1979 New York Cosmos season

New York Cosmos
1979 season
Manager	Eddie Firmani[1] (Start of season); Ray Klivecka[2] (Caretaker); Júlio Mazzei[3] (After Klivecka)
Stadium	Giants Stadium
NASL	Division: 1st; Overall: 1st; Playoffs: Conference Final
National; Challenge Cup	Did not enter
CONCACAF; Champions' Cup	Did not enter
Top goalscorer	League: ( goals); All: ( goals)
Highest home attendance	76,031; vs. TUL (August 26)
Lowest home attendance	30,195; vs. COV (May 16)
Average home league attendance	46,690[4]
Home colors	Away colors

The 1979 New York Cosmos season was the ninth season for the New York Cosmos in the now-defunct North American Soccer League. 1979 saw the club continue their premiership streak to three seasons with the league's highest point total, and match their wins record while achieving a record point total, but the Cosmos' quest for a third straight NASL championship ended with a loss in the conference finals to the Vancouver Whitecaps.

Squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Position	Player
0	GK	Jack Brand
1	GK	Erol Yasin
2	DF	Andranik Eskandarian
3	DF	Francisco Marinho
4	DF	Werner Roth
5	DF	Carlos Alberto
6	DF	Franz Beckenbauer
7	FW	Dennis Tueart
8	MF	Vladislav Bogićević
9	FW	Giorgio Chinaglia
11	FW	Seninho
12	DF	Greg Ryan
12	DF	Bobby Smith
13	MF	Johan Neeskens
14	MF	Terry Garbett
15	DF	Wim Rijsbergen

No.	Position	Player
16	MF	Toni Carbognani
17	MF	Rick Davis
18	MF	Boris Bandov
19	GK	Hubert Birkenmeier
20	GK	David Brcic
21	FW	Gary Etherington
22	DF	Kevin Eagan
23	DF	Giuseppe Wilson
24	DF	Garry Ayre
25	DF	Santiago Formoso
26	FW	Ron Atanasio
27	FW	Joe Filian
28	FW	Abdul Razak
29	FW	Mark Liveric
30	FW	Godfrey Ingram
31	MF	Nelsi Morais

Source:^[5]

Results

Source:^[6]

Friendlies

Source:^[7]

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
5 March 1979	Trinidad All-Stars	A	1-1	n/a	n/a
15 March 1979	América de Cali	A	2-0	n/a	n/a
16 March 1979	Atlético Nacional	A	2-0	40,000	n/a
16 May 1979	Coventry City	H	3-1	30,195	n/a
6 June 1979	Argentina national team	H	0-1	70,134	–
4 July 1979	Bayern Munich	H	0-2	42,366	–
September 20, 1979	Team Seiko (HK)	A	3-3	28,000	n/a
September 24, 1979	Hong Kong All-Stars	A	6-0	24,000	n/a
September 24, 1979	South Korea national team	A	0-1	23,000	–
September 30, 1979	South Korea national team	A	3-2	18,000	n/a
October 3, 1979	Indonesia national team	A	4-1	85,000	n/a
October 5, 1979	All-Indonesian Select	A	1-1	55,000	n/a
October 7, 1979	Singapore national team	A	4-1	35,000	n/a
October 10, 1979	Japan All-Stars	A	1-1	15,000	n/a
October 14, 1979	Japan national team	A	2-2	50,000	n/a
October 17, 1979	Malaysia national team	A	5-0	35,000	n/a
October 21, 1979	Victoria All-Stars	A	3-2	15,000	n/a
October 24, 1979	Australia national team	A	1-2	55,000	n/a
October 31, 1979	Adelaide City	A	2-0	28,000	n/a

Regular Season

Pld = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points
6 points for a win, 1 point for a shootout win, 0 points for a loss, 1 point for each goal scored (up to three per game).

National Eastern Division Standings

Pos	Club	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	New York Cosmos	30	24	6	84	52	+32	216
2	Washington Diplomats	30	19	11	68	50	+18	172
3	Toronto Blizzard	30	14	16	52	65	-13	133
4	Rochester Lancers	30	15	15	43	57	-14	132

Overall League Placing

Pos	Club	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	New York Cosmos	30	24	6	84	52	+32	216
2	Houston Hurricane	30	22	8	61	46	+15	187
3	Minnesota Kicks	30	21	9	67	48	+19	184
4	Vancouver Whitecaps	30	20	10	54	34	+20	172
5	Washington Diplomats	30	19	11	68	50	+18	172

Source:^[8]

Matches

April 22, 1979: New York Cosmos 3, Fort Lauderdale Strikers 2 Giants Stadium 72,342

April 29, 1979: New York Cosmos 4, Philadelphia Fury 2 Giants Stadium 46,375

May 6, 1979: New York Cosmos 3, Houston Hurricane 0 Giants Stadium 50,142

May 20, 1979: New York Cosmos 3, Tulsa Roughnecks 1 Giants Stadium 46,344

June 3, 1979: New York Cosmos 3, Toronto Blizzard 1 Giants Stadium 38,762

Postseason

Overview

First round

			Game 1	Game 2	Mini-game
Philadelphia Fury	-	Houston Hurricane	2 - 1	2 - 1		August 14, 20
Detroit Express	-	Tampa Bay Rowdies	0 - 3	1 - 3		August 15, 19
Chicago Sting	-	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	2 - 0	0 - 0		August 15, 18
San Diego Sockers	-	California Surf	4 - 2	7 - 2		August 15, 18
Tulsa Roughnecks	-	Minnesota Kicks	2 - 1 (ot)	2 - 1 (ot)		August 15, 19
Dallas Tornado	-	Vancouver Whitecaps	2 - 3	1 - 2		August 15, 18
Los Angeles Aztecs	-	Washington Diplomats	3 - 1	4 - 3		August 15, 19
Toronto Blizzard	-	New York Cosmos	1 - 3	0 - 2		August 16, 20

Conference Semifinals

			Game 1	Game 2	Mini-game
San Diego Sockers	-	Chicago Sting	2 - 0	1 - 0		August 22, 25
Los Angeles Aztecs	-	Vancouver Whitecaps	3 - 2	0 - 1 (so)	0 - 1	August 22, 25
Philadelphia Fury	-	Tampa Bay Rowdies	2 - 3 (so)	0 - 1		August 23, 25
Tulsa Roughnecks	-	New York Cosmos	3 - 0	0 - 3	1 - 3	August 23, 26

Conference Championships

			Game 1	Game 2	Mini-game
Vancouver Whitecaps	-	New York Cosmos	2 - 0	2 - 3 (so)	1 - 0 (so)	August 29, September 1
San Diego Sockers	-	Tampa Bay Rowdies	2 - 1	2 - 3 (so)	0 - 1	August 30, September 2

Soccer Bowl '79

September 82 pm EDT

Vancouver Whitecaps	2–1	Tampa Bay Rowdies
Whymark 13' Whymark (Ball) 60'		Van der Veen (Anderson) 23'

Giants Stadium, East Rutherford

Attendance: 50,699

Referee: Gino D'Ippolito (USA)^[9]^[10]