1982 North American Soccer League season

Statistics of North American Soccer League in season 1982. This was the 15th season of the NASL.

North American Soccer League

Season	1982
Champions	New York Cosmos (5th title)
Premiers	New York Cosmos (6th title)
Matches played	224
Goals scored	809 (3.61 per match)
Top goalscorer	Ricardo Alonso (21 goals)
Highest attendance	52,436 Tampa Bay at New York (April 18)
Lowest attendance	2,120 San Jose at Edmonton (August 4)
Average attendance	13,155
← 1981 1983 →

Overview

The league comprised 14 teams. The New York Cosmos won the championship. The NASL no longer used the 35-yard line for offside, but retained its presence for use in tie-breaker shootouts.^[1]

Changes from the previous season

New teams

• None

Teams folding

• Atlanta Chiefs
• Calgary Boomers
• California Surf
• Dallas Tornado
• Los Angeles Aztecs
• Minnesota Kicks
• Washington Diplomats

Atlanta, Calgary, California, Dallas and Washington folded in September 1981,^[2] while Los Angeles and Minnesota were dissolved in November–December 1981.

Teams moving

• None

Name changes

• None

Map of clubs

Sting

Manic

Cosmos

Blizzard

Strikers

Tea Men

Rowdies

Rough
necks

Drillers

Timbers

Sockers

Earth
quakes

Sounders

Whitecaps

Eastern Division Southern Division Western Division

Regular season

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

6 points for a win in regulation and overtime, 4 point for a penalty shootout win, 0 points for a loss, 1 bonus point for each regulation goal scored, up to three per game.^[3]

  Premiers (most points).   Other playoff teams.

Eastern Division	W	L	GF	GA	PT
New York Cosmos	23	9	73	52	203
Montreal Manic	19	13	60	43	159
Toronto Blizzard	17	15	64	47	151
Chicago Sting	13	19	56	67	129

Southern Division	W	L	GF	GA	PT
Fort Lauderdale Strikers	18	14	64	74	163
Tulsa Roughnecks	16	16	69	57	151
Tampa Bay Rowdies	12	20	47	77	112
Jacksonville Tea Men	11	21	41	71	105

Western Division	W	L	GF	GA	PT
Seattle Sounders	18	14	72	48	166
San Diego Sockers	19	13	71	54	162
Vancouver Whitecaps	20	12	58	48	160
Portland Timbers	14	18	49	44	122
San Jose Earthquakes	13	19	47	62	114
Edmonton Drillers	11	21	38	65	93

NASL All-Stars

First Team	Position	Second Team[4]	Honorable Mention[5]
Hubert Birkenmeier, New York	G	Jan van Beveren, Fort Lauderdale	Jan Möller, Toronto
Frantz Mathieu, Chicago	D	Barry Wallace, Tulsa	Bruce Wilson, Toronto
Cho Young-Jeung, Portland	D	Jeff Durgan, New York	Mike Connell, Tampa Bay
Peter Nogly, Tampa Bay	D	Carlos Alberto, New York	John Wile, Vancouver
Andranik Eskandarian, New York	D	Ray Evans, Seattle	Bob Lenarduzzi, Vancouver
Vladislav Bogićević, New York	M	Steve Daley, Seattle	Vince Hilaire, San Jose
Ace Ntsoelengoe, Toronto	M	Johan Neeskens, New York	Ray Hudson, Fort Lauderdale
Arno Steffenhagen, Chicago	M	Teófilo Cubillas, Ft. Lauderdale	Juli Veee, San Diego
Giorgio Chinaglia, New York	F	Steve Hunt, New York	Branko Šegota, Fort Lauderdale
Peter Ward, Seattle	F	Karl-Heinz Granitza, Chicago	David Byrne, Toronto
Ricardo Alonso, Jacksonville	F	Pato Margetic, Chicago	Laurie Abrahams, Tulsa • Godfrey Ingram, San Jose • Carl Valentine, Vancouver

Playoffs

Bracket

	Quarterfinals (Best-of-3)							Semifinals (Best-of-3)							Soccer Bowl '82 (Single match)
	1	New York Cosmos	5	0	1
	8	Tulsa Roughnecks	0	1	0
								1	New York Cosmos	2	2	–
								4	San Diego Sockers	1	1	–
	4	San Diego Sockers	5	0	2
	5	Vancouver Whitecaps	1	1	1
															1	New York Cosmos	1
															2	Seattle Sounders	0
	3	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	2	1	4
	6	Montreal Manic	3	0	1
								3	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	0	4	0
								2	Seattle Sounders	2	3	1
	2	Seattle Sounders	4	1	4
	7	Toronto Blizzard	2	2	2

Quarterfinals

Higher seed	Lower seed	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Attendance†
New York Cosmos	Tulsa Roughnecks	5–0	0–1	1–0	August 25 • Giants Stadium • 23,917 August 28 • Skelly Stadium • 15,817 September 1 • Giants Stadium • 24,209
Seattle Sounders	Toronto Blizzard	4–2	1–2 (OT)	4–2	August 25 • Kingdome • 13,005 August 27 • Exhibition Stadium • 5,099 September 1 • Kingdome • 17,332
Fort Lauderdale Strikers	Montreal Manic	*2–3 (OT)	1–0 (OT)	4–1	*August 25 • Olympic Stadium • 15,232 August 29 • Lockhart Stadium • 10,696 September 1 • Lockhart Stadium • 11,897
San Diego Sockers	Vancouver Whitecaps	5–1	0–1	2–1	August 25 • Jack Murphy Stadium • 7,267 August 29 • Empire Stadium • 18,253 September 2 • Jack Murphy Stadium • 8,857

† Higher seed hosts Games 1 and 3

* Montreal Manic hosted Game 1 (instead of Game 2) due to stadium conflicts with the Expos baseball club.

Semifinals

Higher seed	Lower seed	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Attendance†
New York Cosmos	San Diego Sockers	2–1	2–1 (OT)	×	September 5 • Giants Stadium • 34,653 September 8 • Jack Murphy Stadium • 13,074
Seattle Sounders	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	2–0	3–4 (OT)	1–0 (OT)	September 4 • Kingdome • 17,338 September 8 • Lockhart Stadium • 15,196 September 10 • Kingdome • 28,986

† Higher seed hosts Games 1 and 3

Soccer Bowl '82

Main article: Soccer Bowl '82

September 18^[6]

New York Cosmos	1–0	Seattle Sounders
Chinaglia 30:17'

Jack Murphy Stadium, San Diego

Attendance: 22,634^[7]

Referee: David Socha (USA)^[8]

1982 NASL Champions: New York Cosmos

Post season awards

• Most Valuable Player: Peter Ward, Seattle
• Coach of the year: Johnny Giles, Vancouver
• Rookie of the year: Pedro DeBrito, Tampa Bay
• North American Player of the Year: Mark Peterson, Seattle^[9]
• Soccer Bowl MVP: Giorgio Chinaglia, New York ^[6]