# 1982 Fort Lauderdale Strikers season

The 1982 Fort Lauderdale Strikers season was the sixth season of the Fort Lauderdale Striker's team, and the club's sixteenth season in professional soccer. This year the team made it to semifinals of the North American Soccer League playoffs.

## Competitions
### Sunshine International Series

The Sunshine International Series was the first international competition to use the NASL's point system to determine the standings. As such, teams were awarded six points for wins in regulation or overtime, four points for a shoot–out win, and up to three bonus points for each goal scored in regulation. All four teams faced one another with Fort Lauderdale hosting games on July 24 and 28. On the final day of the competition a double header was played at Tampa Stadium with all four teams in action, followed by a concert featuring country-pop crossover singer, Crystal Gayle. São Paulo FC won the series with a perfect record. The Strikers netted four goals and won one match, finishing third.

#### Series standings

| SIS Teams | League | W | L | GF | GA | PTS |
| São Paulo FC | Série A | 3 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 24 |
| Ipswich Town F.C. | First Div. | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 15 |
| Fort Lauderdale Strikers | NASL | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 10 |
| Tampa Bay Rowdies | NASL | 0 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 4 |

#### Series results

| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| July 24, 1982 | São Paulo FC | Lockhart Stadium | 1–2 | 5,887 | Ray Hudson |
| July 28, 1982 | Ipswich Town F.C. | Lockhart Stadium | 0–1 (OT) | 7,535 | |
| July 31, 1982 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | Tampa Stadium | 1–3 | 21,220 | Robert Meschbach, Bruce Miller, Edi Kirschner |

### NASL regular season

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 shootout win, 0 points for a loss, 1 bonus point for each regulation goal scored, up to three per game.
| NASL 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 |

#### Match reports
### NASL Playoffs
#### Quarterfinals

| Higher seed | | Lower seed | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | |
| 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 |
*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 | |
| 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 |

#### Bracket

| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Soccer Bowl '83 | Soccer Bowl '83 | Soccer Bowl '83 |
| 1 | New York Cosmos | 5 | 0 | 1 | | | | | | | | |
| 8 | Tulsa Roughnecks | 0 | 1 | 0 | | | | | | | | |
| 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 | 4 | San Diego Sockers | 1 | 1 | – | | | |
| 5 | Vancouver Whitecaps | 1 | 1 | 1 | | | | | | | | |
| 5 | Vancouver Whitecaps | 1 | 1 | 1 | | | | | | 1 | New York Cosmos | 1 |
| | | | | | | | | | | 2 | Seattle Sounders | 0 |
| 3 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 2 | 1 | 4 | | | | | | | | | 2 | Seattle Sounders | 0 |
| 6 | Montreal Manic | 3 | 0 | 1 | | | | | | | | |
| 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 | 2 | Seattle Sounders | 2 | 3 | 1 | | | |
| 7 | Toronto Blizzard | 2 | 2 | 2 | | | | | | | | |