# 1971 New York Cosmos season

The 1971 New York Cosmos season was the inaugural season for the New York Cosmos, an expansion team in the now-defunct North American Soccer League. In the Cosmos' first year of existence, the club finished 2nd in the Northern Division and 4th in the overall league table. In the playoffs, the Cosmos were eliminated by the Atlanta Chiefs in the first two games of the best-of-three semifinals.

## Squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 0 | GK | ITA | Maurizio Minieri |
| 1 | GK | POL | Conrad Kornek |
| 2 | DF | USA | Barry Mahy |
| 3 | DF | USA | Charlie McCully |
| 4 | DF | CAN | Frank Donlavey |
| 5 | DF | SCO | John Young |
| 5 | MF | GRE | Theodore Hasekidis |
| 6 | MF | GER | Horst Meyer |
| 6 | FW | SCO | Ernie Hannigan |
| 7 | FW | ECU | Jaime Delgado |
| 8 | MF | ENG | Alan O'Neill |
| 8 | FW | TUR | Ceyhan Yazar |
| 9 | FW | USA | Andy Mate |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 11 | FW | USA | Jorge Siega |
| 12 | FW | YUG | Radi Mitrovic |
| 12 | DF | HAI | Chardin Delices |
| 15 | MF | USA | Siegfried Stritzl |
| 16 | FW | BER | Randy Horton |
| 17 | FW | GHA | Wilberforce Mfum |
| 18 | DF | JAM | Rudolph Pearce |
| 19 | MF | GRE | Kyriakos Fitilis |
| 19 | DF | POL | Karol Kapcinski |
| 20 | DF | TRI | Jan Steadman |
| 21 | GK | GHA | Emmanuel Kofie |
| 24 | DF | USA | Gordon Bradley |
Source:

## Results

Source:

### Regular season

Pld = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, D = Draws, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points 6 points for a win, 3 points for a draw, 0 points for a loss, 1 point for each goal scored (up to three per game).

#### Overall League Placing

Source:

#### Matches

| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| April 17, 1971 | St. Louis Stars | A | 1-2 | 3,701 | Mfum, Horton |
| May 5, 1971 | Washington Darts | H | 1-0 | 3,746 | Stritzl |
| May 16, 1971 | Toronto Metros | A | 2-2 | 6,751 | Stritzl, Siega |
| May 23, 1971 | Montreal Olympique | H | 2-3 | 2,093 | McCully, Siega |
| May 30, 1971 | Rochester Lancers | A | 2-2 | 5,343 | Horton (2) |
| June 5, 1971 | Dallas Tornado | A | 2-0 | 5,476 | |
| June 9, 1971 | Rochester Lancers | H | 4-2 | 2,017 | Mfum (3), Horton |
| June 16, 1971 | St. Louis Stars | H | 4-1 | 1,897 | Siega, Horton, McCully, Mfum |
| June 20, 1971 | Dallas Tornado | H | 3-1 | 9,000 | McCully, Horton, Stritzl |
| June 23, 1971 | Montreal Olympique | A | 3-1 | 1,645 | Horton |
| June 27, 1971 | Washington Darts | A | 3-1 | 3,400 | Mitrovic |
| July 3, 1971 | Atlanta Chiefs | A | 1-3 | 3,627 | Horton (2), Siega |
| July 10, 1971 | Rochester Lancers | A | 3-2 | 4,321 | Siega, McCully |
| July 25, 1971 | Toronto Metros | H | 2-2 | 2,132 | Horton (2) |
| August 2, 1971 | Rochester Lancers | H | 3-2 | 19,437 | McCully, Mahy, Mfum |
| August 7, 1971 | Toronto Metros | A | 2-1 | 4,896 | Horton |
| August 14, 1971 | Montreal Olympique | A | 5-4 | 2,387 | Horton (3), Siega |
| August 22, 1971 | Toronto Metros | H | 2-0 | N/A | Siega (2) |
| August 25, 1971 | Montreal Olympique | H | 3-3 | 1,914 | Mate (2), Mitrovic |
| August 29, 1971 | Atlanta Chiefs | H | 2-1 | 2,714 | Mitrovic, O'Neill |

### Postseason
#### Overview
##### Semi-finals

| | | | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | |
| Rochester Lancers | - | Dallas Tornado | 2 - 1 | 1 - 3 | 1 - 2 | September 1, 4, 8 |
| Atlanta Chiefs | - | New York Cosmos | 1 - 0 | 2 - 0 | | September 2, 5 |

##### Final

| | | | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | |
| Atlanta Chiefs | - | Dallas Tornado | 2 - 1 | 1 - 4 | 0 - 2 | September 12, 15, 19 |

#### Matches

| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| September 2, 1971 | Atlanta Chiefs | A | 1-0 | 3,800 | |
| September 5, 1971 | Atlanta Chiefs | H | 0-2 | N/A | |

### Friendlies

| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Att. | Scorers |
| May 21 | Hearts | H | 2–4 | 2,189 | Yazar (2) |
| May 26 | Vicenza | H | 3–5 | 4,100 | Mitrovic, Mahy, McCully |
| July 13 | Apollon Limassol | H | 1–1 | 4,763 | Siega |
| Aug 20 | Bangu | H | 1–6 | 2,741 | Horton |