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: Stojan Trickovic (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.) [11]

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 ^[12]
• All-Regional Team: Mario Garcia (Rochester), Bobby Ranogejec (Chicago), Pat McBride (St. Louis) ^[13] Jim May (Rochester) ^[14]

West Regional

played at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California ^{[15] [16] [17]}

March 19	Dallas Tornado	5–2	San Diego Jaws	Attendance: 6,671 [18]

March 19	San Jose Earthquakes	18–6	Vancouver Whitecaps

---

March 21	Dallas Tornado	11–2	Vancouver Whitecaps	Attendance: 5,438 [19]

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) ^[20]

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 ^[21]

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

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 ^[23]
• All-tournament Team: Clyde Best (Tampa Bay), Juli Veee (San Jose), Derek Smethurst (Tampa Bay), João Pedro (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

References