Wikipedia

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]

NASL Final 1974
The Orange Bowl hosted the Final
EventNASL Final
Miami Toros Los Angeles Aztecs
3 3
(Los Angeles Aztecs won 5–3 on penalties)
DateAugust 25, 1974 (1974-08-25)
VenueOrange Bowl, Miami, Florida
RefereeJohn Davies (United States)
Attendance15,507
← 1973
1975 →

Background

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Los Angeles Aztecs

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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[3] in Monterey Park, California to advance to the finals.

Miami Toros

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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 to advance to the finals.

Game site controversy

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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 U.S.-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 move 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.[4]

Match details

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Miami Toros3–3Los Angeles Aztecs
Wright   17'
Moraldo   73' (o.g.)
Aránguiz   87'		 Report 1
Report 2		 de Rienzo   26' (pen.)
Banhoffer   78'
McMillan   88'
Penalties
Aguirre  
Sharp  
Mallender  
Verdi  		 3–5   Zanotti
  Banhoffer
  Marotte
  Filotis
  Douglas
Attendance: 15,507
Referee: John Davies

[5]

[6][7][8][9] (United States)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Miami Toros [10]
 
 
 
 
 
 
Los Angeles Aztecs[11]

1974 NASL Champions: Los Angeles Aztecs

Finals MVP:

Assistant referees:
  Paul Avis[12]
  Bob Sumpter

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

Match Statistics

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Statistic[13] Miami Los Angeles
Goals scored 3 3
Total shots 25 26
Shots on target 14 12
Saves 9 12
Corner kicks 8 4
Fouls 11 12
Offsides 5 2
Yellow cards 2 2
Red cards 0 0

See also

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References

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  1. ^ NASL. "NASL 1968–1984 – Yearly Result". North American Soccer League. Archived from the original on October 12, 2013.
  2. ^ "Nasl 1974 Los Angeles Aztecs Miami Toros". Twb22.blogspot.com. April 10, 2011.
  3. ^ Grahame Jones (August 17, 1974). "Aztec Coach Angry Over All-Star Snub". Los Angeles Times. p. III-4.
  4. ^ [1] [dead link‍]
  5. ^ Grahame Jones (August 17, 1974). "Aztec Coach Angry Over All-Star Snub". Miami News. p. III-4.
  6. ^ "Aztecs Win Soccer Title in Overtime". The Press-Courier (Oxnard CA). August 26, 1974. p. 12.
  7. ^ "Aztecs kick Toros for title". St. Petersburg (FL) Times. August 26, 1974. p. 3-C.
  8. ^ Levin, Dan. "The Penalty for Success". Sports Illustrated.
  9. ^ "Lodi News-Sentinel - Google News Archive Search". News.google.com.
  10. ^ "Photographic image of Aztecs at Toros 1974" (JPG). Nasljerseys.com. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  11. ^ "Photographic image of Aztecs victory" (JPG). Nasljerseys.com. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  12. ^ "1974-08-25 NASL FINAL Los Angeles Aztecs vs Miami Toros". CBS Sports. YouTube. August 25, 1975. Retrieved January 25, 2017.
  13. ^ Martz, Jim (August 26, 1974). "Toros Lose in Tiebreaker, 4-3". Miami Herald. p. 1D. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
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