1978 NASL season
| Season | 1978 |
|---|---|
| Champions |
Cosmos (3rd title) |
| Premiers |
Cosmos (2nd title) |
| Matches played | 360 |
| Goals scored | 1,240 (3.44 per match) |
| Top goalscorer |
Giorgio Chinaglia (34 goals) |
| Biggest home win |
DET 10–0 SJ (July 12) |
| Biggest away win |
LA 0–5 MIN (August 2) |
| Highest scoring |
DET 10–0 SJ (July 12) TOR 8–2 OAK (June 30) |
| Longest winning run | 13, Vancouver (June 22 – August 6) |
| Longest losing run | 13, San Jose (May 31 – July 19) |
| Highest attendance | 71,219 Seattle at Cosmos (May 21) |
| Lowest attendance | 1,538 N.E. at Chicago (May 7) |
| Average attendance | 13,084 |
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← 1977
1979 →
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The 1978 North American Soccer League season was the 66th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer, the 11th with a national first-division league, in the United States and Canada.
Bolstered by the success of the previous season, the league added six teams to reach 24 in total. The Colorado Caribous launched in Denver, the Detroit Express and Houston Hurricane became the second and third team to play indoors, the Philadelphia Fury brought soccer back to Philadelphia, the New England Tea Men would be the third attempt to have NASL soccer succeed in the Boston area and the Memphis Rogues would bring pro soccer to Tennessee.
There were also the usual franchise movements. Team Hawaii became the Tulsa Roughnecks, the Las Vegas Quicksilver became the San Diego Sockers, the Connecticut Bicentennials became the Oakland Stompers and the St. Louis Stars moved to Anaheim to become the California Surf.
With so many new clubs, the NASL realigned into a six-division format while expanding the playoffs to include 16 teams. The new alignment was a direct copy of the NFL's setup, as the new three-division conferences were called the 'American Soccer Conference' and the 'National Soccer Conference', respectively. Each conference had East, Central and West divisions as well.
The top two teams in each division would quality for the playoffs. The other spots would go to the next best two teams in the conference, regardless of division. The top three seeds went to the division winners, seeds 4-6 went to the second place teams and the last two seeds were known as 'wild-cards' – another nod to the NFL. The winners of each successive round would be reseeded within the conference. The first round and the Soccer Bowl were single games, while the conference semifinals and championships were two-game series. As in the 1977 playoffs, if both teams were tied at one win apiece at the conclusion of Game 2, there would be a 30-minute sudden-death mini-game and a shootout if necessary.
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