1971_North_American_Soccer_League_season
1971 North American Soccer League season
Soccer league season
Statistics of North American Soccer League in season 1971. This was the 4th season of the NASL.
| 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 → | |
Eight teams competed in the 1971 season. The Dallas Tornado won the league championship after playing several playoff matches under the new sudden death rule, which replaced the penalty shootout. In Game 1 of the best-of-three semifinal against the Rochester Lancers, league scoring champion Carlos Metidieri of Rochester scored to end the match at 2–1 in the 176th minute after six periods of overtime—shortly before midnight. Three days later, Dallas tied the series with a 3–1 regulation win. In the deciding match, the two teams ended regulation with a 1–1 tie and played four overtime periods before Bobby Moffat scored in the 148 minute for a 2–1 victory. Four days later, Dallas lost Game 1 of the NASL Championship Series, 2–1, in the 3rd overtime to the Atlanta Chiefs after 123 minutes.[1] All totaled, Dallas had played 537 minutes of soccer (3 minutes short of six games) in 13 days. The Tornado won 4–1 in Game 2 and 2–0 in Game 3 to clinch the league championship.[2]
Rule 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 (or sudden death) overtime periods lasting 15 minutes each.[2]
New teams
- Montreal Olympique
- New York Cosmos
- Toronto Metros
Teams folding
Teams moving
- None
Name changes
- None
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.
- -Premiers (most points). -Other playoff teams.
| 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 |
| First Team[3][4] | 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 |
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 • 6,131[5] September 8 • Aquinas Memorial Stadium • 7,635 |
| Atlanta Chiefs | 2 - 0 | New York Cosmos | 1–0(3ot) | 2–0 | x | September 2 • Atlanta Stadium • 3,160[6] September 5 • Hofstra Stadium • 3,800[7] |
NASL Final 1971
| Higher seed | Series | Lower seed | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlanta Chiefs | 1 - 2 | Dallas Tornado | 2–1 (3ot) | 1–4 | 0–2 | September 12 • Atlanta Stadium • 3,218[8] 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 da Veiga  71:53'Kaizer Motaung  123:58' |
Report | Tibor Molnár 40:39' |
Attendance: 3,218 |
Game two
| September 15 | Dallas Tornado | 4–1 | Atlanta Chiefs | Franklin Stadium, Dallas, Texas |
| Phil Tinney 45' Luiz Juracy 54'Luiz Juracy 76'Tony McLoughlin |
Report 1 Report 2 |
Henry Largie 44' (Paton) |
Attendance: 6,456 |
Game three
| September 19 | Atlanta Chiefs | 0–2 | Dallas Tornado | Atlanta Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia |
| Report | Mike Renshaw 2:34' (Tinney) Bobby Moffat 44:30' |
Attendance: 4,687 |
1971 NASL Champions: Dallas Tornado
- Most Valuable Player: Carlos Metidieri, Rochester
- Coach of the year: Ron Newman, Dallas
- Rookie of the year: Randy Horton, New York
- Lewis, Michael (September 1, 2015). "Exhaustion and a 176th minute winner: The NASL game that lasted nearly three hours". The Guardian. Retrieved May 31, 2023.
- "The Year in American Soccer - 1971". Homepages.sover.net. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved January 13, 2014.
- "NASL Homepage". May 1, 2008. Archived from the original on May 1, 2008. Retrieved January 13, 2014.
- "Steve Dimitry's NASL Web Page". Oocities.org. Retrieved January 13, 2014.
- "Dallas Evens Soccer Series". Atlanta Journal and Constitution. September 5, 1971. p. 6-D. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
- Roberts, Charles (September 3, 1971). "Chiefs Topple Cosmos In Sudden Death, 1-0". Atlanta Constitution. p. 1-D. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
- "Atlanta Moves into Finals". Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. September 6, 1971. p. 3D. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
- "Previo Campeones: Dallas Tornado Ganan Titulo en 1971". September 22, 2015. Retrieved January 28, 2016.