NASL Final 1974

NASL Final 1974
Event NASL Final
Los Angeles Aztecs Miami Toros
3 3
Penalty Shoot-out 5-3
Date August 25, 1974 (1974-08-25)
Venue Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida
Referee John Davies (USA)
Attendance 15,507

NASL Final 1974 was the championship match of the 1974 season, between the expansion Los Angeles Aztecs and the Miami Toros. The match was played on August 25, 1974 at the Orange Bowl, in Miami, Florida. The teams played to a 3–3 draw, and after a short break the game moved directly to a penalty shoot-out. Los Angeles won the shoot-out 5–3, and were crowned the 1974 champions. This was the second straight year that an expansion team won the NASL title[1][2][3]

Background

Los Angeles Aztecs

The Los Angeles Aztecs qualified for the playoffs by virtue of winning the Western Division with 110 points. The point total earned them a quarterfinal bye in the playoffs. The Aztecs defeated the Northern Division champion Boston Minutemen, 2–0 in a semifinal game played on August 17, 1974 to advance to the finals.

Miami Toros

The Miami Toros qualified for the playoffs by virtue of winning the Eastern Division with 107 points. They were also given a quarterfinal bye in the playoffs. The Toros defeated the Central Division champion Dallas Tornado, 3–1 in a semifinal game played on August 17, 1974 to advance to the finals.

Game site controversy

Although the Aztecs had a league-best record and rightly should have hosted the championship final, CBS intervened and strongly influenced the NASL's decision to play the match in Miami. CBS was under contract to air the game live and was unwilling to black-out the large Southern California viewing audience. At the time it was the standard in many US-based sports for the host market not to broadcast games locally unless they were sold out. At the time, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum had a capacity of 94,500 and, even in a best-case scenario, an Aztecs sell-out was unlikely. Moreover, in an effort by CBS to capture more viewers during the peak East Coast time slot, a Los Angeles-hosted game would have begun at 12:30 (PDT) local time.

The league recognized that both these factors would be detrimental to ticket sales and agreed to moved the game to the Miami Orange Bowl with a 3:30 (EDT) local start. CBS had also stepped in the previous week and forced the Toros to play their semi-final match at the much-smaller Tamiami Stadium in Tamiami Park. This was done so that if Miami won, their crews would have a full week for production set-up.[4]

Game summary

Championship results

August 25
3:30 pm EDT
Los Angeles Aztecs 3–3 Miami Toros
de Rienzo  26' (pen.)
Costa  78'
McMillan  88' 		Wright  17'
Sharp 48' (pen.)
Moraldo  72' (o.g.)
Aránguiz  87'
  Penalties  
Zanotti
Banhoffer
Marotte
Filotis
Douglas 		5–3 Aguirre
Sharp
Mallender
Verdi
Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida
Attendance: 15,507
Referee: John Davies[5][6][7][8] (USA)
Los Angeles[9][10]
Miami[11]

1974 NASL Champions: Los Angeles Aztecs

See also

References

  1. ↑ NASL. "NASLSoccerBowl - History - Past Winner". North American Soccer League.
  2. ↑ NASL. "NASL 1968-1984 - Yearly Result". North American Soccer League.
  3. ↑ http://twb22.blogspot.com/2011/04/nasl-1974-los-angeles-aztecs-miami.html
  4. ↑ https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2206&dat=19740814&id=UDw0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=yesFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4148,1615343&hl=en
  5. ↑ https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=8HZKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8CINAAAAIBAJ&pg=7039,5233642&dq=toros+overtime&hl=en
  6. ↑ https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=D0BSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SnkDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7264,196450&dq=aztecs+kick+toros&hl=en
  7. ↑ http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1088935/1/index.htm
  8. ↑ https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=j2wzAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vzIHAAAAIBAJ&pg=4129,5026763&dq=aztecs+kick+toros&hl=en
  9. ↑ http://www.nasljerseys.com/images/Aztecs/Aztecs%2074%20Home%20Jose%20Lopez.jpg
  10. ↑ http://www.nasljerseys.com/images/Toros_Miami/Toros%2074%20Road%20Back%20Alan%20Hamlyn,%20Aztecs%20Championship.jpg
  11. ↑ http://www.nasljerseys.com/images/Toros_Miami/Toros%2074%20Road%20Warren%20Archibald.jpg

External links

Template:1974 in American soccer

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