1976 North American Soccer League season

North American Soccer League 1976 season

Season	1976
Champions	Toronto Metros-Croatia
Premiers	Tampa Bay Rowdies
Matches played	240
Goals scored	760 (3.17 per match)
Top goalscorer	Derek Smethurst (20 goals)
Highest attendance	58,218 (NY @ Seattle)
Lowest attendance	531 (Chicago @ Boston)
Average attendance	10,295
← 1975 1977 →

Statistics of North American Soccer League in season 1976. This was the 9th season of the NASL.

Overview

The league's twenty teams were divided into two conferences (Atlantic or Pacific), playing a total of 240 matches. Each team's 24 matches were divided between a round-robin with other teams in the same conference and six matches against different teams in the other conference. Points were awarded for wins (six) and each goal (up to three) regardless of results; ties in regulation were decided by 15 minutes of sudden death overtime followed by a penalty shootout from 35 yards (105 ft). The playoffs were expanded from eight to twelve teams with automatic berths for the top two teams in each of the four divisions and two wild card slots per conference for the remaining best finishing teams. ^[1]

The Toronto Metros-Croatia defeated the Minnesota Kicks in the Soccer Bowl on August 28 to win the championship. The match was hosted at the Kingdome in Seattle, the new home of the Seattle Sounders. The Tampa Bay Rowdies finished the regular season with the best record, giving them consecutive titles in three different domestic NASL competitions. Though not in a calendar year, within 12 months they won the Soccer Bowl in August 1975, the NASL indoor cup in March 1976, and the regular season shield or premiership in August 1976. Since NASL teams at that time did not participate in the U.S. Open Cup, this would be the closest one would ever come to achieving any sort of a North American treble.

Changes from the previous season

New teams

• None

Teams folding

• None

Teams moving

• Baltimore Comets to San Diego Jaws
• Denver Dynamos to Minnesota Kicks

Name changes

• None

Map of clubs

Minutemen

Sting

Bicentennials

Lancers

Metros-Croatia

Toros

Cosmos

Atoms

Rowdies

Diplomats

Kicks

Timbers

Sounders

Stars

Whitecaps

Tornado

Aztecs

Thunder

Jaws

Earth
quakes

Northern Division Eastern Division Southern Division Western Division

Regular season

Pld = Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, GD = Goal Differential, BP = Bonus Points, Pts= total points

6 points for a win, 1 point for a shootout 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

Northern Division

Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts
Chicago Sting	24	15	9	52	32	+20	42	132
Toronto Metros-Croatia	24	15	9	38	30	+8	33	123
Rochester Lancers	24	13	11	36	32	+4	36	114
Hartford Bicentennials	24	12	12	37	56	−19	35	107
Boston Minutemen	24	7	17	35	64	−29	32	74

Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}

Eastern Division

Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts
Tampa Bay Rowdies	24	18	6	58	30	+28	46	154
New York Cosmos	24	16	8	65	34	+31	52	148
Washington Diplomats	24	14	10	46	38	+8	42	126
Philadelphia Atoms	24	8	16	32	49	−17	32	80
Miami Toros	24	6	18	29	58	−29	27	63

Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}

Pacific Conference

Western Division

Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts
Minnesota Kicks	24	15	9	54	33	+21	48	138
Seattle Sounders	24	14	10	40	31	+9	39	123
Vancouver Whitecaps	24	14	10	38	30	+8	36	120
Portland Timbers	24	8	16	23	41	−18	23	71
St. Louis Stars	24	5	19	29	57	−28	28	58

Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}

Southern Division

Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts
San Jose Earthquakes	24	14	10	47	30	+17	39	123
Dallas Tornado	24	13	11	44	45	−1	39	117
Los Angeles Aztecs	24	12	12	43	44	−1	36	108
San Antonio Thunder	24	12	12	38	32	+6	35	107
San Diego Jaws	24	9	15	29	47	−18	28	82

Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}

NASL All-Stars

First Team [2]	Position	Second Team	Honorable Mention [3]
Arnie Mausser, Tampa Bay	G	Eric Martin, Washington	Paolo Cimpiel, Toronto
Keith Eddy, New York	D	Stewart Jump, Tampa Bay	Dave Gillett, Seattle
Bobby Moore, San Antonio	D	George Ley, Dallas	Frank Spraggon, Minnesota
Tommy Smith, Tampa Bay	D	Ron Webster, Minnesota	Jim Holton, Miami
Mike England, Seattle	D	Bob Smith, Philadelphia	Bruce Wilson, Vancouver
Rodney Marsh, Tampa Bay	M	Alan West, Minnesota	Dave Clements, New York
Ramón Mifflin, New York	M	Bobby Hope, Dallas	Wolfgang Sühnholz, Toronto
António Simões, San Jose	M	Al Trost, St. Louis	Charlie Cooke, Los Angeles
Pelé, New York	F	Derek Smethurst, Tampa Bay	Jimmy Robertson, Seattle
George Best, Los Angeles	F	Jeff Bourne, Dallas	Mark Liveric, San Jose
Giorgio Chinaglia, New York	F	Stewart Scullion, Tampa Bay	Tommy Ord, Vancouver

Playoffs

All playoff games in all rounds including Soccer Bowl '76 were single game elimination match ups.

Bracket

First Round

Division Championships

Conference Championships

Soccer Bowl '76

E2

New York Cosmos

2

E3

Washington Diplomats

0

E1

Tampa Bay Rowdies

3

E2

New York Cosmos

1

E1

Tampa Bay Rowdies

0

Atlantic Conference

N2

Toronto Metros-Croatia

2

N2

Toronto Metros-Croatia

2

N3

Rochester Lancers

1

N1

Chicago Sting

2(1)

N2

Toronto Metros-Croatia

2(3)

N2

Toronto Metros-Croatia

3

W1

Minnesota Kicks

0

S2

Dallas Tornado

2

S3

Los Angeles Aztecs

0

S1

San Jose Earthquakes

2

S2

Dallas Tornado

0

S1

San Jose Earthquakes

1

Pacific Conference

W1

Minnesota Kicks

3

W2

Seattle Sounders

1

W3

Vancouver Whitecaps

0

W1

Minnesota Kicks

3

W2

Seattle Sounders

0

First round

August 17	Washington Diplomats	0–2	New York Cosmos	Shea Stadium • Att. 22,698 [4]

---

August 18	Los Angeles Aztecs	0–2	Dallas Tornado	Ownby Stadium • Att. 9,413

---

August 18	Vancouver Whitecaps	0–1	Seattle Sounders	Kingdome • Att. 30,406

---

August 18	Rochester Lancers	1–2	Toronto Metros-Croatia	Varsity Stadium • Att. 6,852

Conference semifinals

August 20	Toronto Metros-Croatia	3–2(PK, 3–1)	Chicago Sting	Soldier Field • Att. 8,150

---

August 20	New York Cosmos	1–3	Tampa Bay Rowdies	Tampa Stadium • Att. 36,863

---

August 20	Dallas Tornado	0–2	San Jose Earthquakes	Spartan Stadium • Att. 15,135

---

August 21	Seattle Sounders	0–3	Minnesota Kicks	Metropolitan Stadium • Att. 41,405

Conference Championships

August 24	Toronto Metros-Croatia	2–0	Tampa Bay Rowdies	Tampa Stadium • Att. 28,046

---

August 25	San Jose Earthquakes	1–3	Minnesota Kicks	Metropolitan Stadium • Att. 49,572

Soccer Bowl '76

Main article: Soccer Bowl '76

August 28

Toronto Metros-Croatia	3–0	Minnesota Kicks
Eusébio 40:28' Lukačević 53:57' (Ferriera) Ferriera 82:43'

Kingdome, Seattle ^[5]

Attendance: 25,765

Referee: Gordon Hill ^[6] (England)

1976 NASL Champions: Toronto Metros-Croatia

Post season awards

• Most Valuable Player: Pelé, New York
• Coach of the year: Eddie Firmani, Tampa Bay
• Rookie of the year: Steve Pecher, Dallas
• North American Player of the Year: Arnie Mausser, Tampa Bay ^{[7] [8]}

References

1. Holt, Gordy (April 25, 1976). "There's a New Look in the NASL". Seattle Post-Intelligencer . p. F4.
2. "St. Petersburg Times - Google News Archive Search" . Retrieved January 23, 2014.
3. "Mid Cities Daily News - Google News Archive Search" . Retrieved January 23, 2014.
4. "History of Shea Stadium". Newyork.mets.mlb.com. Archived from the original on May 3, 2007. Retrieved January 13, 2014.
5. "The Spokesman-Review - Google News Archive Search" . Retrieved January 23, 2014.
6. "1976 Soccer Bowl Toronto Metro Croatia vs Minnesota Kicks highlights (Film) NASL". YouTube .
7. "The Palm Beach Post - Google News Archive Search" . Retrieved January 23, 2014.
8. "The Montreal Gazette - Google News Archive Search" . Retrieved January 23, 2014.

External links

• Complete Results and Standings
• "The Year in American Soccer - 1976". homepages.sover.net. Archived from the original on January 7, 2015. Retrieved January 23, 2014.