Soccer Bowl '82 was the championship final of the 1982 NASL season. The

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Independ ...

advanced to the Soccer Bowl for the third consecutive year and took on the

Seattle Sounders Seattle Sounders Football Club is an American professional men's soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete as a member of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club was established on November 13, 2007, and began ...

in a rematch of Soccer Bowl '77. The match was played on September 18, 1982, at

Jack Murphy Stadium San Diego Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium on the west coast of the United States, in San Diego, California. The stadium opened in 1967 as San Diego Stadium and was known as Jack Murphy Stadium from 1981 to 1997. From 1997 to 2017, the stadi ...

, in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. New York won, 1–0, and were crowned the 1982 NASL champions. This was the Cosmos' fifth North American championship and fourth in the past six years.

Background

New York Cosmos

The New York Cosmos won the Eastern Division with a 23-9 record and a total of 203 points. They defeated the Tulsa Roughnecks in the quarterfinals by two game to one. By virtue of their two-game sweep in the semifinals against the

San Diego Sockers San Diego Sockers may refer to: *San Diego Sockers (1978–1996) The San Diego Sockers were a soccer and indoor soccer team based in San Diego, California. The team played in the indoor and outdoor editions of the North American Soccer League ( ...

, the Cosmos advanced to the NASL championship final for the sixth time in franchise history.

Seattle Sounders

The Seattle Sounders qualified for the playoffs as the Western Division champions with an 18-14 record and a total of 166 points. In the quarterfinals they needed all three games to get past the Toronto Blizzard. Likewise their semifinal match-up took three games to decide a winner. Seattle's two games to one defeat of the Fort Lauderdale Strikers earned the Sounders their second ever trip to the Soccer Bowl.

Game summary

Usual Cosmos starters Steve Moyers,

Johan Neeskens RCH may stand for: * Radio Club de Honduras, an amateur radio organization * Railway Clearing House, the British financial clearing house and technical standards bureau for railways * The Royal Canadian Hussars (Montreal), a unit of the Canadian F ...

and

Wim Rijsbergen Wilhelmus "Wim" Gerardus Rijsbergen (; born 18 January 1952) is a Dutch football manager and former player who played as a defender. He was last the manager of Solomon Islands' national team. Playing career Rijsbergen was born in Leiden, So ...

were injured and unavailable for the match. Seattle dominated the first half outshooting New York, 10–5. Numerous Sounders' chances were either squandered with shots slightly off the mark, or gobbled up by Cosmos goalie,

Hubert Birkenmeier Hubert Birkenmeier (born 24 May 1949 in Hartheim am Rhein) is a retired German professional footballer who played professionally in Germany, the North American Soccer League, Major Indoor Soccer League and American Soccer League. His greatest ...

. In the 31st minute, and against the run of play, New York sweeper, Carlos Alberto, picked up the ball in midfield and passed it to Julio César Romero. Romero slid the ball to

Giorgio Chinaglia Giorgio Chinaglia (; 24 January 1947 – 1 April 2012) was an Italian footballer who played as a striker. He grew up and played his early football in Cardiff, Wales, and began his career with Swansea Town in 1964. He later returned to Italy to ...

on the right side of the penalty area. With his back to goal and using his body to shield the ball, the Cosmos' captain maneuvered to his leftaround Seattle defender,

Benny Dargle Bernard "Benny" Dargle (born 2 January 1957) is an American retired professional soccer player who played as a defender, making over 400 career appearances in a professional career which lasted from 1978 to 1992. Career Dargle was born in Liv ...

, and from 12 yards out shot to the left. Goalkeeper Paul Hammond got a piece of it, but the ball nevertheless caromed just inside the left post for the game's only goal. The second half saw considerably less action with New York content to protect their slim lead.

Match details

1982 NASL Champions:

Television:

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...

''(cable)''
Announcers:

Spencer Ross Spencer Ross (born July 19, 1940) is an American sportscaster. With the exception of the New York Mets, Ross has called play-by-play for every professional New York metropolitan area sports franchise, including the Yankees of MLB, the Nets a ...

, Werner Roth

Match statistics

References

{{1982 in American soccer 1982 1982 1982 in sports in California Sports competitions in San Diego Soccer in California September 1982 sports events in the United States