# 1989 American Soccer League

The 1989 American Soccer League was the second season of the third American Soccer League.

## League standings
### Northern Division

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | PKW | PKL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Washington Stars | 20 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 19 | 14 | +5 | 37 |
| 2 | Boston Bolts | 20 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 27 | 19 | +8 | 37 |
| 3 | Albany Capitals | 20 | 10 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 29 | 19 | +10 | 36 |
| 4 | Maryland Bays | 20 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 28 | 32 | −4 | 27 |
| 5 | New Jersey Eagles | 20 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 21 | 35 | −14 | 21 |

### Southern Division

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | PKW | PKL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 20 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 32 | 25 | +7 | 35 |
| 2 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 20 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 33 | 25 | +8 | 35 |
| 3 | Washington Diplomats | 20 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 32 | 26 | +6 | 33 |
| 4 | Orlando Lions | 20 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 25 | 20 | +5 | 30 |
| 5 | Miami Sharks | 20 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 20 | 51 | −31 | 9 |

## Playoffs
### Bracket

| Semifinals Best-of-3 | Semifinals Best-of-3 | Semifinals Best-of-3 | Semifinals Best-of-3 | Semifinals Best-of-3 | 1989 ASL Championship Best-of-3 | 1989 ASL Championship Best-of-3 | 1989 ASL Championship Best-of-3 | 1989 ASL Championship Best-of-3 | 1989 ASL Championship Best-of-3 |
| 1 | Washington Diplomats | 1 | 1 | - | | | | | |
| 4 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 3 | 3 | - | | | | | |
| 4 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 3 | 3 | - | 4 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| | | | | | 3 | Boston Bolts | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 2 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 0 | 1 | - | 3 | Boston Bolts | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 3 | Boston Bolts | 2 | 2 | - | | | | | |

### Semifinal 1

Fort Lauderdale advances two games to none.

### Semifinal 2

Boston advances two games to none.

### ASL Championship Final

| Higher seed | Series | Lower seed | Game 1 | Game 2 | Mini-game | Attendance |
| Boston Bolts | 1–2 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | August 19 • Lockhart Stadium • 5,752 August 26 • Nickerson Field • 5,730 |

#### Mini-game
## Points leaders

| Rank | Scorer | Club | Goals | Assists | Points |
| 1 | Ricardo Alonso | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 10 | 7 | 27 |
| 2 | Mirko Castillo | Miami Sharks | 10 | 1 | 21 |
| 3 | Martin Hill | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 7 | 6 | 20 |
| 3 | Leonel Suazo | Washington Diplomats | 7 | 6 | 20 |
| 5 | Jean Harbor | Washington Diplomats | 7 | 5 | 19 |
| 6 | Marcello Bauza | Washington Diplomats | 9 | 0 | 18 |
| 7 | Marcelo Carrera | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 4 | 10 | 18 |
| 7 | Steve Wegerle | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 4 | 10 | 18 |
| 9 | Rod Castro | Orlando Lions | 8 | 1 | 17 |
| 10 | Scott Snyder | Washington Stars | 7 | 3 | 17 |
| 11 | Steve Kinsey | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 6 | 5 | 17 |
| 12 | Elvis Comrie | Albany Capitals | 7 | 2 | 16 |
| 13 | Jorge Acosta | New Jersey Eagles | 7 | 1 | 15 |
| 14 | Sadri Gjonbalaj | New Jersey Eagles | 6 | 3 | 15 |
| 14 | Paul Rutenis | Maryland Bays | 6 | 3 | 15 |
| 15 | Dan Donigan | Boston Bolts | 4 | 7 | 15 |
| 16 | Pedro Magallanes | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 5 | 4 | 14 |
| 17 | Franklin McIntosh | Orlando Lions | 4 | 6 | 14 |
| 18 | Chico Borja | Albany Capitals | 1 | 12 | 14 |
| 19 | Patrick Hughes | Boston Bolts | 4 | 5 | 13 |
| 20 | Paul Duffy | Boston Bolts | 4 | 4 | 13 |

## 1989 ASL All-Star game

The ASL All-Star game was hosted by the Washington Diplomats at RFK Stadium. Players that were unable to play due to injury, as well as any Dips selected to the squad were replaced, since the All-Stars' opponent was the Dips.

### All-Star selections

| All-Stars | Position | Alternates |
| Winston DuBose, Tampa Bay | G | Neil Cowley, Washington • Greg Kenney, Boston |
| Mike Windischmann, Albany | D | Dehinde Akiniotan, Boston |
| Steve Trittschuh, Tampa Bay | D | - |
| Ronald Simmons, Albany | D | - |
| Ricardo Alonso, Fort Lauderdale | D | - |
| Tab Ramos, Miami | M | Steve Wegerle, Tampa Bay |
| John Harkes, Albany | M | Paul Riley, New Jersey |
| Michael Brady, Washington | M | Osvaldo Ardiles, Fort Lauderdale |
| Jean Harbor, Washington | F | Steve Kinsey, Fort Lauderdale |
| Phillip Gyau, Maryland | F | - |
| Rod Castro, Orlando | F | - |
| Lincoln Phillips, Maryland | Coach | - |

### Match summary

* All-Star game MVP: Osvaldo Ardiles

## Post-season honors
### All A-League Team

* Goalkeeper: Neil Cowley, Winston DuBose
* Defenders: Dehinde Akinlotan, Ricardo Alonso, Eric Hawkes, Ronald Simmons, Steve Trittschuh
* Midfielders: Osvaldo Ardiles, John Harkes, Willington Ortiz, Tab Ramos, Paul Riley
* Forwards: Chico Borja, Michael Brady, John Kerr, Jr., Steve Kinsey, Steve Wegerle

## 1989 National Professional Soccer Championship

In anticipation of a proposed merger (which took place the following year) the ASL champions faced off against the Western Soccer League champions in the 1989 National Pro Soccer Championship on September 9 in San Jose, California's Spartan Stadium. This would be the first time since 1984 that an undisputed national champion of professional soccer was crowned in the United States.