Soccer Bowl '83

Soccer Bowl '83

Event	Soccer Bowl
Tulsa Roughnecks Toronto Blizzard 2 0
Date	October 1, 1983 (1983-10-01)
Venue	BC Place Stadium, Vancouver, British Columbia
MVP	Njego Pesa (Tulsa Roughnecks)
Referee	Ed Bellion (United States)
Attendance	53,326
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Soccer Bowl '83 was the 17th edition of the Soccer Bowl, the championship match of North American Soccer League (NASL), which took place on October 1, 1983. It was the final match of the 1983 North American Soccer League playoffs and was contested by the Tulsa Roughnecks and the Toronto Blizzard at the Stadium at BC Place in Vancouver, British Columbia.^[1][2]

Background

Tulsa Roughnecks

The Tulsa Roughnecks won the Southern Division with a 17–13 record and a total of 145 points. They dispatched the Fort Lauderdale Strikers in the quarterfinals with a two-game sweep. By virtue of their two games to one victory In the semifinals against the Montreal Manic, the Roughnecks advanced to the Soccer Bowl for the first time in franchise history.

Toronto Blizzard

The Toronto Blizzard qualified for the playoffs as a wild card by finishing third in the Eastern Division with a 16–14 record and a total of 135 points. In the quarterfinals they were the upset-winner over the Western Division champion Vancouver Whitecaps by two games to one. Vancouver had only lost 6 matches all season. The Blizzard pulled off a second upset in their semifinal match-up by sweeping the Golden Bay Earthquakes in two games, and earning their second ever trip to the Soccer Bowl.

Pre-match controversy

During game three of their semifinal series with Montreal, Tulsa forward Ron Futcher picked up his third yellow card of the playoffs. By rule this earned him a one-match suspension, and league director of operations Ted Howard was poised to enforce it. For his part, Futcher was not only the team's leading scorer, but also a leader in the Roughnecks' locker room. Tulsa's owners appealed the yellow card and even alluded to the press, the possibility of boycotting the final if Futcher was not allowed to play. Toronto team president Clive Toye felt that bending the rules for a star player might set a bad precedent, but was nevertheless prepared to face whatever lineup Tulsa put on the pitch. Ultimately, NASL president Howard J. Samuels overruled Ted Howard and decided to allow Futcher to play, because he felt that the fans in attendance would be the ones made to suffer by Futcher's absence.^[3][4]

Match details

October 1, 1983 ^[5]

4:00 p.m. (PDT)^[6]

Tulsa Roughnecks	2–0	Toronto Blizzard
Pesa 56' Futcher 62'	Report

BC Place Stadium, Vancouver

Attendance: 53,326 ^[7]

Referee: Ed Bellion^[8] (United States)

Tulsa Roughnecks

Toronto Blizzard

GK 0 Winston DuBose DF 5 Val Fernandes DF 2 Terry Moore DF 18 Victor Moreland (c) DF 3 Barry Wallace MF 17 Adam Krupa  56' MF 9 Iraj Danaifard MF 20 Ivan Belfiore  56' FW 6 Njego Pesa FW 14 Laurie Abrahams FW 9 Ron Futcher Substitutes:[9] GK 22 Paul Coffee MF 11 Thompson Usiyan  56' MF 4 Pasquale Fuccillo  56' FW 7 Zequinha MF 10 Gerry Reardon MF 13 Todd Saldana Manager: Terry Hennessey

GK 1 Jan Moller DF 3 Bruce Wilson (c)  52' DF 4 Conny Karlsson DF 17 Derek Spalding  2' DF 10 Cliff Calvert MF 16 Randy Ragan MF 8 Patrick Ntsoelengoe MF 5 Jimmy Nicholl FW 19 David Byrne FW 11 Roberto Bettega FW 6 Neill Roberts  81' Substitutes:[10] GK 22 Sven Habermann MF 14 Geoff Wegerle  81' DF 7 Victor Kodelja DF 24 Collin Miller MF 12 Pasquale de Luca Manager: Bob Houghton

1983 NASL Champions: Tulsa Roughnecks

Television: Budwieser Network (syndicated)
Announcers: Bob Carpenter, Gordon Bradley
Touchline reporter: Al Miller

Match statistics

See also

• 1983 North American Soccer League season

References