1971 North American Soccer League season
Statistics of North American Soccer League in season 1971. This was the 4th season of the NASL.
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 football 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.Changes From the previous season
Rules 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 overtime periods lasting 15 minutes each.New teams
- Montreal Olympique
- New York Cosmos
- Toronto Metros
Teams folding
- Kansas City Spurs
Teams moving
- None
Name changes
- None
Regular season
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.
| Northern Division | W | L | T | GF | GA | PT |
| Rochester Lancers | 13 | 5 | 6 | 48 | 31 | 141 |
| New York Cosmos | 9 | 10 | 5 | 51 | 55 | 117 |
| Toronto Metros | 5 | 10 | 9 | 32 | 47 | 89 |
| Montreal Olympique | 4 | 15 | 5 | 29 | 59 | 65 |
| Southern Division | W | L | T | GF | GA | PT |
| Atlanta Chiefs | 12 | 7 | 5 | 35 | 29 | 120 |
| Dallas Tornado | 10 | 6 | 8 | 38 | 24 | 119 |
| Washington Darts | 8 | 6 | 10 | 36 | 34 | 111 |
| St. Louis Stars | 6 | 13 | 5 | 37 | 47 | 86 |
1971 NASL All-Stars
| First Team | Position | Second Team | Honorable 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, Washington | D | Uriel da Veiga, Atlanta | Oreco, Dallas |
| Peter Short, Rochester | D | John Cocking, Atlanta | Gabbo Gavrić, Dallas |
| John Best, Dallas | D | 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 York | M | 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 York | F | Casey Frankiewicz, St. Louis | Iris DeBrito, Rochester |
| Kaizer Motaung, Atlanta | F | Franco Gallina, Montreal | Mike Renshaw, Dallas |
| Manfred Seissler, Rochester | F | Jorge Siega, New York | Leroy DeLeon, Washington • Ian MacHattie, Toronto |
Playoffs
Bracket
Semifinals
NASL Final 1971
Game one
Game two
Game three
1971 NASL Champions: Dallas TornadoPost season awards
- Most Valuable Player: Carlos Metidieri, Rochester
- Coach of the year: Ron Newman, Dallas
- Rookie of the year: Randy Horton, New York