1979 New York Cosmos season explained

Club:	New York Cosmos
Season:	1979
Manager:	Eddie Firmani^[1] (Start of season) Ray Klivecka^[2] (Caretaker) Júlio Mazzei^[3] (After Klivecka)
Stadium:	Giants Stadium
League:	NASL
League Result:	Division: 1st Overall: 1st Playoffs: Conference Final
Cup1:	National Challenge Cup
Cup1 Result:	Did not enter
Cup2:	CONCACAF Champions' Cup
Cup2 Result:	Did not enter
League Topscorer:	(goals)
Season Topscorer:	(goals)
Highest Attendance:	76,031 vs. TUL (August 26)
Lowest Attendance:	30,195 vs. COV (May 16)
Average Attendance:	46,690^[4]
Pattern B1:	_collarnavy
Pattern So1:	_navyline
Leftarm1:	FFFFFF
Body1:	FFFFFF
Rightarm1:	FFFFFF
Shorts1:	FFFFFF
Socks1:	FFFFFF
Pattern B2:	_Roma1
Pattern So2:	_2 gold stripes
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American:	true
Prevseason:	1978
Nextseason:	1980

The 1979 New York Cosmos season was the ninth season for the New York Cosmos in the now-defunct North American Soccer League. 1979 saw the club continue their premiership streak to three seasons with the league's highest point total, and match their wins record while achieving a record point total, but the Cosmos' quest for a third straight NASL championship ended with a loss in the conference finals to the Vancouver Whitecaps.

Squad

Source:^[5]

Results

Source:^[6]

Regular season

Pld = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points
6 points for a win, 1 point for a shootout win, 0 points for a loss, 1 point for each goal scored (up to three per game).

-Playoffs via division standings. -Playoffs via wildcard.

Matches

April 22, 1979: New York Cosmos 3, Fort Lauderdale Strikers 2 Giants Stadium 72,342

April 29, 1979: New York Cosmos 4, Philadelphia Fury 2 Giants Stadium 46,375

May 4, 1979: New York Cosmos 1, Toronto Blizzard 0 Varsity Stadium 29,483

May 6, 1979: New York Cosmos 3, Houston Hurricane 0 Giants Stadium 50,142

May 12, 1979: Tampa Bay Rowdies 3, New York Cosmos 2 Tampa Stadium 40,701

May 20, 1979: New York Cosmos 3, Tulsa Roughnecks 1 Giants Stadium 46,344

May 26, 1979: New York Cosmos 1, Portland Timber 1 (Cosmos won in shootout) Civic Center 18,254

May 28, 1979: Chicago Sting 3, New York Cosmos 1 Wrigley Field 21,127

June 3, 1979: New York Cosmos 3, Toronto Blizzard 1 Giants Stadium 38,762

June 9, 1979: New York Cosmos 4, Dallas Tornado 1 Giants Stadium 45,031

June 13, 1979: New York Cosmos 3, Tulsa Roughnecks 2 Skelly Stadium 30,162

June 16, 1979: Vancouver Whitecaps 4, New York Cosmos 1 Empire Stadium 32,372

June 20, 1979: Minnesota Kicks 3, New York Cosmos 2 Metropolitan Stadium 43,952

June 24, 1979: New York Cosmos 1, New England Tea Men 0 Giants Stadium 41,428

June 27, 1979: New York Cosmos 3, Portland Timber 1 Giants Stadium 33,721

July 1, 1979: New York Cosmos 5, Rochester Lancers 2 Giants Stadium 40,379

July 7, 1979: New York Cosmos 2, New England Tea Men 1 Foxboro Stadium 15,763

July 11, 1979: New York Cosmos 1, Seattle Sounders 1 (Sounders won in shootout) Giants Stadium 40,207

JUly 15, 1979: Vancouver Whitecaps 4, New York Cosmos 2 Giants Stadium 48,753

July 18, 1979: New York Cosmos 4, Fort Lauredale Strikers 3 Lockhart Stadium 19,850

July 21, 1979: New York Cosmos 1, Philadelphia Fury 0 Veterans Stadium 17,352

July 25, 1979: New York Cosmos 4, Minnesota Kicks 1 Giants Stadium 57,223

July 29, 1979: New York Cosmos 5, San Jose Earthquakes 0 Giants Stadium 35,450

August 1, 1979: New York Cosmos 3, Los Angeles Aztecs 1 Rose Bowl 38,606

August 5, 1979: New York Cosmos 4, Rochester Lancers 2 Holleder Memorial Stadium 18,881

August 8, 1979: New York Cosmos 4, Tampa Bay Rowdies 3 Giants Stadium 70,042

August 12, 1979: New York Cosmos 4, Washington Diplomats 4 (Cosmos won in a shootout) Giants Stadium 34,599

Postseason

Overview

First round

width=180		width=5		width=180	width=80	Game 1	width=80	Game 2	width=100	Mini-game	width=180
Philadelphia Fury	-	Houston Hurricane	2 - 1	2 - 1	August 14, 20
Detroit Express	-	Tampa Bay Rowdies	0 - 3	1 - 3	August 15, 19
Chicago Sting	-	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	2 - 0	0 - 0	August 15, 18
San Diego Sockers	-	California Surf	4 - 2	7 - 2	August 15, 18
Tulsa Roughnecks	-	Minnesota Kicks	2 - 1 (ot)	2 - 1 (ot)	August 15, 19
Dallas Tornado	-	Vancouver Whitecaps	2 - 3	1 - 2	August 15, 18
Los Angeles Aztecs	-	Washington Diplomats	3 - 1	4 - 3	August 15, 19
Toronto Blizzard	-	New York Cosmos	1 - 3	0 - 2	August 16, 20

Conference semifinals

width=180		width=5		width=180		width=80	Game 1	width=80	Game 2	width=100	Mini-game	width=180
San Diego Sockers	-	Chicago Sting	2 - 0	1 - 0		August 22, 25
Los Angeles Aztecs	-	Vancouver Whitecaps	3 - 2	0 - 1 (so)	0 - 1	August 22, 25
Philadelphia Fury	-	Tampa Bay Rowdies	2 - 3 (so)	0 - 1		August 23, 25
Tulsa Roughnecks	-	New York Cosmos	3 - 0	0 - 3	1 - 3	August 23, 26

Conference Championships

width=180		width=5		width=180		width=80	Game 1	width=80	Game 2	width=100	Mini-game	width=180
Vancouver Whitecaps	-	New York Cosmos	2 - 0	2 - 3 (so)	1 - 0 (so)	August 29, September 1
San Diego Sockers	-	Tampa Bay Rowdies	2 - 1	2 - 3 (so)	0 - 1	August 30, September 2

Soccer Bowl '79

Friendlies

Source:^[7]

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result		Scorers
February 17	Freeport All-Stars	A	12–0	3,500
February 24	Freeport All-Stars	A	6–1	n/a
February 25	Nassau All-Stars	A	13–1	n/a
5 March	Trinidad All-Stars	A	1–1	15,800
7 March		N	0–0	20,000
15 March		A	2–0	40,000
16 March		A	0–2	15,000
20 March		A	2–8	25,473
25 March		H	2–2	9,000
16 May		H	3–1	30,195
6 June		H	0–1	70,134
4 July		H	0–2	42,366	–
September 20	Team Seiko	A	3–3	28,000
September 24	Hong Kong All-Stars	A	6–0	24,000
September 24		A	0–1	20,000
September 30		A	2–3	18,000
October 3		A	4–1	85,000
October 5	All-Indonesian Select	A	1–1	55,000
October 7		A	4–1	35,000
October 10	Japan All-Stars	A	1–1	14,000
October 14		A	2–2	50,000
October 17		A	5–0	35,000
October 21	Victoria All-Stars	A	3–2	15,000
October 24		A	1–2	60,000
October 31		A	2–0	28,000