1978 North American Soccer League playoffs
The 1978 North American Soccer League playoffs began on August 8 and ended on August 27 with Soccer Bowl '78 at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. 16 out of 24 teams qualified after a 30-match regular season, eight from each conference. Playoff format. The top two teams in each division would quality for the playoffs. The other spots would go to the next best two teams in the conference, regardless of division. The top three seeds went to the division winners, seeds 4-6 went to the second place teams and  the last two seeds were known as 'wild-cards', a nod to the NFL's playoff format. The winners of each successive round would be reseeded within the conference by point total. The first round and the Soccer Bowl were single games, while the conference semifinals and championships were two-game series. As in the 1977 playoffs, if both teams were tied at one win apiece at the conclusion of Game 2, there would be a 30-minute sudden-death mini-game and a shootout if necessary. Conference Semifinals. American Conference. Section::::(1) Detroit Express vs. (7) Ft. Lauderdale Strikers. Fort  Lauderdale wins series 2–1 Section::::(3) San Diego Sockers vs. (4) Tampa Bay Rowdies. Tampa Bay wins series 2–1 National Conference. Section::::(1) Cosmos vs. (3) Minnesota Kicks. New York wins series 2–1 Section::::(2) Vancouver Whitecaps vs. (4) Portland Timbers. Portland wins series 2–0 Conference Finals. American Conference. Section::::(4) Tampa Bay Rowdies vs. (7) Ft. Lauderdale Strikers. Tampa Bay wins series 2–1 National Conference. Section::::(1) Cosmos vs. (4) Portland Timbers. New York wins series 2–0 Soccer Bowl '78. 1978 NASL Champions: Cosmos Playoff Statistics. "Mini-games are not counted as games played when compiling individual statistics. They are included in the minutes  played category." Scoring. "GP = Games Played, G = Goals (worth 2 points), A = Assists (worth 1 point), Pts = Points" Goalkeeping. "Note: GP = Games played; Min – Minutes Played; GA = Goals Against; GAA = Goals Against Average; W = Wins; L = Losses; SO = Shutouts"