1973 North American Soccer League season

Overview

Nine teams took part in the league with the Philadelphia Atoms winning the championship.

During the season, Tiburones Rojos de Veracruz from Vera Cruz, Mexico, played each of the nine NASL clubs in exhibition games that counted in the league's final standings. The 1973 season would be the last season in which games from non-league clubs counted in league standings.

A week before the NASL Final 1973, commissioner Phil Woosnam announced that no team in the league made a profit during the season.

In a unique twist, the team with home field for the NASL Championship Game determined the date and time the game was to be played. When the Dallas Tornado won their semi-final, setting up the final with Philadelphia, they chose August 25 as the date of the game. They did this because the NASL loan agreements with players from the English First Division (the precursor to today's Premier League) expired before that date.

Because of this, Philadelphia's two leading scorers, Andy "The Flea" Provan and Jim Fryatt, were on their way back to England when the championship match was played on the 25th. Despite this, Philadelphia coach, Al Miller, put Bill Straub, a defender who had not played a minute for the club prior to the championship game, into the lineup at forward. The move paid off as Straub headed home the second goal in a 2–0 win with under five minutes remaining in the final.

Changes from the previous season

New teams

• Philadelphia Atoms

Teams folding

• None

Teams moving

• None

Name changes

• Atlanta Chiefs to Atlanta Apollos
• Miami Gatos to Miami Toros

Map of clubs

Regular season

W = Wins, L = Losses, T= Ties, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, BP = Bonus Points, PTS= Total Points

POINT SYSTEM

6 points for a win, 3 points for a tie, 0 points for a loss, 1 bonus point for each goal scored up to three per game. :-Premiers (most points). -Other playoff teams.

NASL All-Stars

Playoffs

All playoff games in all rounds including the NASL Final were single game elimination match ups.

Bracket

| score-width=25 | team-width=150px | RD1-seed1=1 | RD1-team1=Dallas Tornado | RD1-score1=1 | RD1-seed2=4 | RD1-team2=New York Cosmos | RD1-score2=0

| RD1-seed3=2 | RD1-team3=Philadelphia Atoms | RD1-score3=3 | RD1-seed4=3 | RD1-team4=Toronto Metros | RD1-score4=0

| RD2-seed1=1 | RD2-team1=Dallas Tornado | RD2-score1=0 | RD2-seed2=2 | RD2-team2=Philadelphia Atoms | RD2-score2=2

Semifinals

NASL Final 1973

Main article: NASL Final 1973

Straub (Evans)

1973 NASL Champions: Philadelphia Atoms

Post season awards

• Most Valuable Player: Warren Archibald, Miami
• Coach of the year: Al Miller, Philadelphia
• Rookie of the year: Kyle Rote, Jr., Dallas

Average home attendance

References

References

1. "The Year in American Soccer - 1973". Homepages.sover.net.
2. Jose, Colin. (1989). "NASL: A Complete Record of the North American Soccer League". Brredon Books.
3. (19 August 1973). "Despite No Profits: Soccer Plans Expansion". Democrat and Chronicle.
4. "Flashback: Philly in the 1973 NASL playoffs". www.phillysoccerpage.net.
5. (2008-05-01). "NASL Homepage".
6. "Steve Dimitry's NASL Web Page". Oocities.org.
7. Edwin Shrake. (1973-09-03). "Armed with Americans, Philadelphia's soccer team beat - 09.03.73 - SI Vault". Sportsillustrated.cnn.com.
8. "Philadelphia Atoms @ Dallas Tornado 1973 NASL Finals Highlights - YouTube".
9. "Past Winners | North American Soccer League". Naslsoccerbowl.com.
10. https://kenn.com/blog/soccer/all-time-nasl-attendance-2/