Soccer Bowl '77

Soccer Bowl '77
	Civic Stadium was the venue for Soccer Bowl '77
Event	Soccer Bowl
Date	August 28, 1977
Venue	Civic Stadium, Portland, Oregon
Man of the Match	Stephen Hunt
Referee	Toros Kibritjan (United States)
Attendance	35,548
	← 1976 1978 →

Soccer Bowl '77 was the championship final of the 1977 NASL season. The New York Cosmos (who had dropped "New York" from their name in the off-season to simply "Cosmos") took on the Seattle Sounders. The match was played on August 28, 1977 at Civic Stadium, in Portland, Oregon. The game was also noteworthy as the final competitive match for Pelé, the Brazilian star widely acknowledged as the sport's greatest player.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4] The Cosmos won the match, 2–1, to claim their second North American championship. The match was broadcast on TVS.

Venue

Civic Stadium (now called Providence Park) in Portland, Oregon, was selected as the host of Soccer Bowl '77 by the NASL on October 15, 1976.^[5]^[6] It was initially scheduled for August 27, but was moved a day later.^[7]

Road to the final

New York Cosmos

The Cosmos qualified for the playoffs by virtue of a second-place finish in the Eastern Division of the Atlantic Conference with 140 points. The Cosmos defeated the Tampa Bay Rowdies in a first round single-match, 3–0, on August 10, 1977, before a home crowd of 57,828 fans. They then faced the Eastern Division winner and number one seed, Ft. Lauderdale Strikers in a best-of three-series. The first game of the series was witnessed by an all-time record NASL crowd of 77,691 and saw the Cosmos win convincingly, 8–3, on August 14, 1977. The second leg, played in Fort Lauderdale on August 17, 1977, finished regulation as a 2–2 draw. After 15 minutes of scoreless golden goal extra time the teams moved on to an NASL shoot-out, which the Cosmos won, 3–0. The win advanced them to the Conference finals. In the Atlantic Conference finals series the Cosmos went up against the upset-minded Rochester Lancers, who had already dispatched two higher seeded opponents. Game 1 of the series was played on August 21, 1977 in Rochester, and saw the Cosmos win a close-fought contest, 2–1. The second leg was played before another large Meadowlands crowd of 73,669 on August 24, 1977. In that game, as with the two previous home playoff games, the Cosmos proved to be a decisive winner, 4–1. By winning the series two games to none, the Cosmos won the Atlantic Conference title and advanced to the Soccer Bowl.

Seattle Sounders

The Seattle Sounders qualified for the playoffs by virtue of a third-place finish in the Western Division of the Pacific Conference with 123 points. The Sounders defeated the Vancouver Whitecaps in a first round single-match, 2–0, on August 10, 1977. They then faced the Western Division winner, Minnesota Kicks in a best-of three-series. The first game of the series, which was played on August 14, 1977, saw the Sounders edge ahead, 2–1, on a sudden death goal in overtime. In the second leg, the Sounders hung on for a 1–0 win on August 17, 1977. The two victories advanced them to the conference finals. In the Pacific Conference finals series, the Sounders went up against the Los Angeles Aztecs, who themselves had just upset Dallas, the number one seed in the conference. Game 1 of the series was played on August 21, 1977 in Los Angeles, and the Sounders won, 3–1. The second leg was played before an impressive Kingdome crowd of 56,256 on August 25, 1977. In that game, the Sounders gutted out a 1–0 result. In doing so, they won the series two games to none, and the Pacific Conference title to advance to the Soccer Bowl.

Match details

August 28

12:00 p.m. (PDT)

New York Cosmos ^{[note 1]}	2–1	Seattle Sounders
Hunt 20' Chinaglia 78'	Report	Ord 24'

Civic Stadium, Portland

Attendance: 35,548

Referee: Toros Kibritjan (United States)

New York Cosmos

Seattle Sounders



GK	1	Shep Messing
DF	12	Bobby Smith
DF	4	Werner Roth (c)
DF	25	Carlos Alberto	74:29'
MF	14	Nelsi Morais
MF	8	Terry Garbett		45:00'
MF	6	Franz Beckenbauer	63:21'
FW	7	Tony Field
FW	10	Pelé
FW	9	Giorgio Chinaglia
FW	11	Steve Hunt
Substitutes:
MF	3	Vito Dimitrijević	66:34'	45:00'
GK	19	Erol Yasin
Manager:
Eddie Firmani



GK	1	Tony Chursky
DF	4	Mel Machin
DF	3	Jim McAlister
DF	5	Mike England
DF	17	Dave Gillett
MF	16	Adrian Webster (c)
MF	15	Steve Buttle
MF	19	Jimmy Robertson	79:49'
MF	2	Jocky Scott
FW	18	Tommy Ord 16:58'
FW	12	Micky Cave	68:07'
Substitutes:
MF	8	David Butler	68:07'
FW	6	Tommy Jenkins	79:49'
GK	26	Mike Ivanow
Manager:
Jim Gabriel

Soccer Bowl MVP:
Steve Hunt (Cosmos)
Assistant referees:
John Davies^[8]
Bob Morgan

Television: TVS
Announcers: Jon Miller, Paul Gardner
Touchline reporter: Walt Chyzowych

Notes

^ The team had shortened its name from "New York Cosmos" to "Cosmos" at the beginning of the season. It lasted until 1979.

Match statistics

First half^[9]^[10]
Statistic	Cosmos	Seattle
Goals scored	1	1
Total shots	16	13
Shots on target	9	6
Saves	5	8
Corner kicks	8	2
Fouls	x	x
Offsides	x	x
Yellow cards	0	1
Red cards	0	0

Second half^[11]
Statistic	Cosmos	Seattle
Goals scored	1	0
Total shots	13	13
Shots on target	1	6
Saves	6	0
Corner kicks	5	3
Fouls	x	x
Offsides	x	x
Yellow cards	3	0
Red cards	0	0

Overall^[12]
Statistic	Cosmos	Seattle
Goals scored	2	1
Total shots	29	26
Shots on target	10	12
Saves	11	8
Corner kicks	13	6
Fouls	11	14
Offsides	1	2
Yellow cards	3	1
Red cards	0	0

References

^ Pele: The greatest of them all FIFA.com
^ Pele tops World Cup legends poll BBC News. Retrieved 12 June 2010
^ "Pelé "The King" to be crowned in Monte Carlo at 10th edition of the "Golden Foot" Awards". GoldenFoot. Retrieved November 19, 2012.
^ "IFFHS' Century Elections". Rsssf.com. January 30, 2000. Retrieved November 19, 2012.
^ "Portland approved as Soccer Bowl site". The Oregonian. October 16, 1976. p. C3.
^ Mulflur, Bill (October 27, 1976). "'77 Soccer Bowl 'Tribute To City'". The Oregon Journal. p. 17.
^ "Commissioner bemoans choice of '77 bowl site". The Oregonian. July 23, 1977. p. C1.
^ "NASL Soccer Bowl 77 (Cosmos vs. Sounders)". YouTube. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
^ TVS Broadcast footage
^ "NASL Soccer Bowl 77 (Cosmos vs. Sounders)". YouTube.
^ Subtracted final stats from TVS halftime stats
^ "Cosmos knock off Sounders 2-1 in '77 Soccer Bowl III". Horse Racing and Seattle Sports. August 28, 2012. Retrieved December 20, 2015.