1976 NASL Indoor tournament

North American Soccer League
-1976 Indoor Tournament-
NASL Indoor Tournament
Tournament details
Dates	March 12, 1976 –; March 27, 1976
Teams	12
Final positions
Champions	Tampa Bay Rowdies (1st title)
Runners-up	Rochester Lancers
Tournament statistics
Matches played	16
Goals scored	175 (10.94 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Juli Veee (8 goals)
Best player(s)	Clyde Best (Tampa Bay)
	← 1975 1978 →

Over the course of three weekends in March 1976, the North American Soccer League hosted its second league-wide indoor soccer tournament. Twelve of the twenty NASL teams participated.

Overview[]

In 1976, instead of playing a full indoor schedule (and despite the hopes of Tampa Bay owner George Strawbridge, Jr.),^[1] the North American Soccer League opted to stage a two-tiered indoor tournament for the second consecutive year. Of the league's 20 teams, 12 participated in three regions, which was down from 16 in four regions in the previous year's tournament. The regional winners along with the "best" second-place team would advance to the final four in St. Petersburg, Florida. While the goals remained 4 × 16, the games would be shortened to three 15-minute periods, instead of the 20-minute frames played the previous year.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5] The tournament also saw the first-ever indoor overtime and penalty shootout, as Miami and Boston played to a 6–6 draw in the opening match. After 45 minutes of regulation time and two 5-minute golden goal extra sessions, the match was ultimately decided by spot kicks.^[6]

Playing in their home arena, the Bayfront Center, the Tampa Bay Rowdies defeated the Rochester Lancers 6–4 in the Championship Final. Juli Veee of San Jose scored eight goals to lead the tournament, while Clyde Best of Tampa Bay earned the MVP honors.

1976 Indoor Regional tournaments[]

Eastern Regional[]

played at the Bayfront Center in St. Petersburg, Florida^[7]^[8]^[9]

March 12	Miami Toros	7–6 (PK, 4–3)	Boston Minutemen	Attendance: 4,762

March 12	Tampa Bay Rowdies	9–5	Washington Diplomats

March 13	Washington Diplomats	9–3	Miami Toros	Attendance: 5,785

March 13	Tampa Bay Rowdies	5–3	Boston Minutemen

Pos	Team	G	W	L	GF	GA	GD	PTS
1	Tampa Bay Rowdies	2	2	0	14	8	+6	4
2	Washington Diplomats	2	1	1	14	12	+2	2
3	Miami Toros	2	1	1	9	15	–6	2
4	Boston Minutemen	2	0	2	9	11	–2	0

*Tampa Bay wins region, advances to semifinals

East Regional MVP: Stewart Scullion (Tampa Bay) – 3 goals, 1 assist
All-Regional Team: (Washington), John Kerr (Washington), Rodney Marsh (Tampa Bay), Arsène Auguste (Tampa Bay), Stewart Scullion (Tampa Bay), Shep Messing (Boston)

Midwest Regional[]

played at International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois^[10]

March 13	Toronto Metros-Croatia	8–6	St. Louis Stars	Attendance: 1,700 (est.)^[11]

March 13	Rochester Lancers	5–2	Chicago Sting

March 14	Rochester Lancers	5–4	St. Louis Stars	Attendance: 1,700 (est.)^[12]

March 14	Chicago Sting	6–2	Toronto Metros-Croatia

Pos	Team	G	W	L	GF	GA	GD	PTS
1	Rochester Lancers	2	2	0	10	6	+4	4
2	Chicago Sting	2	1	1	8	7	+1	2
3	Toronto Metros-Croatia	2	1	1	10	12	–2	2
4	St. Louis Stars	2	0	2	10	13	–3	0

*Rochester wins region, advances to semifinals

Midwest Regional MVP: Mario Garcia (Rochester) – 5 goals^[13]
All-Regional Team: Mario Garcia (Rochester), (Chicago), Pat McBride (St. Louis)^[14] Jim May (Rochester)^[15]

West Regional[]

played at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California^[16]^[17]^[18]

March 19	Dallas Tornado	5–2	San Diego Jaws	Attendance: 6,671^[19]

March 19	San Jose Earthquakes	18–6	Vancouver Whitecaps

March 21	Dallas Tornado	11–2	Vancouver Whitecaps	Attendance: 5,438^[20]

March 21	San Jose Earthquakes	8–4	San Diego Jaws

Pos	Team	G	W	L	GF	GA	GD	PTS
1	San Jose Earthquakes	2	2	0	26	10	+16	4
2	Dallas Tornado	2	2	0	16	4	+12	4
3	San Diego Jaws	2	0	2	6	13	–7	0
4	Vancouver Whitecaps	2	0	2	8	29	–21	0

*San Jose wins region on goal differential, while Dallas is the top second-place team in any region, so both advance to semifinals

West Regional MVP: Juli Veee (San Jose) – 5 goals, 5 assists
All-Regional Team: Juli Veee (San Jose), Paul Child (San Jose), Roy Turner (Dallas), David Chadwick (Dallas), Archie Roboostoff (San Diego), Mike Ivanow (San Jose)^[21]

1976 Indoor Final Four[]

Bracket[]

Semifinals			Championship Final

M1	Rochester Lancers	6
W1	San Jose Earthquakes	4
			M1	Rochester Lancers	4
			E1	Tampa Bay Rowdies	6
E1	Tampa Bay Rowdies	6
W2	Dallas Tornado	2	Third place

			W1	San Jose Earthquakes	5
			W2	Dallas Tornado	2

Semi-finals[]

played at the Bayfront Center in St. Petersburg, Florida^[22]

March 26	Rochester Lancers	6–4	San Jose Earthquakes	Attendance: 5,365

March 26	Tampa Bay Rowdies	6–2	Dallas Tornado

Third-place match[]

played at the Bayfront Center in St. Petersburg, Florida

March 27	San Jose Earthquakes	5–2	Dallas Tornado

Championship Final[]

March 27, 1976

8:30 PM EST

Tampa Bay Rowdies	6–4	Rochester Lancers
Smethurst 3:37' (Scullion) Lindsay 12:43' Best 20:11' Smethurst 30:26' (Best) Smethurst 41:42' Best 44:58' (Scullion)	Report 1 Report 2	2:31' (Escos) Escos 9:54' 35:43'

Bayfront Center, St. Petersburg, Florida, St. Petersburg, Florida

Attendance: 5,787^[23]

Referee: Larry King / Gino D'Ippolito / Rene Imar

1975 NASL Indoor Champions: Tampa Bay Rowdies

Final Four awards[]

Most Valuable Player: Clyde Best (Tampa Bay) – Games: 4; Goals: 7; Assists: 4 Total points: 18^[24]
All-tournament Team: Clyde Best (Tampa Bay), Juli Veee (San Jose), Derek Smethurst (Tampa Bay), (Rochester), Stewart Scullion (Tampa Bay), Jim May (Rochester)

Final team rankings[]

G = Games, W = Wins, L = Losses, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, GD = Goal Differential

Pos	Team	G	W	L	GF	GA	GD
1	Tampa Bay Rowdies	4	4	0	26	14	+12
2	Rochester Lancers	4	3	1	20	16	+4
3	San Jose Earthquakes	4	3	1	35	18	+17
4	Dallas Tornado	4	2	2	20	15	+5
5	Washington Diplomats	2	1	1	14	12	+2

Non-tournament matches[]

In addition to the tournament itself, a few teams staged other indoor matches as tune-ups for both the outdoor season and the indoor tournament itself.

Match reports[]

March 6, 1976 1 Int'l friendly	Tampa Bay Rowdies	11–4	Santos F.C. (Jamaica)	St. Petersburg, Florida
7:30 PM (EST)	Wark 8:08' (Garber) Austin 14:11' (Marsh) Lindsay 17:19' (Marsh) Best 24:13' (Garber) Marsh 25:54' (Auguste) Marsh 26:31' (Bleum) Best 27:40' Best 29:23' (Scullion) Scullion 35:28' (Marsh) Scullion 51:34' (Marsh) Best 55:18' (Wark)	Report 1 Report 2	P. Marston 13:56' (Taylor) L. Anderson 30:57' (Taylor) E. Reid 39:29' (Taylor) McKenzie 41:46' (Blair)	Stadium: Bayfront Center Attendance: 5,620

March 17, 1976 2	San Jose Earthquakes	9–4	Dallas Tornado	Daly City, California
	Child , Kemp , Samuelsson , B. Demling Moore Mitić	Report 1 Report 2	Chadwick , (pen.), Cohen	Stadium: Cow Palace Attendance: 3,983^[25]

April 8, 1976 3	Philadelphia Atoms	4–3	Washington Diplomats	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
	7:05' (Camacho) 21:53' Galati 32:05' (Lopez) 39:45'	Report 1 Report 2 Report 3	26:52' Grell 27:04' 33:40'	Stadium: Spectrum Attendance: 4,234^[26]

References[]

^ https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=950&dat=19750710&id=O15QAAAAIBAJ&sjid=PlgDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1486,2204462
^ http://www.rsssf.com/usadave/usindoor.html
^ http://mytampabayrowdies.blogspot.com/2009_04_01_archive.html
^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-01-07. Retrieved 2013-01-02.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ http://mytampabayrowdies.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2010-01-01T00:00:00Z&updated-max=2011-01-01T00:00:00Z&max-results=50
^ https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=5fgeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=JI4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=6810,2733537&dq=rowdies+win+indoor&hl=en
^ https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=AI5QAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SV0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6918,1183401&dq=nasl+eastern+regional&hl=en
^ https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19760315&id=BI5QAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SV0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5577,5052079
^ https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=AY5QAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SV0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4630,2337761&dq=rowdies+back+at+bayfront&hl=en
^ http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1976/03/13/page/205/article/opener-for-the-sting-tonight
^ https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fFlQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jlgDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4763,3078494&dq=indoor+kicks+awry&hl=en
^ https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fFlQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jlgDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4763,3078494&dq=indoor+kicks+awry&hl=en
^ http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1976/03/15/page/66/article/sting-finds-top-winger-in-tourney
^ https://www.newspapers.com/image/140719243/?terms=Stars%2Bbeaten%2Bby%2BToronto
^ https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/136938796/
^ https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19760322&id=vqVjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=UF0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6812,5049187
^ https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1755&dat=19760326&id=wroqAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LmcEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5530,4119105
^ https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19760325&id=oXNIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TV0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6222,760354
^ "Quakes Romp". The Petaluma Argus-Courier. March 20, 1976. p. 5A. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
^ Chittenden, Ed (March 22, 1976). "Quakes Capture Title". The Times (San Mateo, CA). p. 15. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
^ Hunt, Tim (March 22, 1976). "Quakes work for 8–4 win". The Argus (Fremont, CA). p. 16. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
^ http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ARKs2HiID-o/Tm5eQIdGSfI/AAAAAAAALRM/CYWhARpyHpI/s1600/1976-3-26+Rowdies+vs+Tornado+id+Semi-Final+Report.jpg
^ http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XkD8CXfcufQ/TnMFho6qCMI/AAAAAAAALRk/BwoPC8IkDO4/s1600/1976-3-27+Rowdies+vs+Lancers+id+Final+Report.jpg
^ "NASL-Clyde Best".
^ Faraudo, Jeff (March 18, 1976). "Quakes erupt in first period". The Argus (Fremont, CA). p. 17. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
^ McKee, Don (April 9, 1976). "'New' Atoms win, 4-3, in indoor exhibition". Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 2D. Retrieved January 16, 2021.

[1] ttps://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=950&dat=19750710&id=O15QAAAAIBAJ&sjid=PlgDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1486,2204462

[2] ttp://www.rsssf.com/usadave/usindoor.html

[3] ttp://mytampabayrowdies.blogspot.com/2009_04_01_archive.html

[4] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-01-07. Retrieved 2013-01-02.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[5] ttp://mytampabayrowdies.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2010-01-01T00:00:00Z&updated-max=2011-01-01T00:00:00Z&max-results=50

[6] ttps://news.google.com/newspapers?id=5fgeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=JI4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=6810,2733537&dq=rowdies+win+indoor&hl=en

[7] ttps://news.google.com/newspapers?id=AI5QAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SV0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6918,1183401&dq=nasl+eastern+regional&hl=en

[8] ttps://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19760315&id=BI5QAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SV0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5577,5052079

[9] ttps://news.google.com/newspapers?id=AY5QAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SV0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4630,2337761&dq=rowdies+back+at+bayfront&hl=en

[10] ttp://archives.chicagotribune.com/1976/03/13/page/205/article/opener-for-the-sting-tonight

[11] ttps://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fFlQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jlgDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4763,3078494&dq=indoor+kicks+awry&hl=en

[12] ttps://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fFlQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jlgDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4763,3078494&dq=indoor+kicks+awry&hl=en

[13] ttp://archives.chicagotribune.com/1976/03/15/page/66/article/sting-finds-top-winger-in-tourney

[14] ttps://www.newspapers.com/image/140719243/?terms=Stars%2Bbeaten%2Bby%2BToronto

[15] ttps://www.newspapers.com/newspage/136938796/

[16] ttps://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19760322&id=vqVjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=UF0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6812,5049187

[17] ttps://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1755&dat=19760326&id=wroqAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LmcEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5530,4119105

[18] ttps://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19760325&id=oXNIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TV0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6222,760354

[19] "Quakes Romp". The Petaluma Argus-Courier. March 20, 1976. p. 5A. Retrieved July 15, 2017.

[20] Chittenden, Ed (March 22, 1976). "Quakes Capture Title". The Times (San Mateo, CA). p. 15. Retrieved July 26, 2016.

[21] Hunt, Tim (March 22, 1976). "Quakes work for 8–4 win". The Argus (Fremont, CA). p. 16. Retrieved July 15, 2017.

[22] ttp://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ARKs2HiID-o/Tm5eQIdGSfI/AAAAAAAALRM/CYWhARpyHpI/s1600/1976-3-26+Rowdies+vs+Tornado+id+Semi-Final+Report.jpg

[23] ttp://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XkD8CXfcufQ/TnMFho6qCMI/AAAAAAAALRk/BwoPC8IkDO4/s1600/1976-3-27+Rowdies+vs+Lancers+id+Final+Report.jpg

[24] "NASL-Clyde Best".

[25] Faraudo, Jeff (March 18, 1976). "Quakes erupt in first period". The Argus (Fremont, CA). p. 17. Retrieved January 16, 2021.

[26] McKee, Don (April 9, 1976). "'New' Atoms win, 4-3, in indoor exhibition". Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 2D. Retrieved January 16, 2021.

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v t North American Soccer League (1968–1984)
Broadcasters USSF CSA Portal NASL (2011–2017) First overall draft picks
Seasons	USA 1967 NPSL 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984
Indoor seasons	1971 1975 1976 1978 1979 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1983 1983–84
Associated competitions	Soccer Bowl (NASL Championship) Broadcasters NASL Indoor Championship
Clubs	Atlanta Apollos Atlanta Chiefs Baltimore Bays Baltimore Comets Boston Beacons Boston Minutemen Boston Shamrock Rovers† Calgary Boomers California Surf Chicago Mustangs Chicago Spurs‡ Chicago Sting Cleveland Stokers Caribous of Colorado Connecticut Bicentennials Dallas Tornado Denver Dynamos Detroit Cougars Detroit Express Edmonton Drillers Fort Lauderdale Strikers Golden Bay Earthquakes Hartford Bicentennials Houston Hurricane Houston Stars Jacksonville Tea Men Kansas City Spurs Las Vegas Quicksilvers Los Angeles Aztecs Los Angeles Wolves Memphis Rogues Miami Gatos Miami Toros Minnesota Kicks Minnesota Strikers Montreal Manic Montreal Olympique New England Tea Men New York Cosmos New York Generals New York Skyliners† Oakland Clippers Oakland Stompers Philadelphia Spartans Philadelphia Atoms Philadelphia Fury Pittsburgh Phantoms ‡ Portland Timbers Rochester Lancers San Antonio Thunder San Diego Jaws San Diego Sockers San Diego Toros San Francisco Golden Gate Gales† San Jose Earthquakes Seattle Sounders St. Louis Stars Tampa Bay Rowdies Team America Team Hawaii Toronto Blizzard Toronto City† Toronto Metros Toronto Metros-Croatia Toronto Falcons Tulsa Roughnecks Vancouver Royals Vancouver Whitecaps Washington Darts Washington Diplomats Washington Whips
Notes	† United Soccer Association team that did not join NASL upon merger with NPSL ‡ National Professional Soccer League team that did not join NASL upon merger with USA

NASL Indoor Tournament
Tournament details
Dates	March 12, 1976 – March 27, 1976
Teams	12
Final positions
Champions	Tampa Bay Rowdies (1st title)
Runners-up	Rochester Lancers
Tournament statistics
Matches played	16
Goals scored	175 (10.94 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Juli Veee (8 goals)
Best player(s)	Clyde Best (Tampa Bay)
← 1975 1978 →