| Competition: | North American Soccer League |
| Country: | |
| Confed: | CONCACAF |
| Season: | 1978 |
| Winners: | Cosmos (3rd title) |
| Premiers: | Cosmos (2nd title) |
| Matches: | 360 |
| Total Goals: | 1240 |
| League Topscorer: | Giorgio Chinaglia (34 goals) |
| Biggest Home Win: | DET 10–0 SJ (July 12)[1] |
| Biggest Away Win: | LA 0–5 MIN (August 2)[2] |
| Highest Scoring: | DET 10–0 SJ (July 12)[3] TOR 8–2 OAK (June 30)[4] |
| Longest Wins: | 13, Vancouver (June 22 – August 6)[5] |
| Longest Losses: | 13, San Jose (May 31 – July 19)[6] |
| Highest Attendance: | 71,219 Seattle at Cosmos (May 21)[7] |
| Lowest Attendance: | 1,538 N.E. at Chicago (May 7)[8] |
| Average Attendance: | 13,084[9] |
| Prevseason: | 1977 |
| Nextseason: | 1979 |
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.
Bolstered by the success of the previous season, the league added six teams to reach 24 in total.[10] The Colorado Caribous launched in Denver,[11] the Detroit Express[12] and Houston Hurricane[13] became the second and third teams to play in fully enclosed indoor stadiums, the Philadelphia Fury brought soccer back to Philadelphia,[14] 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,[15] 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.[16]
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.[17]
The Cosmos would set records for most wins and points in an NASL season, thanks to their 24-6 regular-season mark (shared with the Vancouver Whitecaps) and 212 points. The Cosmos beat the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers, 7–0, on opening day[18] 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.[19]
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,[20] 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.[21] The Portland Timbers were shut out over both games of the National Conference final,[22] and the Tampa Bay Rowdies were beaten before 74,901 fans at Giants Stadium in the Soccer Bowl.[23] The Cosmos became the first back-to-back champions in NASL history.
After the season the Colorado Caribous would move to Atlanta,[24] while the Oakland Stompers would move to Edmonton just two months before the start of the 1979 NASL season.[25] The Stompers had drawn over 32,000 for their opening game at the Oakland Coliseum,[26] 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.
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.
-Premiers (most points). -Other playoff teams.
| Eastern Division | W | L | GF | GA | BP | Pts | Home | Road | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New England Tea Men (2) | 19 | 11 | 62 | 39 | 51 | 165 | 10-5 | 9-6 | |
| Tampa Bay Rowdies (4) | 18 | 12 | 63 | 48 | 57 | 165 | 11-4 | 7-8 | |
| 16 | 14 | 50 | 59 | 47 | 143 | 12-3 | 4-11 | ||
| Philadelphia Fury (8) | 12 | 18 | 40 | 58 | 39 | 111 | 7-8 | 5-10 |
| Central Division | W | L | GF | GA | BP | Pts | Home | Road | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detroit Express (1) | 20 | 10 | 68 | 36 | 56 | 176 | 10-5 | 10-5 | |
| Chicago Sting (5) | 12 | 18 | 57 | 64 | 51 | 123 | 7-8 | 5-10 | |
| Memphis Rogues | 10 | 20 | 43 | 58 | 41 | 101 | 8-7 | 2-13 | |
| Houston Hurricane | 10 | 20 | 37 | 61 | 36 | 96 | 5-10 | 5-10 |
| Western Division | W | L | GF | GA | BP | Pts | Home | Road | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Diego Sockers (3) | 18 | 12 | 63 | 56 | 56 | 164 | 12-3 | 6-9 | |
| California Surf (6) | 13 | 17 | 43 | 49 | 37 | 115 | 9-6 | 4-11 | |
| Oakland Stompers | 12 | 18 | 34 | 59 | 31 | 103 | 7-8 | 5-10 | |
| San Jose Earthquakes | 8 | 22 | 36 | 81 | 35 | 83 | 4-11 | 4-11 |
| Eastern Division | W | L | GF | GA | BP | Pts | Home | Road | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cosmos (1) | 24 | 6 | 88 | 39 | 68 | 212 | 14-1 | 10-5 | |
| Washington Diplomats (5) | 16 | 14 | 55 | 47 | 49 | 145 | 11-4 | 5-10 | |
| Toronto Metros-Croatia (7) | 16 | 14 | 58 | 47 | 48 | 144 | 9-6 | 7-8 | |
| Rochester Lancers | 14 | 16 | 47 | 52 | 47 | 131 | 10-5 | 4-11 |
| Central Division | W | L | GF | GA | BP | Pts | Home | Road | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minnesota Kicks (3) | 17 | 13 | 58 | 43 | 54 | 156 | 11-4 | 6-9 | |
| Tulsa Roughnecks (6) | 15 | 15 | 49 | 46 | 42 | 132 | 11-4 | 4-11 | |
| Dallas Tornado | 14 | 16 | 51 | 53 | 47 | 131 | 9-6 | 5-10 | |
| Colorado Caribous | 8 | 22 | 34 | 66 | 33 | 81 | 5-10 | 3-12 |
| Western Division | W | L | GF | GA | BP | Pts | Home | Road | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vancouver Whitecaps (2) | 24 | 6 | 68 | 29 | 55 | 199 | 13-2 | 11-4 | |
| Portland Timbers (4) | 20 | 10 | 50 | 36 | 47 | 167 | 13-2 | 7-8 | |
| Seattle Sounders (8) | 15 | 15 | 50 | 45 | 48 | 138 | 11-4 | 4-11 | |
| Los Angeles Aztecs | 9 | 21 | 36 | 69 | 34 | 88 | 3-12 | 6-9 |
GP = Games Played, G = Goals (worth 2 points), A = Assists (worth 1 point), Pts = Points
| Player | Team | GP | G | A | Pts | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=left | Giorgio Chinaglia | align=left | Cosmos | 30 | 34 | 11 | 79 | |
| align=left | Mike Flanagan | align=left | New England Tea Men | 28 | 30 | 8 | 68 | |
| align=left | Trevor Francis | align=left | Detroit Express | 20 | 22 | 10 | 54 | |
| align=left | Kevin Hector | align=left | Vancouver Whitecaps | 28 | 21 | 10 | 52 | |
| align=left | Rodney Marsh | align=left | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 26 | 18 | 16 | 52 | |
| align=left | Jeff Bourne | align=left | Dallas Tornado | 30 | 21 | 8 | 50 | |
| align=left | Karl-Heinz Granitza | align=left | Chicago Sting | 22 | 19 | 9 | 47 | |
| align=left | Alan Willey | align=left | Minnesota Kicks | 30 | 21 | 3 | 45 | |
| align=left | Ivan Lukačević | align=left | Toronto Metros-Croatia | 17 | 16 | 5 | 37 | |
| align=left | align=left | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 28 | 16 | 5 | 37 | ||
| align=left | Bob Lenarduzzi | align=left | Vancouver Whitecaps | 29 | 10 | 17 | 37 | |
| align=left | Vladislav Bogićević | align=left | Cosmos | 30 | 10 | 17 | 37 |
Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; W = Wins; L = Losses; SO = Shutouts
| Player | Team | GP | Min | GA | GAA | W | L | SO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=left | Phil Parkes | align=left | Vancouver Whitecaps | 29 | 2650 | 28 | 0.95 | 23 | 6 | 10 | |
| align=left | align=left | Cosmos | 22 | 1916 | 24 | 1.13 | 17 | 5 | 6 | ||
| align=left | Mick Poole | align=left | Portland Timbers | 30 | 2783 | 36 | 1.16 | 20 | 10 | 9 | |
| align=left | align=left | Detroit Express | 30 | 2734 | 36 | 1.19 | 20 | 10 | 9 | ||
| align=left | align=left | New England Tea Men | 29 | 2609 | 36 | 1.24 | 18 | 11 | 7 | ||
| align=left | align=left | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 15 | 1352 | 19 | 1.27 | 8 | 7 | 4 | ||
| align=left | align=left | Toronto Metros-Croatia | 17 | 1550 | 23 | 1.34 | 10 | 7 | 6 | ||
| align=left | align=left | California Surf | 17 | 1574 | 24 | 1.37 | 9 | 8 | 6 | ||
| align=left | align=left | Tulsa Roughnecks | 28 | 2531 | 39 | 1.39 | 17 | 11 | 10 | ||
| align=left | align=left | Seattle Sounders | 28 | 2617 | 41 | 1.41 | 14 | 14 | 9 |
| First Team | Position | Second Team | Honorable Mention | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kevin Keelan, New England | align=center | G |  Alan Mayer, San Diego | Bill Irwin, Washington | |
 Carlos Alberto, Cosmos | align=center | D |  Bruce Wilson, Chicago | Maurice Whittle, Fort Lauderdale | |
| Mike England, Seattle | align=center | D | Arsene Auguste, Tampa Bay | Werner Roth, Cosmos | |
| Ray Evans, California | align=center | D | John Craven, Vancouver | Jim Steele, Washington | |
| Chris Turner, New England | align=center | D | Alan Merrick, Minnesota | Dave D'Errico, New England | |
| Franz Beckenbauer, Cosmos | align=center | M | Vladislav Bogićević, Cosmos | Ace Ntsoelengoe, Minnesota | |
 Gerry Daly, New England | align=center | M | Alan Ball, Philadelphia | George Best, Fort Lauderdale | |
| Rodney Marsh, Tampa Bay | align=center | M | Ray Hudson, Fort Lauderdale |  József Horváth, Rochester | |
| Mike Flanagan, New England | align=center | F | Steve Hunt, Cosmos | Dennis Tueart, Cosmos | |
| Trevor Francis, Detroit | align=center | F | Steve Wegerle, Tampa Bay | Karl-Heinz Granitza, Chicago | |
 Giorgio Chinaglia, Cosmos | align=center | F | Kevin Hector, Vancouver | Clyde Best, Portland • Jorgen Kristensen, Chicago |
See main article: 1978 North American Soccer League playoffs.
The first round and the Soccer Bowl were single game match ups, while the conference semifinals and championships were all two-game series.[27]
| style=font-size:85% align=center rowspan=3 width=15% | August 8 | width=24% align=right | Detroit Express | align=center width=13% | 1–0 | width=24% | Philadelphia Fury | style=font-size:85% rowspan=3 valign=top | Pontiac Silverdome • 22,456 |
| align=right valign=top | valign=top | align=left valign=top |
| style=font-size:85% align=center rowspan=3 width=15% | August 9 | width=24% align=right | New England Tea Men | align=center width=13% | 1–3 | width=24% | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | style=font-size:85% rowspan=3 valign=top | Schaefer Stadium • 18,672 |
| align=right valign=top | valign=top | align=left valign=top |
| style=font-size:85% align=center rowspan=3 width=15% | August 8 | width=24% align=right | San Diego Sockers | align=center width=13% | 2–1 | width=24% | California Surf | style=font-size:85% rowspan=3 valign=top | San Diego Stadium • 6,238 |
| align=right valign=top | valign=top | align=left valign=top |
| style=font-size:85% align=center rowspan=3 width=15% | August 8 | width=24% align=right | Tampa Bay Rowdies | align=center width=13% | 3–1 | width=24% | Chicago Sting | style=font-size:85% rowspan=3 valign=top | Tampa Stadium • 26,596 |
| align=right valign=top | valign=top | align=left valign=top |
| style=font-size:85% align=center rowspan=3 width=15% | August 9 | width=24% align=right | Cosmos | align=center width=13% | 5–2 | width=24% | Seattle Sounders | style=font-size:85% rowspan=3 valign=top | Giants Stadium • 47,780 |
| align=right valign=top | valign=top | align=left valign=top |
| style=font-size:85% align=center rowspan=3 width=15% | August 10 | width=24% align=right | Minnesota Kicks | align=center width=13% | 3–1 | width=24% | Tulsa Roughnecks | style=font-size:85% rowspan=3 valign=top | Metropolitan Stadium • 36,478 |
| align=right valign=top | valign=top | align=left valign=top |
| style=font-size:85% align=center rowspan=3 width=15% | August 9 | width=24% align=right | Vancouver Whitecaps | align=center width=13% | 4–0 | width=24% | Toronto Metros-Croatia | style=font-size:85% rowspan=3 valign=top | Empire Stadium • 30,811 |
| align=right valign=top | valign=top | align=left valign=top |
| style=font-size:85% align=center rowspan=3 width=15% | August 9 | width=24% align=right | Portland Timbers | align=center width=13% | 2–1 (OT) | width=24% | Washington Diplomats | style=font-size:85% rowspan=3 valign=top | Civic Stadium • 14,230 |
| align=right valign=top | valign=top | align=left valign=top |
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.[28]
| width=180 | Higher seed | width=5 | width=180 | Lower seed | width=80 | Game 1 | width=80 | Game 2 | width=100 | Mini-game | width=270 | (lower seed hosts Game 1) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detroit Express | - | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 3–4 (SO, 2–3) | 1–0 | 0–1 | August 13 • Lockhart Stadium • 11,517 August 16 • Pontiac Silverdome • 32,219 | |||||||
| - | San Diego Sockers | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | August 14 • San Diego Stadium • 8,014 August 17 • Tampa Stadium • 32,495 | ||||||||
| Cosmos | - | Minnesota Kicks | 2–9 | 4–0 | 1– 0 (SO, 2–1) | August 14 • Metropolitan Stadium • 45,863 August 16 • Giants Stadium • 60,199 | |||||||
| Vancouver Whitecaps | - | Portland Timbers | 0–1 | 1–2 | x | August 12 • Civic Stadium • 16,437 August 16 • Empire Stadium • 32,266 |
| width=180 | Higher seed | width=5 | width=180 | Lower seed | width=80 | Game 1 | width=80 | Game 2 | width=100 | Mini-game | width=270 | (lower seed hosts Game 1) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tampa Bay Rowdies | - | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 2–3 | 3–1 | 1–0 (SO, 2–1) | August 20 • Lockhart Stadium • 16,286 August 23 • Tampa Stadium • 37,249 | |||||||
| Cosmos | - | Portland Timbers | 1–0 | 4–0 | x | August 18 • Civic Stadium • 24,515 August 23 • Giants Stadium • 65,287 |
See main article: Soccer Bowl '78.
1978 NASL Champions: Cosmos
Mini-games are not counted as games played when compiling individual statistics. They are included in the minutes played category.
GP = Games Played, G = Goals (worth 2 points), A = Assists (worth 1 point), Pts = Points
| Player | Team | GP | G | A | Pts | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=left | Dennis Tueart | align=left | Cosmos | 6 | 6 | 5 | 17 | |
| align=left | Alan Willey | align=left | Minnesota Kicks | 3 | 7 | 0 | 14 | |
| align=left | Giorgio Chinaglia | align=left | Cosmos | 6 | 5 | 2 | 12 | |
| align=left | David Irving | align=left | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 5 | 5 | 0 | 10 | |
| align=left | Rodney Marsh | align=left | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 5 | 3 | 3 | 9 |
Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; W = Wins; L = Losses; SO = Shutouts
| Player | Team | GP | Min | GA | GAA | W | L | SO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=left | Phil Parkes | align=left | Vancouver Whitecaps | 3 | 270 | 3 | 1.00 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |
| align=left | align=left | San Diego Sockers | 3 | 225 | 3 | 1.00 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| align=left | align=left | Detroit Express | 3 | 306 | 4 | 1.33 | 2 | 1 | 2 | ||
| align=left | align=left | Portland Timbers | 5 | 457 | 8 | 1.60 | 3 | 2 | 1 | ||
| align=left | align=left | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 6 | 574 | 10 | 1.67 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Games | Total | Average[30] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cosmos | 15 | 717,842 | 47,856 | |
| Minnesota Kicks | 15 | 462,904 | 30,860 | |
| Seattle Sounders | 15 | 338,677 | 22,578 | |
| Tampa Bay Rowdies | 15 | 271,856 | 18,124 | |
| Vancouver Whitecaps | 15 | 235,866 | 15,724 | |
| San Jose Earthquakes | 15 | 214,777 | 14,318 | |
| Detroit Express | 15 | 182,906 | 12,194 | |
| New England Tea Men | 15 | 180,954 | 12,064 | |
| Oakland Stompers | 15 | 178,941 | 11,929 | |
| Portland Timbers | 15 | 177,049 | 11,803 | |
| Tulsa Roughnecks | 15 | 168,834 | 11,256 | |
| California Surf | 15 | 167,569 | 11,171 | |
| Washington Diplomats | 15 | 161,741 | 10,783 | |
| Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 15 | 157,188 | 10,479 | |
| Los Angeles Aztecs | 15 | 139,514 | 9,301 | |
| Memphis Rogues | 15 | 135,482 | 9,032 | |
| Dallas Tornado | 15 | 128,149 | 8,543 | |
| Philadelphia Fury | 15 | 121,127 | 8,075 | |
| Houston Hurricane | 15 | 116,247 | 7,750 | |
| Colorado Caribous | 15 | 111,266 | 7,418 | |
| Rochester Lancers | 15 | 101,402 | 6,760 | |
| Toronto Metros-Croatia | 15 | 93,501 | 6,233 | |
| San Diego Sockers | 15 | 77,185 | 5,146 | |
| Chicago Sting | 15 | 69,267 | 4,618 | |
| OVERALL | 360 | 4,710,244 | 13,084 |
Book: 1979 Official North American Soccer League Guide . North American Soccer League . 1979 . New York.
Book: Jose, Colin . NASL: A Complete Record of the North American Soccer League . Breedon Books . 1989 . Derby, England.
Book: Jose, Colin . North American Soccer League Encyclopedia . St. Johann Press . 2003 . Haworth, New Jersey.
Book: Wangerin, David . Soccer In A Football World . Temple University Press . 2008 . Philadelphia.