1978 North American Soccer League season


The 1978 North American Soccer League season was the 66th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer, the 11th with a national first-division league, in the United States and Canada.

Changes from the previous season

New teams

Bolstered by the success of the previous season, the league added six teams to reach 24 in total. The Colorado Caribous launched in Denver, the Detroit Express and Houston Hurricane became the second and third teams to play in fully enclosed indoor stadiums, the Philadelphia Fury brought soccer back to Philadelphia, the New England Tea Men would be the third attempt to have NASL soccer succeed in the Boston area and the Memphis Rogues would bring pro soccer to Tennessee.
There were also the usual franchise movements. Team Hawaii became the Tulsa Roughnecks, the Las Vegas Quicksilver became the San Diego Sockers, the Connecticut Bicentennials became the Oakland Stompers and the St. Louis Stars moved to Anaheim to become the California Surf.
With so many new clubs, the NASL realigned into a six-division format while expanding the playoffs to include 16 teams. The new alignment was a direct copy of the NFL's setup, as the new three-division conferences were called the 'American Soccer Conference' and the 'National Soccer Conference', respectively. Each conference had East, Central and West divisions as well.
The top two teams in each division would quality for the playoffs. The other spots would go to the next best two teams in the conference, regardless of division. The top three seeds went to the division winners, seeds 4-6 went to the second place teams and the last two seeds were known as 'wild-cards' – another nod to the NFL. The winners of each successive round would be reseeded within the conference. The first round and the Soccer Bowl were single games, while the conference semifinals and championships were two-game series. As in the 1977 playoffs, if both teams were tied at one win apiece at the conclusion of Game 2, there would be a 30-minute sudden-death mini-game and a shootout if necessary.
The Cosmos would set records for most wins and points in an NASL season, thanks to their 24-6 regular-season mark and 212 points. The Cosmos beat the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers, 7–0, on opening day and never looked back, scoring 88 times while losing just three games in regulation. Giorgio Chinaglia scored 34 goals and 79 points, setting league records in the process. He did not win regular season MVP honors, however. That award went to New England's Mike Flanagan, who scored 30 goals and 68 points while leading the Tea Men to an unlikely ASC East title. At the age of 36, Alan Hinton of Vancouver set a league record of his own with 30 assists.
Still, the Cosmos needed a major rally to beat the Minnesota Kicks in the NSC playoffs. The Kicks won the first game by an extraordinary 9–2 score behind Alan Willey's five goals, but the Cosmos won Game 2, 4–0, back at Giants Stadium. The resulting mini-game went to a shootout, and Carlos Alberto and Franz Beckenbauer scored goals to keep the Cosmos alive. The Portland Timbers were shut out over both games of the National Conference final, and the Tampa Bay Rowdies were beaten before 74,901 fans at Giants Stadium in the Soccer Bowl. The Cosmos became the first back-to-back champions in NASL history.
After the season Colorado would move to Atlanta, while Oakland would move to Edmonton just two months before the start of the 1979 NASL season. The Stompers had drawn over 32,000 for their opening game at the Oakland Coliseum, but were drawing crowds under 10,000 by the end of the season. The Caribous had the worst record in the league and only drew one crowd bigger than 10,000 the entire year.

Regular season

W = Wins, L = Losses, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, BP = Bonus Points, Pts = Point System
6 points for a win,
0 points for a loss,
1 point for each regulation goal scored up to three per game.

American Conference

Central DivisionWLGFGABPPtsHomeRoad
Detroit Express201068365617610-510-5
Chicago Sting12185764511237-85-10
Memphis Rogues10204358411018-72-13
Houston Hurricane1020376136965-105-10

Western DivisionWLGFGABPPtsHomeRoad
San Diego Sockers181263565616412-36-9
California Surf13174349371159-64-11
Oakland Stompers12183459311037-85-10
San Jose Earthquakes822368135834-114-11

National Conference

Central DivisionWLGFGABPPtsHomeRoad
Minnesota Kicks171358435415611-46-9
Tulsa Roughnecks151549464213211-44-11
Dallas Tornado14165153471319-65-10
Colorado Caribous822346633815-103-12

Western DivisionWLGFGABPPtsHomeRoad
Vancouver Whitecaps24668295519913-211-4
Portland Timbers201050364716713-27-8
Seattle Sounders151550454813811-44-11
Los Angeles Aztecs921366934883-126-9

NASL League Leaders

Scoring

GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points
PlayerTeamGPGAPts
Giorgio ChinagliaCosmos30341179
Mike FlanaganNew England Tea Men2830868
Trevor FrancisDetroit Express20221054
Kevin HectorVancouver Whitecaps28211052
Rodney MarshTampa Bay Rowdies26181652
Jeff BourneDallas Tornado3021850
Karl-Heinz GranitzaChicago Sting2219947
Alan WilleyMinnesota Kicks3021345
Ivan LukačevićToronto Metros-Croatia1716537
David IrvingFort Lauderdale Strikers2816537
Bob LenarduzziVancouver Whitecaps29101737
Vladislav BogićevićCosmos30101737

Goalkeeping

Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; W = Wins; L = Losses; SO = Shutouts
PlayerTeamGPMinGAGAAWLSO
Phil ParkesVancouver Whitecaps292650280.9523610
Erol YasinCosmos221916241.131756
Mick PoolePortland Timbers302783361.1620109
Steve HardwickDetroit Express302734361.1920109
Kevin KeelanNew England Tea Men292609361.2418117
Winston DuBoseTampa Bay Rowdies151352191.27874
Željko BileckiToronto Metros-Croatia171550231.341076
Dave JokerstCalifornia Surf171574241.37986
Colin BoultonTulsa Roughnecks282531391.39171110
Tony ChurskySeattle Sounders282617411.4114149

NASL All-Stars

Playoffs

The first round and the Soccer Bowl were single game match ups, while the conference semifinals and championships were all two-game series.

Bracket

Conference Quarterfinals

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Conference Semifinals

In 1978, if a playoff series was tied after two games, a 30 minute, golden goal, mini-game was played. If neither team scored in the mini-game, they would move on to a shoot-out to determine a series winner. *Teams were re-seeded for the Conference Semifinals based on regular season point totals. This affected only one of the four series; Tampa Bay versus San Diego.

Conference Championships

Soccer Bowl '78

1978 NASL Champions: Cosmos

Playoff Statistics

Mini-games are not counted as games played when compiling individual statistics. They are included in the minutes played category.

Scoring

GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points
PlayerTeamGPGAPts
Dennis TueartCosmos66517
Alan WilleyMinnesota Kicks37014
Giorgio ChinagliaCosmos65212
David IrvingFort Lauderdale Strikers55010
Rodney MarshTampa Bay Rowdies5339

Goalkeeping

Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; W = Wins; L = Losses; SO = Shutouts
PlayerTeamGPMinGAGAAWLSO
Phil ParkesVancouver Whitecaps327031.00121
Alan MayerSan Diego Sockers322531.00110
Steve HardwickDetroit Express330641.33212
Mick PoolePortland Timbers545781.60321
Winston DuBoseTampa Bay Rowdies6574101.67331

Post season awards

ClubGamesTotalAverage
Cosmos15717,84247,856
Minnesota Kicks15462,90430,860
Seattle Sounders15338,67722,578
Tampa Bay Rowdies15271,85618,124
Vancouver Whitecaps15235,86615,724
San Jose Earthquakes15214,77714,318
Detroit Express15182,90612,194
New England Tea Men15180,95412,064
Oakland Stompers15178,94111,929
Portland Timbers15177,04911,803
Tulsa Roughnecks15168,83411,256
California Surf15167,56911,171
Washington Diplomats15161,74110,783
Fort Lauderdale Strikers15157,18810,479
Los Angeles Aztecs15139,5149,301
Memphis Rogues15135,4829,032
Dallas Tornado15128,1498,543
Philadelphia Fury15121,1278,075
Houston Hurricane15116,2477,750
Colorado Caribous15111,2667,418
Rochester Lancers15101,4026,760
Toronto Metros-Croatia1593,5016,233
San Diego Sockers1577,1855,146
Chicago Sting1569,2674,618
OVERALL3604,710,24413,084