1977 North American Soccer League season

North American Soccer League -1977 Season-

Season	1977
Champions	Cosmos (2nd Title)
Premiers	Ft. Lauderdale Strikers
Matches played	234
Goals scored	752 (3.21 per match)
Top goalscorer	Steve David (26)
Highest attendance	77,691 (Ft Lauderdale @ Cosmos)
Average attendance	13,558
← 1976 1978 →

Statistics of North American Soccer League in season 1977. This was the 10th season of the NASL.

Overview

The league was made up of 18 teams. The Cosmos defeated the Seattle Sounders in the finals on August 28 to win the championship.

Changes from the previous season

Teams folding

• Boston Minutemen
• Philadelphia Atoms

Teams moving

• Miami - Fort Lauderdale Strikers
• San Antonio - Team Hawaii
• San Diego - Las Vegas Quicksilvers

Name changes

• Hartford Bicentennials - Connecticut Bicentennials
• Cosmos drop New York from name

Regular season

W = Wins, L = Losses, T= Ties GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts= 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

Atlantic Conference

Northern Division	W	L	GF	GA	PT
Toronto Metros-Croatia	13	13	42	38	115
St. Louis Stars	12	14	33	35	104
Rochester Lancers	11	15	34	41	99
Chicago Sting	10	16	31	43	88
Connecticut Bicentennials	7	19	34	65	72

Eastern Division	W	L	GF	GA	PT
Fort Lauderdale Strikers	19	7	49	29	161
Cosmos	15	11	60	39	140
Tampa Bay Rowdies	14	12	55	45	131
Washington Diplomats	10	16	32	49	92

Pacific Conference

Western Division	W	L	GF	GA	PT
Minnesota Kicks	16	10	44	36	137
Vancouver Whitecaps	14	12	43	36	124
Seattle Sounders	14	12	43	34	123
Portland Timbers	10	16	39	42	98

Southern Division	W	L	GF	GA	PT
Dallas Tornado	18	8	56	37	161
San Jose Earthquakes*	14	12	37	44	119
Los Angeles Aztecs	14	12	37	44	119
Team Hawaii	11	15	45	59	106
Las Vegas Quicksilvers	11	15	38	44	103

*San Jose wins tiebreaker with Los Angeles by virtue of 4-1 edge head-to-head.

NASL All-Stars

First Team	Position	Second Team	Honorable Mention
Gordon Banks, Ft. Lauderdale	G	Alan Mayer, Las Vegas	Tony Chursky, Seattle
Franz Beckenbauer, Cosmos	D	Ray Evans, St. Louis	Steve Litt, Minnesota
Mike England, Seattle	D	Steve Pecher, Dallas	Jim McAlister, Seattle
Bruce Wilson, Vancouver	D	Humberto, Las Vegas	Alan Merrick, Minnesota
Mel Machin, Seattle	D	George Ley, Dallas	Graham Day, Portland
George Best, Los Angeles	M	Charlie Cooke, Los Angeles	Tony Simões, San Jose
Wolfgang Sühnholz, Las Vegas	M	Vito Dimitrijević, Cosmos	Ace Ntsoelengoe, Minnesota
Alan West, Minnesota	M	Rodney Marsh, Tampa Bay	Al Trost, St. Louis
Steve David, Los Angeles	F	Mike Stojanović, Rochester	Willie Morgan, Chicago
Pelé, Cosmos	F	Steve Wegerle, Tampa Bay	Giorgio Chinaglia, Cosmos
Derek Smethurst, Tampa Bay	F	Buzz Parsons, Vancouver	Jimmy Robertson, Seattle

Playoffs

First round

August 10	San Jose Earthquakes	1 – 2	Los Angeles Aztecs	Los Angeles, Memorial Coliseum

---

August 10	Tampa Bay Rowdies	0 – 3	Cosmos	New York, Yankee Stadium

---

August 10	Rochester Lancers	1 – 0	St. Louis Stars	St. Louis, Busch Memorial

---

August 10	Seattle Sounders	2 – 0	Vancouver Whitecaps	Burnaby (BC), Swangard Stadium

Conference Semifinals

			Game 1	Game 2
Cosmos	-	Ft. Lauderdale Strikers	8 - 3	3 - 2	August 14, 17
Los Angeles Aztecs	-	Dallas Tornado	3 - 1	5 - 1	August 14, 17 1977
Minnesota Kicks	-	Seattle Sounders	1 - 2	0 - 1	August 14, 17
Rochester Lancers	-	Toronto Metros-Croatia	1 - 0	1 - 0	August 14, 17

Conference Championships

			Game 1	Game 2
Los Angeles Aztecs	-	Seattle Sounders	1 - 3	0 - 1	August 21, 25
Rochester Lancers	-	Cosmos	1 - 2	1 - 4	August 21, 25

Soccer Bowl '77

August 28	Cosmos	2 – 1	Seattle Sounders	Portland (OR), Civic Stadium

Post season awards

• Most Valuable Player: Franz Beckenbauer, Cosmos
• Coach of the year: Ron Newman, Fort Lauderdale
• Rookie of the year: Jim McAlister, Seattle