1971 North American Soccer League season
| Season | 1971 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Dallas Tornado |
| Premiers | Rochester Lancers |
| Matches played | 112 |
| Goals scored | 306 (2.73 per match) |
| Top goalscorer |
Carlos Metidieri (19 goals) |
| Highest attendance | 19,437 Rochester @ NY |
| Average attendance | 4,154 |
|
← 1970 1972 → | |
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 (3 minutes short of six games) 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.[1]
Changes From the previous season
Montreal Olympique, New York Cosmos and Toronto Metros joined the league while the Kansas City Spurs folded. 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 (or sudden death) overtime periods lasting 15 minutes each.[1]
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.
| 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[2][3] | 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 Viega, 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 Best-of-3 |
NASL Final 1971 Best-of-3 | |||||||||||
| N1 | Rochester Lancers | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| S2 | Dallas Tornado | 1 | 3 | 2 | ||||||||
| S2 | Dallas Tornado | 1 | 4 | 2 | ||||||||
| S1 | Atlanta Chiefs | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| S1 | Atlanta Chiefs | 1 | 2 | - | ||||||||
| N2 | New York Cosmos | 0 | 0 | - | ||||||||
Semifinals
| Higher seed | Series | Lower seed | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rochester Lancers | 1 - 2 | Dallas Tornado | 2–1 (6ot) | 1–3 | 1–2 (4ot) | September 1 Aquinas Memorial Stadium-8,309 September 4 Franklin Stadium-? September 8 Aquinas Memorial Stadium-7,635 |
| Atlanta Chiefs | 2 - 0 | New York Cosmos | 1–0 | 2–0 | x | September 2 Atlanta Stadium-3,800 September 5 Yankee Stadium-?[4] |
NASL Final 1971
| Higher seed | Series | Lower seed | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dallas Tornado | 2 - 1 | Atlanta Chiefs | 1–2 (3ot) | 4–1 | 2–1 | September 12 Atlanta Stadium-3,218[5] September 15 Franklin Stadium-6,456 September 19 Atlanta Stadium-4,687 |
Game one
| September 12 | Atlanta Chiefs | 2–1 (a.e.t.) | Dallas Tornado | Atlanta Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Uriel De Veiga  Kaizer Motaung |
Tibor Molnár |
Attendance: 3,218 |
Game two
| September 15 | Dallas Tornado | 4–1 | Atlanta Chiefs | Franklin Stadium, Dallas, Texas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luiz Juracy Luiz Juracy Phil Tinney Tony McLoughlin |
Henry Largie |
Attendance: 6,456 |
Game three
| September 19 | Atlanta Chiefs | 0–2 | Dallas Tornado | Atlanta Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mike Renshaw (Tinney) 3' Bobby Moffat |
Attendance: 4,687 |
1971 NASL Champions: Dallas Tornado
Post season awards
- Most Valuable Player: Carlos Metidieri, Rochester
- Coach of the year: Ron Newman, Dallas
- Rookie of the year: Randy Horton, New York
References
- 1 2 "The Year in American Soccer - 1971". Homepages.sover.net. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
- ↑ "NASL Homepage". Web.archive.org. 2008-05-01. Archived from the original on May 1, 2008. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
- ↑ "Steve Dimitry's NASL Web Page". Oocities.org. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
- ↑ "Atlanta Chiefs All-time Game Results – SoccerStats.us". soccerstats.us. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
- ↑ "Previo Campeones: Dallas Tornado Ganan Titulo en 1971". 22 Sep 2015. Retrieved 2016-01-28.