# 1971 North American Soccer League season

Statistics of North American Soccer League in season 1971. This was the 4th season of the NASL.

## Overview

Eight teams competed in the 1971 season. The Dallas Tornado won the league championship after playing several playoff matches under the new sudden death rule, which replaced the penalty shootout. In Game 1 of the best-of-three semifinal against the Rochester Lancers, league scoring champion Carlos Metidieri of Rochester scored to end the match at 2–1 in the 176th minute after six periods of overtime—shortly before midnight. Three days later, Dallas tied the series with a 3–1 regulation win. In the deciding match, the two teams ended regulation with a 1–1 tie and played four overtime periods before Bobby Moffat scored in the 148 minute for a 2–1 victory. Four days later, Dallas lost Game 1 of the NASL Championship Series, 2–1, in the 3rd overtime to the Atlanta Chiefs after 123 minutes. All totaled, Dallas had played 537 minutes of soccer (3 minutes short of six games) in 13 days. The Tornado won 4–1 in Game 2 and 2–0 in Game 3 to clinch the league championship.

## Changes From the previous season
### Rule changes

Playoffs series switched from a two-game aggregate score to a best-two-out-of-three match format. Any playoff games tied after 90 minutes would now be settled by golden goal (or sudden death) overtime periods lasting 15 minutes each.

### New teams

* Montreal Olympique
* New York Cosmos
* Toronto Metros

### Teams folding

* Kansas City Spurs

### Teams moving

* None

### Name changes

* None

## 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 |
| Rochester Lancers | 13 | 5 | 6 | 48 | 31 | 141 |
| New York Cosmos | 9 | 10 | 5 | 51 | 55 | 117 |
| Toronto Metros | 5 | 10 | 9 | 32 | 47 | 89 |
| Montreal Olympique | 4 | 15 | 5 | 29 | 59 | 65 |
| Southern Division | W | L | T | GF | GA | PT |
| Atlanta Chiefs | 12 | 7 | 5 | 35 | 29 | 120 |
| Dallas Tornado | 10 | 6 | 8 | 38 | 24 | 119 |
| Washington Darts | 8 | 6 | 10 | 36 | 34 | 111 |
| St. Louis Stars | 6 | 13 | 5 | 37 | 47 | 86 |

## 1971 NASL All-Stars

| First Team | Position | Second Team | Honorable Mention |
| Mirko Stojanovic, Dallas | G | Leonel Conde, Washington | Manfred Kammerer, Atlanta • Claude Campos, Rochester |
| Dick Hall, Dallas | D | Clive Charles, Montreal | Frank Donlavey, Washington |
| Willie Evans, Washington | D | Uriel da Veiga, Atlanta | Oreco, Dallas |
| Peter Short, Rochester | D | John Cocking, Atlanta | Gabbo Gavrić, Dallas |
| John Best, Dallas | D | Charlie Mitchell, Rochester | Mick Hoban, Atlanta • Roberto Lonardo, Rochester |
| Dragan Popovic, St. Louis | M | Francisco Escos, Rochester | Freddie Mwila, Atlanta • Barrie Lynch, Atlanta |
| Siggy Stritzl, New York | M | Felix Correia, Toronto | Billy Fraser, Washington • Keith Pointer, Montreal • Roy Turner, Dallas |
| Carlos Metidieri, Rochester | F | Warren Archibald, Washington | Tommy Youlden, Dallas |
| Randy Horton, New York | F | Casey Frankiewicz, St. Louis | Iris DeBrito, Rochester |
| Kaizer Motaung, Atlanta | F | Franco Gallina, Montreal | Mike Renshaw, Dallas |
| Manfred Seissler, Rochester | F | Jorge Siega, New York | Leroy DeLeon, Washington • Ian MacHattie, Toronto |

## Playoffs
### Bracket

| Semifinals Best-of-3 | Semifinals Best-of-3 | Semifinals Best-of-3 | Semifinals Best-of-3 | Semifinals Best-of-3 | NASL Final 1971 Best-of-3 | NASL Final 1971 Best-of-3 | NASL Final 1971 Best-of-3 | NASL Final 1971 Best-of-3 | NASL Final 1971 Best-of-3 |
| N1 | Rochester Lancers | 2 | 1 | 1 | | | | | |
| S2 | Dallas Tornado | 1 | 3 | 2 | | | | | |
| S2 | Dallas Tornado | 1 | 3 | 2 | S2 | Dallas Tornado | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| | | | | | S1 | Atlanta Chiefs | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| S1 | Atlanta Chiefs | 1 | 2 | – | S1 | Atlanta Chiefs | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| N2 | New York Cosmos | 0 | 0 | – | | | | | |

### Semifinals

| Higher seed | Series | Lower seed | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | Attendance |
| Rochester Lancers | 1 - 2 | Dallas Tornado | 2–1 (6ot) | 1–3 | 1–2 (4ot) | September 1 • Aquinas Memorial Stadium • 8,309 September 4 • Franklin Stadium • 6,131 September 8 • Aquinas Memorial Stadium • 7,635 |
| Atlanta Chiefs | 2 - 0 | New York Cosmos | 1–0(3ot) | 2–0 | x | September 2 • Atlanta Stadium • 3,160 September 5 • Hofstra Stadium • 3,800 |

### NASL Final 1971

| Higher seed | Series | Lower seed | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | Attendance |
| Atlanta Chiefs | 1 - 2 | Dallas Tornado | 2–1 (3ot) | 1–4 | 0–2 | September 12 • Atlanta Stadium • 3,218 September 15 • Franklin Stadium • 6,456 September 19 • Atlanta Stadium • 4,687 |

#### Game three

1971 NASL Champions: Dallas Tornado

## Post season awards

* Most Valuable Player: Carlos Metidieri, Rochester
* Coach of the year: Ron Newman, Dallas
* Rookie of the year: Randy Horton, New York