NASL Final 1974

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 consecutive year that an expansion team won the NASL title[1][2][3]

NASL Final 1974
EventNASL Final
Miami Toros Los Angeles Aztecs
3 3
Penalty Shoot-out 3–5
DateAugust 25, 1974 (1974-08-25)
VenueOrange Bowl, Miami, Florida
RefereeJohn Davies (USA)
Attendance15,507

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 at ELAC Stadium[4] in Monterey Park, California to advance to the finals.

Miami Toros
Main article: 1974 Miami Toros season

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 at Tamiami Stadium[5] to advance to the finals.

Game site controversy

Although the Aztecs had a league-best record and points total, 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 did win, CBS's production crews would have a full week for set-up in the Orange Bowl stadium.[6]

Game summary

Championship results
Miami Toros3–3Los Angeles Aztecs
Wright  17'
Sharp 48' (pen.)
Moraldo  72' (o.g.)
Aránguiz  87'		 de Rienzo  26' (pen.)
Costa  78'
McMillan  88'
Penalties
Aguirre
Sharp
Mallender
Verdi 		3–5 Zanotti
Banhoffer
Marotte
Filotis
Douglas
Attendance: 15,507
Referee: John Davies[7][8][9][10] (USA)
Miami[11]
Los Angeles[12]

1974 NASL Champions: Los Angeles Aztecs

Finals MVP:

Assistant referees:
Paul Avis[13]
Bob Sumpter

Television: CBS
Announcers: Frank Glieber, Clive Toye, Kyle Rote, Jr.

See also

References
  1. NASL. "NASLSoccerBowl - History - Past Winner". North American Soccer League.
  2. NASL. "NASL 1968-1984 - Yearly Result". North American Soccer League. Archived from the original on October 12, 2013.
  3. http://twb22.blogspot.com/2011/04/nasl-1974-los-angeles-aztecs-miami.html
  4. https://www.newspapers.com/image/382018963/?terms=Aztecs
  5. https://www.newspapers.com/image/301689491/?terms=Toros
  6. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2206&dat=19740814&id=UDw0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=yesFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4148,1615343&hl=en
  7. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=8HZKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8CINAAAAIBAJ&pg=7039,5233642&dq=toros+overtime&hl=en
  8. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=D0BSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SnkDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7264,196450&dq=aztecs+kick+toros&hl=en
  9. https://www.si.com/vault/1974/09/02/643146/the-penalty-for-success
  10. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=j2wzAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vzIHAAAAIBAJ&pg=4129,5026763&dq=aztecs+kick+toros&hl=en
  11. http://www.nasljerseys.com/images/Toros_Miami/Toros%2074%20Road%20Warren%20Archibald.jpg
  12. http://www.nasljerseys.com/images/Aztecs/Aztecs%2074%20Home%20Jose%20Lopez.jpg
  13. "1974-08-25 NASL FINAL Los Angeles Aztecs vs Miami Toros". CBS Sports. August 25, 1975. Retrieved January 25, 2017 – via youtube.com.
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