1975 North American Soccer League season

North American Soccer League -1975 Season-

Season	1975
Champions	Tampa Bay Rowdies
Premiers	Portland Timbers
Matches played	220
Goals scored	750 (3.41 per match)
Top goalscorer	Steve David (23)
Highest attendance	35,620 (NY @ Washington)
Lowest attendance	1,146 (Seattle @ Hartford)
Average attendance	7,642
← 1974 1976 →

Statistics of North American Soccer League in season 1975. This was the 8th season of the NASL.

Overview

The league comprised 20 teams with the Tampa Bay Rowdies winning the championship.

Pelé joined the New York Cosmos in 1975.

1975 was the first year the league used the term Soccer Bowl for their championship game.

Changes from the Previous Season

New Teams

• Chicago Sting
• Hartford Bicentennials
• Portland Timbers
• San Antonio Thunder
• Tampa Bay Rowdies

Points/Ties

The 1975 season saw the removal of ties, and it would not be until 2000 that a top-tier American soccer league implemented ties.

Name Changes

• Toronto Metros merged with the National Soccer League side, Toronto Croatia, to become Toronto Metros-Croatia

Regular season

W = Wins, L = Losses, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, PT= point system

6 points for a win, 1 point for a shootout win, 0 points for a loss, 1 point for each regulation goal scored up to three per game.

Northern Division	W	L	GF	GA	PT
Boston Minutemen	13	9	41	29	116
Toronto Metros-Croatia	13	9	39	28	114
New York Cosmos	10	12	39	38	91
Rochester Lancers	6	16	29	49	64
Hartford Bicentennials	6	16	27	51	61

Eastern Division	W	L	GF	GA	PT
Tampa Bay Rowdies	16	6	46	27	135
Miami Toros	14	8	47	30	123
Washington Diplomats	12	10	42	47	112
Philadelphia Atoms	10	12	33	42	90
Baltimore Comets	9	13	34	52	87

Central Division	W	L	GF	GA	PT
St. Louis Stars	13	9	38	34	115
Chicago Sting	12	10	39	33	106
Denver Dynamos	9	13	37	42	85
Dallas Tornado	9	13	33	38	83
San Antonio Thunder	6	16	24	46	59

Western Division	W	L	GF	GA	PT
Portland Timbers	16	6	43	27	138
Seattle Sounders	15	7	42	28	129
Los Angeles Aztecs	12	10	42	33	107
Vancouver Whitecaps	11	11	38	28	99
San Jose Earthquakes	8	14	37	48	83

NASL League Leaders

Scoring

*(2 points per goal, 1 per assist)

Player	Team	Apps	Gls	Ast	Pts
Steve David	Miami	21	23	6	52
Derek Smethurst	Tampa Bay	22	18	3	39
Gordon Hill	Chicago	21	16	7	39
Peter Withe	Portland	22	16	6	38
Uri Banhoffer	Los Angeles	20	14	9	37
Tommy Ord	Rochester/NY	21	16	3	35
Ilija Mitic	Dallas/SJ	19	15	3	33
Ade Coker	Boston	15	10	6	26
Ace Ntsoelengoe	Denver	21	10	5	25
John Coyne	Toronto	22	7	11	25

Goalkeeping

*(1260 minutes minimum)

Player	Team	Min	SV	GA	SH	GAA
Shep Messing	Boston	1639	140	17	6	0.93
Barry Watling	Seattle	2032	140	26	6	1.15
Graham Brown	Portland	1948	144	26	5	1.20
Željko Bilecki	Toronto	1949	123	27	8	1.25
Greg Weber	Vancouver	1273	95	19	5	1.34
Mervyn Cawston	Chicago	1586	94	24	4	1.36
Peter Bonetti	St. Louis	1829	189	28	5	1.38
Sam Nusum	New York	1554	131	25	3	1.45
Ken Cooper	Dallas	1856	130	32	4	1.55
Bob Rigby	Philadelphia	1802	144	32	4	1.60

NASL All-Stars

First Team	Position	Second Team	Honorable Mention[1]
Peter Bonetti, St. Louis	G	Ken Cooper, Dallas	Barry Watling, Seattle
Bob Smith, Philadelphia	D	Tony Want, Philadelphia	Tom McConville, Washington
Mike England, Seattle	D	Stewart Jump, Tampa Bay	Dave Gillett, Seattle
Werner Roth, New York	D	Ralph Wright, Miami	Graham Day, Portland
Farrukh Quraishi, Tampa Bay	D	Charlie Mitchell, Rochester	Brian Rowan, Toronto
Arfon Griffiths, Seattle	M	Barry Powell, Portland	John Sissons, Tampa Bay
Ronnie Sharp, Miami	M	John Boyle, Tampa Bay	Hugh Fisher, Denver
António Simões, Boston	M	Bobby Hope, Philadelphia	Wolfgang Sühnholz, Boston
Steve David, Miami	F	Peter Withe, Portland	Clyde Best, Tampa Bay
Pelé, New York	F	Tommy Ord, Roch & NY	Derek Smethurst, Tampa Bay
Gordon Hill, Chicago	F	Stewart Scullion, Tampa Bay	Uri Banhoffer, Los Angeles

Playoffs

Bracket

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Soccer Bowl '75

W1

Portland Timbers

2

W2

Seattle Sounders

1

W1

Portland Timbers

1

C1

St. Louis Stars

0

C1

St. Louis Stars

1(5)

W3

Los Angeles Aztecs

1(4)

W1

Portland Timbers

0

E1

Tampa Bay Rowdies

2

E2

Miami Toros

2

A2

Boston Minutemen

1

E2

Miami Toros

0

E1

Tampa Bay Rowdies

3

N2

Toronto Metros-Croatia

0

E1

Tampa Bay Rowdies

1

Quarterfinals

August 12	Seattle Sounders	1–2 (OT)	Portland Timbers	Civic Stadium • Att. 31,523

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August 13	Miami Toros	2–1 (OT)	Boston Minutemen	Nickerson Field • Att. 2,187

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August 13	Los Angeles Aztecs	1 – 2 (PK, 4–5)	St. Louis Stars	Francis Field • Att. 6,119

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August 13	Toronto Metros-Croatia	0–1	Tampa Bay Rowdies	Tampa Stadium • Att. 16,111

Semifinals

August 16	Miami Toros	0–3	Tampa Bay Rowdies	Tampa Stadium • Att. 22,710

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August 17	St. Louis Stars	0–1	Portland Timbers	Civic Stadium • Att. 33,503

Soccer Bowl '75

Tampa Bay Rowdies v Portland Timbers

August 24 12:30 pm PDT

Tampa Bay Rowdies	2–0	Portland Timbers
Auguste  66' Best  88'

Spartan Stadium, San Jose, California Attendance: 17,483 Referee: Henry Landauer (USA)[2][3][4]

1975 NASL Champions: Tampa Bay Rowdies

Post season awards

• Most Valuable Player: Steve David, Miami
• Coach of the year: John Sewell, St. Louis
• Rookie of the year: Chris Bahr, Philadelphia^[5]

References

1. "St. Petersburg Times - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2014-01-23.
2. "St. Petersburg Times - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2014-07-14.
3. "-CoqWWZryDfU/Tk-SyjDtXOI/AAAAAAAALNs/QprEBSLeOSg/s1600/1975-8-24+Soccer+Bowl+Report+2". 3.bp.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2014-01-23.
4. "_axffduAi2BA/TTVkBYFN2BI/AAAAAAAAKgM/fGOuEI7O-Io/s640/Soccer%2BBowl%2B%252775%2BTicket". 2.bp.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2014-01-23.
5. "The Year in American Soccer - 1975". Homepages.sover.net. Retrieved 2014-01-13.

External links

• Complete Results and Standings