt, were on their way back to England when the championship match was played on the 25th. Despite this, Philadelphia coach, Al Miller, put Bill Straub, a defender who had not played a minute for the club prior to the championship game, into the lineup at forward. The move paid off as Straub headed home the second goal in a 2–0 win with under five minutes remaining in the final. [4]

Changes from the previous season

New teams

Teams folding

Teams moving

Name changes

Map of clubs

Black pog.svg Eastern Division Blue pog.svg Northern Division Red pog.svg Southern Division

Regular season

W = Wins, L = Losses, T= Ties, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, BP = Bonus Points, PTS= Total Points

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

 -Premiers (most points).  -Other playoff teams.
Eastern DivisionWLTGFGABPPTS
Philadelphia Atoms 928291426104
New York Cosmos 75731232891
Miami Toros 85626212288
Northern DivisionWLTGFGABPPTS
Toronto Metros 64932182689
Montreal Olympique 510425322264
Rochester Lancers 49617271759
Southern DivisionWLTGFGABPPTS
Dallas Tornado 1144362533111
St. Louis Stars 77527272582
Atlanta Apollos 39723402362

NASL All-Stars

First Team [5] [6]   Position  Second TeamHonorable Mention
Ken Cooper, Dallas G Bob Rigby, Philadelphia Sam Nusum, Montreal
John Best, Dallas D Bob Smith, Philadelphia John Sewell, St. Louis
Chris Dunleavy, PhiladelphiaD Derek Trevis, Philadelphia Barry Barto, Philadelphia
David Sadler, MiamiD Dick Hall, Dallas Werner Roth, New York
Brian Rowan, TorontoD Roy Evans, Philadelphia John Collins, Dallas
Ilija Mitic, Dallas M Pat McBride, St. Louis Al Trost, St. Louis
Fernando Pinto, TorontoM Francisco Escos, Rochester Roy Turner, Dallas
Ian McPhee, TorontoM Roberto Aguirre, Miami George O'Neill, Philadelphia
Andy Provan, Philadelphia F Joey Fink, New York Paul Child, Atlanta
Jim Fryatt, PhiladelphiaF Rick Reynolds, Dallas Kyle Rote Jr., Dallas
Warren Archibald, MiamiF Randy Horton, New York Nick Jennings, Dallas

Playoffs

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

Bracket

Semifinals NASL Final 1973
      
1 Dallas Tornado 1
4 New York Cosmos 0
1 Dallas Tornado 0
2 Philadelphia Atoms 2
2 Philadelphia Atoms 3
3 Toronto Metros 0

Semifinals

August 15 New York Cosmos 0–1 Dallas Tornado Texas Stadium • Att. 9,009 [1]

August 18 Toronto Metros 0–3 Philadelphia Atoms Veterans Stadium • Att. 18,766 [1]

NASL Final 1973

Dallas Tornado 0–2 Philadelphia Atoms
Best Soccerball shade.svg66' (o.g.)
Straub Soccerball shade.svg85' (Evans)
Texas Stadium, Irving, Texas [7] [8]
Attendance: 18,824 [1]
Referee: Bill Gallagher (Canada) [9]

1973 NASL Champions: Philadelphia Atoms

Post season awards

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NASL Final 1973</span> Soccer match

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "The Year in American Soccer - 1973". Homepages.sover.net. Archived from the original on July 13, 2013. Retrieved January 13, 2014.
  2. Jose, Colin (1989). NASL: A Complete Record of the North American Soccer League. USA: Brredon Books. p. 360. ISBN   978-0907969563.
  3. Rickey, Jim (August 19, 1973). "Despite No Profits: Soccer Plans Expansion". Democrat and Chronicle. p. 5D. Retrieved March 24, 2022.
  4. 1 2 "Flashback: Philly in the 1973 NASL playoffs". www.phillysoccerpage.net.
  5. "NASL Homepage". May 1, 2008. Archived from the original on May 1, 2008. Retrieved January 13, 2014.
  6. "Steve Dimitry's NASL Web Page". Oocities.org. Retrieved January 13, 2014.
  7. Edwin Shrake (September 3, 1973). "Armed with Americans, Philadelphia's soccer team beat - 09.03.73 - SI Vault". Sportsillustrated.cnn.com. Archived from the original on November 13, 2012. Retrieved January 13, 2014.
  8. "Philadelphia Atoms @ Dallas Tornado 1973 NASL Finals Highlights - YouTube". YouTube . Archived from the original on December 29, 2012. Retrieved June 25, 2013.
  9. "Past Winners | North American Soccer League". Naslsoccerbowl.com. Retrieved January 13, 2014.