# 1977 North American Soccer League season

Statistics of North American Soccer League in season 1977. This was the 10th season of the NASL.

## Overview

The league was made up of 18 teams. The schedule was expanded to 26 games and the playoffs to 12 teams. Team rosters consisted of 17 players, 6 of which had to be U.S. or Canadian citizens. The NASL began using its own variation of the penalty shoot-out procedure for tied matches. Matches tied at the end of regulation would now go to a golden goal overtime period and, if still tied, on to a shoot-out. Instead of penalty kicks however, the shoot-out attempt started 35 yards from the goal and allowed the player 5 seconds to attempt a shot. The player could make as many moves as he wanted in a breakaway situation within the time frame. NASL procedure also called for the box score or score-line to show an additional "goal" given to the winning side of a shoot-out. This "victory goal" however was not credited in the "Goals For" column of the league table. The Cosmos defeated the Seattle Sounders in the final on August 28 to win the championship.

## Changes from the previous season
### New teams

* None

### Teams folding

* Boston Minutemen
* Philadelphia Atoms

### Teams moving

* Miami Toros - Fort Lauderdale Strikers
* San Antonio Thunder - Team Hawaii
* San Diego Jaws - Las Vegas Quicksilvers

### Name changes

* Hartford Bicentennials to Connecticut Bicentennials
* Cosmos drop "New York" from name

## Regular season

W = Wins, L = Losses, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, BP = Bonus Points, Pts= point system
6 points for a win, 0 points for a loss, 1 point for each regulation goal scored up to three per game.
    -Premiers (most points). -Other playoff teams.

## NASL All-Stars

| First Team | Position | Second Team | Honorable Mention |
| Gordon Banks, Ft. Lauderdale | G | Alan Mayer, Las Vegas | Tony Chursky, Seattle |
| Franz Beckenbauer, Cosmos | D | Ray Evans, St. Louis | Steve Litt, Minnesota |
| Mike England, Seattle | D | Steve Pecher, Dallas | Jim McAlister, Seattle |
| Bruce Wilson, Vancouver | D | Humberto Coelho, Las Vegas | Alan Merrick, Minnesota |
| Mel Machin, Seattle | D | George Ley, Dallas • Arsène Auguste Tampa Bay | Graham Day, Portland |
| George Best, Los Angeles | M | Charlie Cooke, Los Angeles | Tony Simões, San Jose |
| Wolfgang Sühnholz, Las Vegas | M | Vito Dimitrijević, Cosmos | Ace Ntsoelengoe, Minnesota |
| Alan West, Minnesota | M | Rodney Marsh, Tampa Bay | Al Trost, St. Louis |
| Steve David, Los Angeles | F | Mike Stojanović, Rochester | Willie Morgan, Chicago |
| Pelé, Cosmos | F | Steve Wegerle, Tampa Bay | Giorgio Chinaglia, Cosmos |
| Derek Smethurst, Tampa Bay | F | Buzz Parsons, Vancouver | Jimmy Robertson, Seattle |

## Playoffs

The first round and the Soccer Bowl were single game match ups, while the conference semifinals and championships were all two-game series.

### Bracket

| First Round | First Round | Division Championships | Division Championships | Division Championships | Conference Championships | Conference Championships | Conference Championships | Soccer Bowl '77 | Soccer Bowl '77 |
| | | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 3 | 2(0) | | | | | |
| Cosmos | 3 | Cosmos | 8 | 3(3) | | | | | |
| Tampa Bay Rowdies | 0 | | | | Cosmos | 2 | 4 | | |
| | | | | | Rochester Lancers | 1 | 1 | | |
| | | Toronto Metros-Croatia | 0(2) | 0 | | | | | |
| St. Louis Stars | 0(2) | Rochester Lancers | 1(3) | 1 | | | | | |
| Rochester Lancers | 1(4) | | | | | | | Cosmos | 2 |
| | | | | | | | | Seattle Sounders | 1 |
| | | Dallas Tornado | 1 | 1 | | | | | |
| Los Angeles Aztecs | 2 | Los Angeles Aztecs | 3 | 5 | | | | | |
| San Jose Earthquakes | 1 | | | | Los Angeles Aztecs | 1 | 0 | | |
| | | | | | Seattle Sounders | 3 | 1 | | |
| | | Minnesota Kicks | 1 | 0 | | | | | |
| Vancouver Whitecaps | 0 | Seattle Sounders | 2 | 1 | | | | | |
| Seattle Sounders | 2 | | | | | | | | |

### First round

| August 10 | San Jose Earthquakes | 1–2 (OT) | Los Angeles Aztecs | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum • Att. 4,038 |
| August 10 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 0–3 | Cosmos | Giants Stadium • Att. 57,828 |
| August 10 | Rochester Lancers | 1–0 (SO, 4–2) | St. Louis Stars | Francis Field • Att. 7,137 |
| August 10 | Seattle Sounders | 2–0 | Vancouver Whitecaps | Empire Stadium • Att. 21,915 |

### Division Championships

| Higher seed | | Lower seed | Game 1 | Game 2 | (lower seed hosts Game 1) |
| Fort Lauderdale Strikers | - | Cosmos | 3–8 | 2–3 (SO, 0–3) | August 14 • Giants Stadium • 77,691 August 17 • Lockhart Stadium 14,152 |
| Dallas Tornado | - | Los Angeles Aztecs | 1–3 | 1–5 | August 14 • Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum • 5,201 August 17 • Ownby Stadium • 18,489 |
| Minnesota Kicks | - | Seattle Sounders | *1–2 (OT) | 0–1 | *August 14 • Metropolitan Stadium • 35,889 August 17 • Kingdome • 42,091 |
| Toronto Metros-Croatia | - | Rochester Lancers | 0–1 (SO, 2–3) | 0–1 | August 13 • Holleder Memorial Stadium • 10,556 August 16 • Varsity Stadium • 8,062 |
*Minnesota Kicks hosted Game 1 (instead of Game 2) due to a scheduling conflict with the Twins baseball club.

### Conference Championships

| Higher seed | | Lower seed | Game 1 | Game 2 | (lower seed hosts Game 1) |
| Los Angeles Aztecs | - | Seattle Sounders | 1–3 | #0–1 | August 21 • Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum • 9,115 #August 25 • Kingdome • 56,256 |
| Cosmos | - | Rochester Lancers | 2–1 | 4–1 | August 21 • Holleder Memorial Stadium • 20,005 August 24 • Giants Stadium • 73,669 |
#Seattle Sounders hosted Game 2 (instead of Game 1) due to a scheduling conflict with the Mariners baseball club.

### Soccer Bowl '77

1977 NASL Champions: Cosmos

## Post season awards

* Most Valuable Player: Franz Beckenbauer, Cosmos
* Coach of the year: Ron Newman, Fort Lauderdale
* Rookie of the year: Jim McAlister, Seattle