United Soccer Association

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

United Soccer Association
NASL in 1968
CountryUnited States
Other club(s) fromCanada
ConfederationCONCACAF
Number of teams12
Level on pyramid1
Last championsLos Angeles Wolves
(1967)
Most championshipsLos Angeles Wolves (1)

The United Soccer Association (USA) was a professional soccer league featuring teams based in the United States and Canada. The league survived only one season before merging with the National Professional Soccer League to form the North American Soccer League. Every team in the league was actually an imported European or South America club, that was then outfitted with a "local" name. Dick Walsh served as the commissioner.

Origins

In 1966 a group of sports

USSFA and FIFA. However a rival consortium known as the National Professional Soccer League also emerged and to avoid confusion Cooke renamed his consortium the United Soccer Association. The USA originally intended to launch its league in the spring of 1968. However the NPSL, which secured a TV contract from CBS, announced it was ready to launch in 1967. Not wanting to lose ground to its rival, the USA decided to fast track its launch. Without any players of its own, it opted to import whole teams from Europe and South America. It was intended that these teams would represent the franchises during the inaugural season, giving them time to build their own squads for the following season. By May 1967, the USA had garnered applications for franchises wanting to create teams for the next season. An application was made for a team in Miami, to be called the Miami Cobras.[1] A Calgary-based franchise was also in the offing.[2]

Competing teams

Franchises Imported clubs Stadiums (capacity) Owners
Boston Rovers
 Republic of Ireland Shamrock Rovers Manning Bowl (21,000) Weston Adams (Boston Bruins)
Chicago Mustangs Italy Cagliari Calcio Comiskey Park (46,550) Arthur Allyn Jr. (Chicago White Sox)
Cleveland Stokers England Stoke City Cleveland Stadium (78,000)
Cleveland Indians
)
Dallas Tornado Scotland Dundee United Cotton Bowl (75,504) Lamar Hunt (Kansas City Chiefs)
Detroit Cougars Northern Ireland Glentoran Tiger Stadium (36,000) William Clay Ford (Detroit Lions)
Houston Stars Brazil Bangu AC
Astrodome
(44,500)
Judge Roy Hofheinz (Houston Astros
)
Los Angeles Wolves England Wolverhampton Wanderers Los Angeles Coliseum (93,000) Jack Kent Cooke (Los Angeles Lakers & Kings)
New York Skyliners Uruguay C.A. Cerro Yankee Stadium (67,000) Madison Square Garden Corporation
San Francisco Golden Gate Gales Netherlands ADO Den Haag Kezar Stadium (59,942)[3] George Fleharty (Ice Follies)
Toronto City Scotland Hibernian Varsity Stadium (25,000) Steve Stavro
Vancouver Royal Canadians England Sunderland Empire Stadium (33,000) Brigadier General E.G. Eakins
Washington Whips Scotland Aberdeen D.C. Stadium (46,000) Earl Foreman

1967 season

After a series of exhibition games, the USA began playing on May 28 and got off to a good start. The Houston Stars attracted an opening crowd of 34,965.[4] However subsequent attendances did not keep pace and the league finished with an average of 7,890 per game. Of the twelve teams, the Los Angeles Wolves, represented by Wolverhampton Wanderers and featuring Derek Dougan, the Cleveland Stokers, represented by Stoke City and featuring Gordon Banks, and the Washington Whips, represented by Aberdeen, emerged as the strongest sides. Roberto Boninsegna of Chicago Mustangs finished as the league's top scorer with 10 goals.

The USA entered its playoff stage in July 1967. The Western Division champion

hat-tricks, three penalties given (two converted), four goals scored within a four-minute period midway through the second half and each team scoring during (non-golden goal) extra time. The game was finally decided when Whips defender Ally Shewan scored an own goal shortly after the start of golden goal
extra time.

Final standings

Eastern Division

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Washington Whips 12 5 5 2 19 11 +8 15 1967 USA Championship
2 Cleveland Stokers 12 5 4 3 19 13 +6 14
3 Toronto City 12 4 5 3 23 17 +6 13
4 Detroit Cougars 12 3 6 3 11 18 −7 12
5 New York Skyliners 12 2 6 4 15 17 −2 10
6
Boston Rovers
 12 2 3 7 12 26 −14 7
Source: American Soccer History Archives
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
Note: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, 0 points for a loss

Western Division

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Los Angeles Wolves (C) 12 5 5 2 21 14 +7 15 1967 USA Championship
2 San Francisco Golden Gate Gales 12 5 3 4 25 19 +6 13
3 Chicago Mustangs 12 3 7 2 20 14 +6 13
4 Houston Stars 12 4 4 4 19 18 +1 12
5 Vancouver Royal Canadians 12 3 5 4 20 28 −8 11
6 Dallas Tornado 12 3 3 6 14 23 −9 9
Source: American Soccer History Archives
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
Note: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, 0 points for a loss
(C) Champions

USA Final 1967

Main article: USA Final 1967
Los Angeles Wolves6–5[5] (a.e.t.)Washington Whips
Knowles 3'
Burnside 65', 67', 82'
Dougan 113'
Shewan gold-colored soccer ball 122'  (o.g.)		 Report
Smith 21'
Munro 64' (pen.), 89', 120' (pen.)
Storrie
66'
Attendance: 17,842[6]
Referee: Dick Giebner[7] (USA)[8]

1967 USA Champions: Los Angeles Wolves

USA All-Stars

First Team[9][10]   Position   Second Team
Bobby Clark, Washington G Gordon Banks, Cleveland
Mario Tito
, Houston 		D Eric Skeels, Cleveland
Jose Fidelis
, Houston 		D Jan Villerius, San Francisco
Pat Stanton, Toronto M Joe Davis, Toronto
Jim Baxter, Vancouver M John Moore, Cleveland
Tommy McMillan, Washington M Miguel Angelo Longo, Chicago
Ary Clemente
, Houston 		F Doug Smith, Dallas
Paulo Borges, Houston F Henk Houwaart, San Francisco
Peter Dobing, Cleveland F Roberto Boninsegna, Chicago
George Eastham, Cleveland F Benedicto Ribeiro, New York
Roy Vernon, Cleveland F Peter Cormack, Toronto

Coach of the year

NASL

In December 1967 the USA merged with

Tampa Bay Rowdies.[12][13]

The idea of importing teams to represent franchises was revived during the

English League teams West Ham United and Aston Villa represented Baltimore Bays and Atlanta Chiefs while Kilmarnock of the Scottish Football League played as the St. Louis Stars
.

Attendance

Team GP Total High Low Average
Houston Stars 6 118,793 34,965 12,380 19,799
Dallas Tornado 6 55,360 20,375 4,916 9,227
New York Skyliners 6 52,596 21,871 3,517 8,766
Washington Whips 7[a] 54,597 9,760 5,112 7,800
Los Angeles Wolves 6 46,640 11,572 5,231 7,773
Vancouver Royal Canadians 6 42,113 10,053 5,114 7,019
Toronto City 6 41,538 15,178 3,152 6,923
Cleveland Stokers 6 39,399 9,793 4,516 6,567
Detroit Cougars 6 34,247 11,629 648 5,708
San Francisco Golden Gate Gales 6 32,531 8,177 3,853 5,422
Chicago Mustangs 6 25,239 9,872 2,013 4,207
Boston Rovers
 6 25,025 7,343 853 4,171
Total 73[a] 568,078 34,965 648 7,782
  1. ^ a b One game was replayed, both figures included

Sources: kenn.com

References

General

  • Official 1968 North American Soccer League Guide. St. Louis: The Sporting News, 1968.
  • Durso, Joseph. "Local Pro Soccer Teams May Share Stadium With Yanks in Spring," The New York Times, Sunday, February 12, 1967.

Specific

  1. St. Petersburg Times
    . Retrieved November 3, 2012.
  2. Schenectady Gazette
    . May 12, 1967. Retrieved November 3, 2012.
  3. ^ "Happel's "Monster" Dutchmen Take San Francisco By Storm". The Soccer Observer. Archived from the original on July 22, 2015. Retrieved November 26, 2014.
  4. ^ "New Soccer League Greeted By Huge Crowd In Houston". The Miami News. May 29, 1967. Retrieved November 3, 2012.
  5. ^ "Wolves v Aberdeen, United Soccer Association Championship, 14th July 1967". YouTube. July 25, 2013. Archived from the original on December 13, 2021. Retrieved January 17, 2014.
  6. ^ United Press International (July 16, 1967). "Wolves capture U.S. soccer title". The New York Times. p. 152. Retrieved November 2, 2012.
  7. ^ "Past Winners | North American Soccer League". Naslsoccerbowl.com. Retrieved January 17, 2014.
  8. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on October 11, 2016. Retrieved April 22, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. ^ "NASL Homepage". May 1, 2008. Archived from the original on May 1, 2008. Retrieved January 17, 2014.
  10. ^ "Steve Dimitry's NASL Web Page". Oocities.org. Retrieved January 17, 2014.
  11. Leader-Post. Regina. Associated Press
    . July 18, 1967. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
  12. ISBN 9781449423391
    – via Google Books.
  13. ^ Beard, Randy (September 17, 1981). "Rowdies Take On A Western Flavor". Evening Independent. p. 4-C. Retrieved May 5, 2017 – via Google News Archive Search.

External links

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