1975 NASL Indoor tournament

North American Soccer League
-1975 Indoor Tournament-
NASL Indoor Tournament
Tournament details
Host country United States
Dates January 24, 1975 –
March 16, 1975
Teams 16
Final positions
Champions San Jose Earthquakes (1st title)
Runners-up Tampa Bay Rowdies
Tournament statistics
Matches played 20
Goals scored 230 (11.5 per match)
Top scorer(s) United States Paul Child (14 goals)
Best player United States Paul Child (San Jose)
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Gabbo Garvic (San Jose)

In early 1975 the North American Soccer League hosted its first league-wide indoor soccer tournament over the course of seven weeks. All but four NASL teams participated.

Overview

Though the Dallas Tornado had won the NASL's 1971 Hoc-Soc Tournament[1] and the Atlanta Apollos staged two league sanctioned pilot matches at the Omni in 1973,[2][3] the birth of the modern game in North America can be traced to 1974, when three indoor exhibitions against the touring Soviet Red Army of Moscow club took place. The games were played on a field the size of a hockey rink, with goals 4 feet high by 16 feet wide. Much like hockey, matches were played in three 20 minute periods, allowed free substitution, and featured six man sides (five field players and a goalkeeper). The Soviets beat an outmatched NASL All-Star team 8–4 on February 7 at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens. The second game against the reigning champion Philadelphia Atoms on February 11, is considered by many as the watershed event of North American indoor soccer. The game stayed close into the third period, though the Red Army squad eventually pulled away 6–3. On February 13 the Russians closed out their tour with an 11–4 throttling of the St. Louis Stars in Missouri before an impressive crowd of 12,241.[4][5][6]

In spite of the losses, and because another 11,790 curious fans packed Philadelphia's Spectrum to watch this "new" game, the NASL began considering indoor soccer’s potential to increase fan interest in the sport as a whole. A month and seven days later a Spectrum crowd of 6,314 turned out to watch the Atoms defeat the New York Cosmos 5–3. With this, franchises also recognized that they could generate more revenue from players already under contract. The league hinted at having a 10-game indoor season in early 1975,[7] but by autumn eventually scaled that plan back.[8] The following year the NASL staged an indoor tournament: sixteen of the twenty teams participated. It was divided into four regional tournaments, with the regional winners meeting in San Francisco for the overall title in a similar format to the NCAA college basketball tournament. In the regionals, two teams would play each other, and then winners would play losers in a two-game series. The team with the best record advanced to the semifinals; in the event of teams having identical records, the side with the best total goal differential advanced out of the region. That first year the goals stayed 4 x 16 and the games remained divided into three 20 minute frames like those played against the Red Army club the previous year.[9][10][11][12]

Four NASL clubs, Chicago, Denver, Portland and San Antonio did not participate in the tournament. However three of them were recently announced[13] expansion teams that had yet to play an outdoor season either.

The San Jose Earthquakes defeated the newly formed Tampa Bay Rowdies 8–5 in the Championship Final. Paul Child of San Jose scored seven goals in the regionals,[14] and added another seven during the final four to lead all goal scorers. Child and teammate Gabbo Garvic shared the MVP honors.

Pre-1975 NASL indoor matches

1975 Indoor Regional tournaments

Region 1

played at Fair Park Coliseum in Dallas, Texas

January 24 Philadelphia Atoms 5–3 St. Louis Stars
Toronto Metros-Croatia 2–1 Dallas Tornado
January 26 St. Louis Stars 8–4 Toronto Metros-Croatia
Dallas Tornado 6–2 Philadelphia Atoms
Pos Team G W L GF GA GD PTS
1 Dallas Tornado 2 1 1 7 4 +3 2
2 St. Louis Stars 2 1 1 11 9 +2 2
3 Philadelphia Atoms 2 1 1 7 9 -2 2
4 Toronto Metros-Croatia 2 1 1 6 9 -3 2

*Dallas wins region on goal differential, advances to semifinals

Region 2

played at Rochester War Memorial in Rochester, New York

February 6 New York Cosmos 6–4 Hartford Bicentennials Attendance: 2,191
Boston Minutemen 4–3 Rochester Lancers
February 8 Hartford Bicentennials 5–3 Boston Minutemen Attendance: 3,173
Rochester Lancers 8–7 New York Cosmos
Pos Team G W L GF GA GD PTS
1 New York Cosmos 2 1 1 13 12 +1 2
2 Hartford Bicentennials 2 1 1 9 9 0 2
3 Rochester Lancers 2 1 1 11 11 0 2
4 Boston Minutemen 2 1 1 7 8 -1 2

*New York wins region on goal differential, advances to semifinals

Region 3

played at the Bayfront Center in St. Petersburg, Florida[15][16][17]

February 14 Miami Toros 11–8 Baltimore Comets Attendance: 4,437
Tampa Bay Rowdies 7–2 Washington Diplomats
February 16 Miami Toros 7–4 Washington Diplomats Attendance: 4,032
Tampa Bay Rowdies 8–6 Baltimore Comets
Pos Team G W L GF GA GD PTS
1 Tampa Bay Rowdies 2 2 0 15 8 +7 4
2 Miami Toros 2 2 0 18 12 +6 4
3 Baltimore Comets 2 0 2 14 19 -5 0
4 Washington Diplomats 2 0 2 6 14 -8 0

*Tampa Bay wins region on goal differential, advances to semifinals[18][19]

Region 4

played at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California

February 21 Vancouver Whitecaps 15–4# Los Angeles Aztecs Attendance: 9,223[21]
San Jose Earthquakes 14–4# Seattle Sounders
February 23 Los Angeles Aztecs 9–4 Seattle Sounders
San Jose Earthquakes 7–3 Vancouver Whitecaps

#Vancouver and San Jose won by such large margins, that the NASL and the two teams agreed to a head-to-head pairing on Feb. 28.[9]

Pos Team G W L GF GA GD PTS
1 San Jose Earthquakes 2 2 0 21 7 +14 4
2 Vancouver Whitecaps 2 1 1 18 11 +7 2
3 Los Angeles Aztecs 2 1 1 13 19 -6 2
4 Seattle Sounders 2 0 2 8 23 -15 0

*San Jose wins region, advances to semifinals

1975 Indoor Final Four

Bracket

Semifinals Championship Final
      
R4 San Jose Earthquakes 8
R1 Dallas Tornado 5
R4 San Jose Earthquakes 8
R3 Tampa Bay Rowdies 5
R3 Tampa Bay Rowdies 13
R2 New York Cosmos 5

Semi-finals

played at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California

March 14 Tampa Bay Rowdies 13–5 New York Cosmos[23] Attendance: 9,113
San Jose Earthquakes 8–5 Dallas Tornado

Third place match

played at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California

March 16 Dallas Tornado 2–0 New York Cosmos[24]

Championship Final

March 16, 1975
9:00 PM PDT
San Jose Earthquakes 8–5 Tampa Bay Rowdies
Roboostoff  7:10'
Child  9:25' (Gavric)
Roboostoff  14:36' (Child)
Child  16:22' (Welch)
Roboostoff  18:38' (Moore)
Welch  19:38' (Child)
Zaczynski  50:50' (Child)
Child  52:56'		 Report (p. 2C) Engerth  9:36' (Lima)
Hartze  25:14' (Quraishi)
Lezak  33:35'
Wark  50:55' (Hartze)
Quraishi  54:56' (Boyle)
Cow Palace, Daly City, California
Attendance: 8,618
Referee: United States Henry Landuer

Television: CBS (tape delayed)

Final Four awards

Final Four statistics

Leading Scorers Goals Assists Total Points
Paul Child (San Jose) 7 3 17
Doug Wark (Tampa Bay) 7 0 14
Bernard Hartze (Tampa Bay) 4 3 11
Ilija Mitić (Dallas) 4 1 9
Zygmunt Lezak (Tampa Bay) 4 0 8

Final team rankings

Pos Team G W L GF GA GD
1 San Jose Earthquakes 4 4 0 37 17 +20
2 Tampa Bay Rowdies 4 3 1 33 21 +11
3 Dallas Tornado 4 2 2 14 12 +2
4 New York Cosmos 4 1 3 18 27 -9
5 Miami Toros 2 2 0 18 12 +6

Non-tournament matches

In addition to the Region 4 and Final Four tournament games (eight contests in all), the San Jose Earthquakes also hosted two other indoor matches at the Cow Palace as tune-ups for the impending tournament. The two matches drew a combined 21,299 spectators and San Jose won both.[25][26]

Match reports

References

  1. ↑ Flachsbart, Harold (March 20, 1971). "Fans Get A Kick Out Of Hoc-Soc". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. p. 6. Retrieved August 8, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Indoor soccer 'pilot contest' pits Montreal against Atlanta". Rome News-Tribune. May 2, 1973. p. 8A. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  3. ↑ Yannis, Alex (June 23, 1973). "Cosmos Hire an Ex‐Commuter". New York Times. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  4. ↑ Mueller, Gary (February 15, 1974). "Gritty Winter Impressive For Outclassed Stars". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. p. 30. Retrieved August 6, 2016.
  5. ↑ http://soccerstats.us/teams/red-army/
  6. ↑ "NASL-St. Louis Stars Friendlies". nasljerseys.com. Retrieved 2015-06-24.
  7. ↑ "Indoor Plan For Soccer Set in '75". New York Times. April 7, 1974. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  8. ↑ Chick, Bob (September 19, 1992). "Soccer: A Small Season For The Great Indoors". Evening Independent. p. 1-C. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
  9. 1 2 "History of Indoor Soccer in the USA". Rsssf.com. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  10. ↑ "TAMPA BAY ROWDIES APPRECIATION BLOG: 01/04/09 - 01/05/09". Mytampabayrowdies.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  11. ↑ "St. Petersburg Times - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2015-06-24.
  12. ↑ "TAMPA BAY ROWDIES APPRECIATION BLOG: 01/03/11 - 01/04/11". Mytampabayrowdies.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  13. ↑ Orr, M. (2011). The 1975 Portland Timbers: The Birth of Soccer City, USA. History Press. p. 15. ISBN 9781609494667. Retrieved 2015-06-24.
  14. ↑ Tex Maule (1975-03-03). "The Sport That Came In From The Cold". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2015-12-17.
  15. ↑ "Lakeland Ledger - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2015-06-24.
  16. ↑ "Sarasota Herald-Tribune - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2015-06-24.
  17. ↑ "Sarasota Herald-Tribune - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2015-06-24.
  18. ↑ "-SSME_CFHsq0/TX8uQHc6DfI/AAAAAAAAKyk/QUUa9V21_-o/s1600/1975-2-16%2BRowdies%2Bvs%2BComets%2Bid%2BReport". 4.bp.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2015-06-24.
  19. ↑ "-TIEoRQXqGxw/TY2_VHqHNuI/AAAAAAAAK18/OUT162vbVio/s1600/1975-2-16%2BRowdies%2Bvs%2BComets%2Bindoor%2BReport%2B2". 3.bp.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2015-06-24.
  20. ↑ https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19750218&id=NEFSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=eHkDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6847,2754508&hl=en
  21. ↑ http://www.frankmacdonald.net/?p=665#more-665
  22. ↑ Chittenden, Ed (March 24, 1975). "SJ's Acrobatic Goalie Puts 'Quakes in Semis". The Times (San Mateo, CA). p. 22. Retrieved July 31, 2016.
  23. ↑ "-iFgNnJBUS14/TYpd_DtAe3I/AAAAAAAAK0k/g8u1Ko3memk/s1600/1975-3-14%2BRowdies%2Bvs%2BCosmos%2Bindoor%2BReport%2B1". 1.bp.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2015-06-24.
  24. ↑ "The Year in American Soccer - 1975". Homepages.sover.net. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  25. ↑ Chittenden, Ed (February 8, 1975). "Cow Palace Hit". The Times (San Mateo, CA). p. 23. Retrieved July 28, 2016.
  26. ↑ "Tourney Next For 'Quakes". The Times (San Mateo, CA). February 15, 1975. p. 16. Retrieved July 28, 2016.
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