1971 North American Soccer League season
| Season | 1971 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Dallas Tornado |
| Premiers | Rochester Lancers |
| Matches played | 112 |
| Goals scored | 306 (2.73 per match) |
| Top goalscorer |
Carlos Metidieri (19 goals) |
| Highest attendance | 19,437 Rochester @ NY |
| Average attendance | 4,154 |
|
← 1970
1972 →
|
|
Statistics of North American Soccer League in season 1971. This was the 4th season of the NASL.
Eight teams competed with Dallas Tornado winning the championship. However Dallas' road to that title was the stuff of legends. In Game 1 of the best-of-three semifinal against the Rochester Lancers, league scoring champion Carlos Metidieri of Rochester mercifully ended the longest match in NASL history, 2–1, late in the 6th 15 minute OT period. The golden goal was scored in the 176th minute, or less than four minutes shy of playing two complete games in one day! Three days later Dallas evened the series at one game each with a 3–1 regulation win. In the rubber match four days later, the two teams ended regulation tied again at 1 goal apiece. This time the game would reach a 4th OT before Bobby Moffat sent Dallas into the Finals in the 148 minute. Incredibly, only four days after that, Dallas lost Game 1 of the NASL Championship Series, 2–1, in the 3rd OT to Atlanta after 123 minutes. All totaled, Dallas had played 537 minutes of football (3 minutes short of six games) in 13 days time. Finally the Tornado were able to get control of the finals, pulling away in Games 2 and 3, by scores of 4–1 and 2–0 respectively, to capture the title.
Montreal Olympique, New York Cosmos and Toronto Metros joined the league while the Kansas City Spurs folded. Playoffs series switched from a two-game aggregate score to a best-two-out-of-three match format. Any playoff games tied after 90 minutes would now be settled by golden goal (or sudden death) overtime periods lasting 15 minutes each.
W = Wins, L = Losses, T= Ties, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, PT= point system
6 points for a win, 3 points for a tie, 0 points for a loss, 1 point for each goal scored up to three per game.
...
Wikipedia