1972 North American Soccer League season

Statistics of North American Soccer League in season 1972. This was the 5th season of the NASL.

North American Soccer League 1972 season

Season	1972
Champions	New York Cosmos
Premiers	New York Cosmos
Matches played	56
Goals scored	156 (2.79 per match)
Top goalscorer	Randy Horton (9 goals)
Longest winning run	5, St. Louis Stars
Highest attendance	24,742 (Mosc. Dynamo @ Dallas)
Lowest attendance	1,100 (Dallas @ Montreal)
Average attendance	5,340
← 1971 1973 →

Overview

Eight teams took part in the league with the New York Cosmos winning the championship.

Changes from previous season

Rules changes

The league changed its offside rule during the season on June 26. They created a "Blue Line" which was an offside line across the field, 35 yards from the goal line. Thereafter, no player could be offside unless he had crossed the 35-yard line. This made the NASL unique in the soccer world; the league received temporary approval for the change from FIFA on an experimental basis only. The league also switched the playoff format to single-match elimination contests rather than series.

New teams

• None

Teams folding

• None

Teams moving

• Washington Darts to Miami Gatos

Name changes

• None

Map of clubs

Olympique

Cosmos

Lancers

Metros

Chiefs

Tornado

Gatos

Stars

Northern Division Southern Division

Regular season

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.

 -Premiers (most points).  -Other playoff teams.

Northern Division	W	L	T	GF	GA	PT
New York Cosmos	7	3	4	28	16	77
Rochester Lancers	6	5	3	20	22	64
Montreal Olympique	4	5	5	19	20	57
Toronto Metros	4	6	4	18	22	53

Southern Division	W	L	T	GF	GA	PT
St. Louis Stars	7	4	3	20	14	69
Dallas Tornado	6	5	3	15	12	60
Atlanta Chiefs	5	6	3	19	18	56
Miami Gatos	3	8	3	17	32	44

NASL All-Stars

First Team	Position	Second Team	Honorable Mention
Ken Cooper, Dallas	G	Dick Howard, Toronto	Sam Nusum, Montreal
John Best, Dallas	D	Dick Hall, Dallas	Adolfo Gori, Rochester
John Sewell, St. Louis	D	Clive Charles, Montreal	Charlie Mitchell, Rochester
Peter Short, Rochester	D	Wilf Tranter, St. Louis	John Cocking, Atlanta
Willie Evans, Miami	D	Brian Rowan, Toronto	Joe Puls, St. Louis
John Kerr, New York	M	Francisco Escos, Rochester	Mick Hoban, Atlanta
Graeme Souness, Montreal	M	Dave Metchick, Miami	Larry Hausmann, St. Louis
Pat McBride, St. Louis	M	Siggy Stritzl, New York	Billy Fraser, Miami
Randy Horton, New York	F	Carlos Metidieri, Rochester	Mike Renshaw, Dallas
Paul Child, Atlanta	F	Art Welch, Atlanta	Warren Archibald, Miami
Michael Dillon, Montreal	F	Jorge Siega, New York	Casey Frankiewicz, St. Louis

Playoffs

All playoff games in all rounds including the NASL Final were single game elimination match ups.

Bracket

	Semifinals					NASL Final 1972
	N1	New York Cosmos	1
	S2	Dallas Tornado	0
						N1	New York Cosmos	2
						S1	St. Louis Stars	1
	S1	St. Louis Stars	2
	N2	Rochester Lancers	0

Semifinals

August 15	Rochester Lancers	0–2	St. Louis Stars	Busch Memorial Stadium • Att. 5,319

---

August 19	Dallas Tornado	0–1	New York Cosmos	Hofstra Stadium • Att. 5,026

NASL Final 1972

Main article: NASL Final 1972

August 26

8 pm EDT

New York Cosmos	2–1	St. Louis Stars
Horton 5' (Young) Jelinek 86' (pen.)	Report	Frankiewicz 52' (Sewell)

Hofstra Stadium, Hempstead, New York

Attendance: 6,102

Referee: Roger Schott (USA)

1972 NASL Champions: New York Cosmos

Post season awards

• Most Valuable Player: Randy Horton, New York
• Coach of the year: Casey Frankiewicz, St. Louis
• Rookie of the year: Mike Winter, St. Louis

External links

• Complete Results and Standings