1976 New York Cosmos season

New York Cosmos

1976 season
Manager	Ken Furphy (Until June 28) Gordon Bradley[1] (After June 28)
Stadium	Yankee Stadium
NASL	Division: 2nd Overall: 2nd Playoffs: Conf. Semifinals
National Challenge Cup	Did not enter
Top goalscorer	League: Giorgio Chinaglia (19 goals) All: Giorgio Chinaglia (23+ goals)
Highest home attendance	28,536 vs. CHI (May 2)
Lowest home attendance	6,917 vs. ROC (June 30)
Average home league attendance	18,227[2]
← 1975 1977 →

The 1976 New York Cosmos season was the 6th season for the New York Cosmos in the now-defunct North American Soccer League. In the Cosmos' sixth year of existence the club finished second only to the Tampa Bay Rowdies in both the five-team Eastern Division and the 20-team league. The Cosmos returned to the playoffs for the first time in two years, but were eliminated in the conference semifinals by the rival Rowdies. 1976 marked the first year for Giorgio Chinaglia with the club; Chinaglia would go on to become the all-time leading scorer in both Cosmos and NASL history.

Squad

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Kurt Kuykendall 1 GK Shep Messing 1 GK Bob Rigby 2 DF Barry Mahy 3 DF Brian Rowan 4 DF Werner Roth 5 DF Keith Eddy 6 MF Dave Clements 7 FW Tony Field 8 MF Terry Garbett 9 FW Giorgio Chinaglia

No. Position Player 9 FW Tommy Ord 10 FW Pelé 11 FW Jorge Siega 12 DF Bobby Smith 14 MF Nelsi Morais 15 MF Ramon Mifflin 16 FW Tony Donlic 17 DF Charlie Aitken 18 FW Brian Tinnion 19 DF Charlie Mitchell 20 DF Mike Dillon

Source:^[3]

Results

Source:^[4]

Friendlies

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
May 29, 1976	San Diego Jaws	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
June 3, 1976	Violette A.C.	A	1-2	N/A	N/A
June 16, 1976	Honduras	H	4-1	N/A	Tinion, Pelé, N/A
July 4, 1976	Italian Army	H	1-3	N/A	N/A
July 7, 1976	Puerto Rico	H	4-1	N/A	Tinnion, Eddy, Mifflin, N/A
September 1, 1976	Dallas Tornado	N	2-2	14,000	Chinaglia (2)
September 5, 1976	Dallas Tornado	N	2-1	N/A	Roth, Mifflin
September 6, 1976	Dallas Tornado	N	3-2	24,000	N/A
September 8, 1976	Canada	A	1-1	14,826	Chinaglia
September 10, 1976	Canada	A	3-1	14,366	Chinaglia
September 14, 1976	PSG	A	3-1	20,000	N/A
September 16, 1976	Royal Antwerp	A	3-1	25,000	Pelé
September 24, 1976	West Japan All-Stars	A	0-0	N/A	N/A
September 25, 1976	East Japan All-Stars	A	2-2	N/A	N/A

Preseason

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
March 21, 1976	San Diego Jaws	A	1-1	N/A	N/A
March 28, 1976	Dallas Tornado	A	0-1	20,214	N/A
March 31, 1976	San Antonio Thunder	A	1-0	20,000
April 4, 1976	Los Angeles Aztecs	N	0-0	15,000
April 7, 1976	Honda F.C.	N	5-0	N/A	N/A
April 8, 1976	Honda F.C.	N	5-0	21,705	N/A
April 9, 1976	Seattle Sounders	A	1-2	58,125	Pelé, Clements
April 11, 1976	Los Angeles Aztecs	A	0-1	29,232	Pelé

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).

Eastern Division Standings

Pos	Club	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Tampa Bay Rowdies	24	18	6	58	30	+28	154
2	New York Cosmos	24	16	8	65	34	+31	148
3	Washington Diplomats	24	14	10	46	38	+8	126
4	Philadelphia Atoms	24	8	16	32	49	-17	80
5	Miami Toros	24	6	18	29	58	-29	63

Overall League Placing

Pos	Club	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Tampa Bay Rowdies	24	18	6	58	30	+28	154
2	New York Cosmos	24	16	8	65	34	+31	148
3	Minnesota Kicks	24	15	9	54	33	+21	138
4	Chicago Sting	24	15	9	52	32	+20	132
5	Washington Diplomats	24	14	10	46	38	+8	126

Source:^[5]

Matches

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
April 18, 1976	Miami Toros	A	0-1	9,457	Clements
May 2, 1976	Chicago Sting	H	1-2	28,536	Pelé
May 5, 1976	Connecticut Bicentennials	H	3-1	8,439	Pelé, Tinnion, Eddy
May 8, 1976	Philadelphia Atoms	H	1-2	14,287	Pelé
May 15, 1976	Connecticut Bicentennials	A	0-3	8,933	Field (2), Tinnion
May 17, 1976	Los Angeles Aztecs	H	6-0	24,292	Eddy (2), Chinaglia (2), Pelé (2)
May 19, 1976	Boston Minutemen	A	1-2	7,367	Chinaglia (2)
June 6, 1976	Tampa Bay Rowdies	A	5-1	42,611	Field
June 9, 1976	Minnesota Kicks	A	1-2	46,164	Chinaglia, Field
June 12, 1976	Portland Timbers	A	0-3	32,247	Chinaglia (2), Eddy
June 16, 1976	Boston Minutemen	H	2-2 (SOL)	15,101	N/A
June 18, 1976	Toronto Metros-Croatia	H	3-0	18,612	Tinion, Chinaglia, Clements
June 23, 1976	Chicago Sting	A	4-1	28,000	Tinnion
June 27, 1976	Washington Diplomats	A	3-2	11,004	Tinnion, Pelé
June 30, 1976	Rochester Lancers	H	2-0	6,917	Field (2)
July 2, 1976	St. Louis Stars	H	3-1	10,123	Mifflin (2), Eddy
July 7, 1976	Toronto Metros-Croatia	A	0-3	12,123	N/A
July 10, 1976	Philadelphia Atoms	A	1-2	25,311	Pelé, Garbett
July 14, 1976	Tampa Bay Rowdies	H	5-4	27,892	Eddy, Mifflin, Field, Pelé (2)
July 18, 1976	Washington Diplomats	H	5-0	27,398	Mifflin, Chinaglia (2), Pelé, Tinnion
July 23, 1976	Rochester Lancers	A	2-1	5,728	Chinaglia
July 28, 1976	Dallas Tornado	H	4-0	19,119	Chinaglia (3), Mifflin
August 7, 1976	San Jose Earthquakes	A	2-1	23,048	Eddy
August 10, 1976	Miami Toros	H	8-2	18,103	Dillon, Chinaglia (5), Pelé (2)

Postseason

Overview

First Round

August 17	Washington Diplomats	0 – 2	New York Cosmos	New York, Shea Stadium

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August 18	Los Angeles Aztecs	0 – 2	Dallas Tornado	Irving, Texas Stadium

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August 18	Vancouver Whitecaps	0 – 1	Seattle Sounders	Seattle, Kingdome

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August 18	Rochester Lancers	1 – 2	Toronto Metros-Croatia	Toronto, Varsity Stadium

Conference Semifinals

August 20	Toronto Metros-Croatia	3 – 2	Chicago Sting	Chicago, Soldier Field

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August 20	New York Cosmos	1 – 3	Tampa Bay Rowdies	Tampa, Tampa Stadium

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August 20	Dallas Tornado	0 – 2	San Jose Earthquakes	San Jose, Spartan Stadium

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August 21	Seattle Sounders	0 – 3	Minnesota Kicks	Bloomington (MN), Metropolitan Stadium

Conference Championships

August 24	Toronto Metros-Croatia	2 – 0	Tampa Bay Rowdies	Tampa, Tampa Stadium

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August 25	San Jose Earthquakes	1 – 3	Minnesota Kicks	Bloomington (MN), Metropolitan Stadium

Soccer Bowl '76

August 28	Toronto Metros-Croatia	2 – 0	Minnesota Kicks	Seattle, Kingdome

Matches

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
August 17, 1976	Washington Diplomats	H	2-0	22,698	Garbett, Pelé
August 20, 1976	Tampa Bay Rowdies	A	3-1	36,863	Pelé

References

See also

• 1976 North American Soccer League season
• List of New York Cosmos seasons

New York Cosmos Hempstead, New York The Club All articles List of all honors and achievements Historical Team Seasons Players (All-stars) List of all honors and achievements Stadiums Yankee Stadium Shuart Stadium Downing Stadium Giants Stadium Belson Stadium (Open Cup) New York Cosmos Stadium (proposed) Affiliated Clubs New York Cosmos B NPSL Culture Trans-Atlantic Challenge Cup Once in a Lifetime Borough Boys La Banda Del Cosmos Cross Island Crew New York City derbies Cosmos Copa Retired Numbers 9 10 Key Personnel Chairman Seamus O'Brien Chief Operating Officer Erik Stover Manager Giovanni Savarese Major Honors (12) D1 League Championship (5) 1972 1977 1978 1980 1982 D1 Regular Season (7) 1972 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 Seasons (16) Division 1 NASL (1968–84) 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 Division 2 NASL (2011–) 2013 2014 2015