1972 New York Cosmos season explained

The 1972 New York Cosmos season was the second season for the New York Cosmos in the now-defunct North American Soccer League. In the Cosmos' second year of existence, the club finished 1st in the Northern Division and 1st in the overall league table. In the playoffs, the Cosmos defeated the Dallas Tornado in the semifinal and the St. Louis Stars in the final, winning their first league championship and completing the first double by a club in the national era.

Squad

Source:^[3]

Results

Source:^[4]

Regular season

Pld = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, D = Draws, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points
6 points for a win, 3 points for a draw, 0 points for a loss, 1 point for each goal scored (up to three per game).

Northern Division Standings

width=30	Pos	Club	width=30	Pld	width=30	W	width=30	L	width=30	D	width=30	GF	width=30	GA	width=30	GD	width=30	Pts
1	align=left	New York Cosmos	14	7	3	4	28	16	+12	77
2	align=left	Rochester Lancers	14	6	5	3	20	22	-2	64
3	align=left	Montreal Olympique	14	4	5	5	19	20	-1	57
4	align=left	Toronto Metros	14	4	6	4	18	22	-4	53

Overall League Placing

width=30	Pos	Club	width=30	Pld	width=30	W	width=30	L	width=30	D	width=30	GF	width=30	GA	width=30	GD	width=30	Pts
1	align=left	New York Cosmos	14	7	3	4	28	16	+12	77
2	align=left	St. Louis Stars	14	7	4	3	20	14	+6	69
3	align=left	Rochester Lancers	14	6	5	3	20	22	-2	64
4	align=left	Dallas Tornado	14	6	5	3	15	12	+3	60
5	align=left	Montreal Olympique	14	4	5	5	19	20	-1	57

Source:^[5]

Matches

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
May 7, 1972	St. Louis Stars	H	3-3	7,324	Young, Horton (2)
May 14, 1972	Rochester Lancers	A	1-1	4,100	Stritzl
May 20, 1972	Miami Gatos	H	6-1	1,302	Horton (2), Cummings (2), Jelinek, Siega
May 27, 1972	Atlanta Chiefs	H	4-2	4,445	Kerr, Horton (2), Cummings
June 3, 1972	Dallas Tornado	A	1-0	2,157
June 18, 1972	Toronto Metros	H	2-1	1,200	Cummings, Siega
June 25, 1972	Atlanta Chiefs	A	2-0	N/A
July 1, 1972	Montreal Olympique	H	2-0	4,571	Kerr, Mfum
July 8, 1972	Miami Gatos	A	0-2	1,438	Horton, Mfum
July 16, 1972	Montreal Olympique	A	2-2	2,996	Mfum, Cummings
July 22, 1972	Dallas Tornado	H	1-0	6,518	Mfum
July 29, 1972	St. Louis Stars	A	1-0	4,385
August 6, 1972	Toronto Metros	A	1-1	1,255	Horton
August 12, 1972	Rochester Lancers	H	4-1	4,616	Mfum, Horton, Jelinek, Kerr

Postseason

Overview

Semi-finals

style=font-size:85% align=center rowspan=3 width=15%	August 15	width=24% align=right	Rochester Lancers	align=center width=13%	0–2	width=24%	St. Louis Stars	style=font-size:85% rowspan=3 valign=top	St. Louis, Busch Memorial
align=right valign=top		valign=top		align=left valign=top

----

style=font-size:85% align=center rowspan=3 width=15%	August 19	width=24% align=right	Dallas Tornado	align=center width=13%	0–1	width=24%	New York Cosmos	style=font-size:85% rowspan=3 valign=top	New York, Hofstra Stadium
align=right valign=top		valign=top		align=left valign=top

Final

style=font-size:85% align=center rowspan=3 width=15%	August 26	width=24% align=right	St. Louis Stars	align=center width=13%	1–2	width=24%	New York Cosmos	style=font-size:85% rowspan=3 valign=top	New York, Hofstra Stadium
align=right valign=top		valign=top		align=left valign=top

Matches

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
August 19, 1972	Dallas Tornado	H	1-0	5,026	Kerr
August 26, 1972	St. Louis Stars	H	2-1	6,102	Jelinek, Horton

Friendlies

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
July 31	Birmingham City	H	0-3	N/A
August 16	Maccabi Tel Aviv	H	5-2	5,126	Horton (3), Kerr, Stritzl
August 30	Dynamo Moscow	H	1-2	13,205	Zajdel

See also

• 1972 North American Soccer League season

Notes and References

1. News: Gordon Bradley, Who Nurtured U.S. Soccer, Dies at 74. The New York Times. May 2008. Bell. Jack.
2. Web site: North American Soccer League.
3. Web site: NASL New York Cosmos Rosters.
4. Web site: All-time American soccer statistics | SoccerStats.us.
5. Web site: The Year in American Soccer - 1972 . 2012-12-30 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150325130709/http://homepages.sover.net/~spectrum/year/1972.html . 2015-03-25 . dead .