1981 New York Cosmos season explained

Club:	New York Cosmos
Season:	1981
Manager:	Hennes Weisweiler^[1] (Joint with Özdenak) Yasin Özdenak^[2] (Joint with Wiesweiler)
Stadium:	Giants Stadium
League:	NASL
League Result:	Division: 1st Overall: 1st Playoffs: Runners-Up
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:	42,385 vs. CHI (May 17)
Lowest Attendance:	12,240 vs. FTL (June 24)
Average Attendance:	34,835^[3]
Pattern B1:	_collarnavy
Pattern So1:	_navyline
Leftarm1:	FFFFFF
Body1:	FFFFFF
Rightarm1:	FFFFFF
Shorts1:	FFFFFF
Socks1:	FFFFFF
Pattern B2:	_Roma1
Pattern So2:	_2 gold stripes
Leftarm2:	0404B4
Body2:	0404B4
Rightarm2:	0404B4
Shorts2:	0404B4
Socks2:	0404B4
American:	true
Prevseason:	1980
Nextseason:	1982

The 1981 New York Cosmos season was the 11th season for the New York Cosmos in the now-defunct North American Soccer League. Despite winning their fifth straight premiership by five points over the Chicago Sting, the Cosmos lost to the Sting in Soccer Bowl '81.

Squad

Source:^[4]

Results

Source:^[5]

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).

Eastern Division Standings

width=30	Pos	Club	width=30	Pld	width=30	W	width=30	L	width=30	GF	width=30	GA	width=30	GD	width=30	Pts
1	align=left	New York Cosmos	32	23	9	80	49	+31	200
2	align=left	Montreal Manic	32	15	17	63	57	+6	141
3	align=left	Washington Diplomats	32	15	17	59	58	+1	135
4	align=left	Toronto Blizzard	32	7	25	39	82	−43	77

Overall League Placing

width=30	Pos	Club	width=30	Pld	width=30	W	width=30	L	width=30	GF	width=30	GA	width=30	GD	width=30	Pts
1	align=left	New York Cosmos	32	23	9	80	49	+31	200
2	align=left	Chicago Sting	32	23	9	84	50	+34	195
3	align=left	Vancouver Whitecaps	32	21	11	74	43	+31	186
4	align=left	San Diego Sockers	32	21	11	67	49	+18	173
5	align=left	Minnesota Kicks	32	19	13	63	57	+6	163

Source:^[6]

Matches

• March 29, 1981: New York Cosmos 3, San Jose Earthquakes 0 Spartan Stadium Attendance 20,671
• April 4, 1981: Jacksonville Tea Men 1, New York Cosmos 1 (Tea Men won in Shootout) Jacksonville, Florida Attendance 12,124
• April 12, 1981: New York Cosmos 3, Minnesota Kicks 1 Giants Stadium Attendance 40,378
• April 18, 1981: New York Cosmos 3, Dallas Tornado 0 Texas Stadium Attendance 10,181
• April 26, 1981: New York Cosmos 4, Tampa Bay Rowdies 1 Giants Stadium Attendance 40,238
• May 1, 1981: New York Cosmos 3, Atlanta Chiefs 2 Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium Attendance 9,263
• May 3, 1981: New York Cosmos 1, Washington Diplomats 0 Giants Stadium Attendance 34,189
• May 10, 1981: New York Cosmos 5, Toronto Blizzard 1 Giants Stadium Attendance 27,003
• May 15, 1981: New York Cosmos 2, Tulsa Roughnecks 1 Skelly Stadium Attendance 24,231
• May 17, 1981: Chicago Sting 3, New York Cosmos 2 Giants Stadium Attendance 42,385
• May 23, 1981: Washington Diplomats 3, New York Cosmos 2 Robert F. Kennedy Stadium Attendance 27,676
• May 25, 1981: New York Cosmos 5, Dallas Tornado 1 Giants Stadium Attendance 33,640
• May 30, 1981: Tampa Bay Rowdies 2, New York Cosmos 1 Tampa Stadium Attendance 36,765
• June 2, 1981: New York Cosmos 2, Montreal Manic 1 Olympic Stadium Attendance 38,667
• June 7, 1981: New York Cosmos 2, Atlanta Chiefs 1 Giants Stadium Attendance 31,452
• June 10, 1981: New York Cosmos 2, Fort Lauderdale Strikers 1 Lockhart Stadium Attendance 18,089
• June 14, 1981: New York Cosmos 4, Toronto Blizzard 3 Giants Stadium Attendance 31,210
• June 17, 1981: New York Cosmos 2, Washington Diplomats 1 Robert F. Kennedy Stadium Attendance 36,875
• June 21, 1981: New York Cosmos 3, Los Angeles Aztecs 0 Giants Stadium Attendance 38,362
• June 24, 1981: New York Cosmos 2, Fort Lauderdale Strikers 0 Giants Stadium Attendance 12,240
• June 28, 1981: Chicago Sting 5, New York Cosmos 5 (Sting Won in Shootout) Wrigley Field Attendance 35,501
• July 5, 1981: New York Cosmos 3, Tulsa Roughnecks 2 Giants Stadium Attendance 33,673
• July 8, 1981: New York Cosmos 2, Toronto Blizzard 1 Varsity Stadium Attendance 17,642
• July 22, 1981: New York Cosmos 4, Montreal Manic 4 (Cosmos Won in Shootout) Giants stadium Attendance 27,331
• July 25, 1981: New York Cosmos 2, Montreal Manic 1 Olympic Stadium Attendance 40,118
• July 29, 1981: New York Cosmos 2, Portland Timbers 0 Giants Stadium Attendance 28,640
• August 2, 1981: Jacksonville Tea Men 2, New York Cosmos 1 Giants Stadium Attendance 36,408
• August 5, 1981: Minnesota Kicks 2, New York Cosmos 1 Metropolitan Stadium Attendance 28,609
• August 9, 1981: Edmonton Drillers 2, New York Cosmos 0 Edmonton Commonwealth Stadium Attendance 14,781
• August 12, 1981: New York Cosmos 4, Washington Diplomats 2 Giants Stadium Attendance 34,884
• August 16, 1981: New York Cosmos 2, Montreal Manic 1 Giants Stadium Attendance 38,123
• August 19, 1981: New York Cosmos 1, Toronto Blizzard 1 (Blizzard Won in Shootout) Varsity Stadium Attendance 12,367

Postseason

Overview

First round

width=180		width=5		width=180		width=80	Game 1	width=80	Game 2	width=80	Game 3	width=200
Tulsa Roughnecks	–	Minnesota Kicks	1–3	0–1		August 22, 26
Portland Timbers	–	San Diego Sockers	2–1	1–5	0–2	August 22, 26, 30
Jacksonville Tea Men	–	Atlanta Chiefs	3–2	2–1		August 23, 25
Calgary Boomers	–	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	1–3	0–2		August 23, 26
Tampa Bay Rowdies	–	Vancouver Whitecaps	4–1	1–0		August 23, 26
Seattle Sounders	–	Chicago Sting	2–3	2–0	2–3	August 22, 26, 30
Montreal Manic	–	Los Angeles Aztecs	5–3	2–3	2–1	August 24, 27, 30

Quarter-finals

width=180		width=5		width=180		width=80	Game 1	width=80	Game 2	width=80	Game 3	width=200
Tampa Bay Rowdies	–	New York Cosmos	3–6	3–2	0–2	September 2, 5, 9
Montreal Manic	–	Chicago Sting	3–2	2–4	2–4	September 2, 5, 10
Fort Lauderdale Strikers	–	Minnesota Kicks	3–1	3–0		September 2, 6
Jacksonville Tea Men	–	San Diego Sockers	2–1	1–2	1–3	September 2, 6, 9

Semi-finals

width=180		width=5		width=180		width=80	Game 1	width=80	Game 2	width=80	Game 3	width=200
Fort Lauderdale Strikers	–	New York Cosmos	3–4	1–4		September 12, 16
San Diego Sockers	–	Chicago Sting	2–1	1–2	0–1	September 12, 16, 21

Soccer Bowl '81

style=font-size:85% align=center rowspan=3 width=15%	September 26	width=24% align=right	Chicago Sting	align=center width=13%	1–0	width=24%	New York Cosmos	style=font-size:85% rowspan=3 valign=top	Toronto, Exhibition Stadium
align=right valign=top		valign=top		align=left valign=top

Matches

Friendlies

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorer
February 1	FC Birsfelden	N	9–0	n/a
February 16		A	2–2	25,000
February 21		A	4–1	8,000
February 21	Boca Juniors (B)	A	9–1	10,000
February 25		A	0–1	45,000
March 3		A	4–3	40,000
March 5		A	1–3	50,000
March 8		A	5–2	45,000
March 11		A	0–1	45,000
March 15		A	2–4	105,000
March 17		A	5–1	31,209
March 19		A	1–0	3,534
May 20		H	1–2	30,512
June 4		A	2–2	53,617
July 1		H	2–0	42,318
July 12		H	2–0	29,215
July 15		H	2–1	29,614
July 19		H	3–3	40,724
August 30		H	1–3	30,523
October 4		A	1–1	3,000
October 7		A	0–4	10,688
October 10		A	6–2	10,500
October 13		A	2–4	10,000
October 18		H	1–1	6,000

Notes

See also

• 1981 North American Soccer League season

Notes and References

1. News: Cosmos to Retain Mazzei. The New York Times. February 1983.
2. News: Cosmos to Retain Mazzei. The New York Times. February 1983.
3. Web site: North American Soccer League.
4. Web site: NASL New York Cosmos Rosters.
5. Web site: All-time American soccer statistics | SoccerStats.us.
6. Web site: The Year in American Soccer – 1981 . 2013-03-12 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150107071347/http://homepages.sover.net/~spectrum/year/1981.html . 2015-01-07 . dead .