1984 United Soccer League season

United Soccer League

Season	1984
Champions	Fort Lauderdale Sun
Premiers	Oklahoma City Stampede
Matches played	108
Goals scored	400 (3.7 per match)
Top goalscorer	Jose Neto (22 goals)
← First 1985 →

The 1984 USL season was the United Soccer League's first and only full season.

The creation of Ingo Krieg, owner of the Jacksonville Tea Men, the United Soccer League formally announced its existence on February 1, 1984. The roots go back to Krieg's frustration over the direction taken by the second division American Soccer League, which was declining after rapid expansion to the west coast and midwestern states in the 1970s and some southern states in the 1980s had produced a string of short-lived franchises that were not able to make ends meet financially. Krieg joined with the owner of the Dallas Americans to found a new second division league called the United Soccer League that would try to operate within its means, feature primarily American players, play a mostly regional schedule to reduce travel expenses, and embrace a "grass roots" approach to growing the game in their towns.^[1] In late January 1984, the Detroit Express joined Jacksonville and Dallas in announcing their intention to move to the USL for the upcoming season.^[2] By late February, the USL had added the Oklahoma City Stampede and Charlotte Gold (reorganized and re-branded versions of the ASL's Oklahoma City Slickers and Carolina Lightnin') as well as new organizations the Buffalo Storm, Fort Lauderdale Sun and New York Nationals.^[3] In the following weeks, the list of teams grew to include one last ASL defector, the Rochester Flash, and one more new organization, the Houston Dynamos. On March 18, 1984, the league announced a final line-up of nine teams in three divisions (Detroit ultimately dropped out due to the league not being sanctioned by the USSF). Dr. William Burfeind, who had resigned as ASL president in January, agreed to be the USL's first commissioner. The ASL, left with no active teams, quietly closed up shop.^[1][4]

The season ran from May 12 through August 15,^[5] and it went fairly smoothly for a recently founded league. Because the NASL was shedding franchises rapidly in the early 80's, a number of skilled and experienced professionals were available and were signed to rosters around the league. The standings reflected a relatively balanced and competitive group of clubs with no dominant or glaringly weak members. Though some franchises seemed to be on more stable footing than others, all nine teams completed their full 24-game schedules. Buffalo, Fort Lauderdale and Oklahoma City finished atop their respective divisions to earn postseason berths, and Houston defeated Dallas in a one-game wild card match to earn the fourth spot in the playoff semifinals.^[6]

The semifinal round began with considerable confusion. To determine teams' place in the standings, the league had adopted a points system that awarded five points for any win, two for a shootout loss (there were no ties), and up to three bonus points per game for regulation goals scored.^[7] In July, the league had announced a playoff format that would have the team with the most standings points face the team with the lowest points on one side of the bracket while the teams with the 2nd and 3rd most points would square off on the other. Teams therefore expected the semifinals matchups to be top seed Oklahoma City (127 points) vs. Buffalo (96 points) and Fort Lauderdale (122 points) vs. Houston (112 points), with Oklahoma City and Fort Lauderdale earning home field advantage for the three-game series. However, on Friday, August 17, just a few days before the first semifinal games, league officials held a conference call in which, after reviewing the minutes of an organizational meeting from April, they determined that their plan then had been for the top seed to face the wild card game winner regardless of points totals. The matchups were adjusted accordingly to be Oklahoma City vs. Houston and Fort Lauderdale vs. Buffalo.^[8] The Storm owner, Sal DeRosa, announced that all games between his team and Fort Lauderdale would take place in Florida because he did not feel optimistic about his club's ability to attract fans to a mid-week game at a field with no lights on short notice.^[9] The Sun made quick work of Buffalo, while Houston upset Oklahoma City.^[10] The best-of-three championship round was tightly contested. The first game had to be settled by a shootout, with Houston coming out on top at home. Fort Lauderdale would rally to win Game 2 in South Florida by a score of 3-0, setting up a rubber match the next day. This game, too, would end in a tie and be decided in a shootout, but this time Fort Lauderdale prevailed to claim the first (and ultimately only) USL championship.^[11]

August 18, 1984

Houston Dynamos (TX)	2–1	Dallas Americans (TX)
Jose Neto Jose Neto 69'

J.K. Butler Stadium, Houston, Texas

August 22, 1984
7:35 CST

Houston Dynamos (TX)	3–1 (a.e.t.)	Oklahoma City Stampede (OK)
Walter Schlothauer 2' Jose Neto 94' (pen.) Manny Neves 109' (pen.)		12',  110' Thompson Usiyan

J.K. Butler Stadium, Houston, Texas

Attendance: 2,431

Referee: Bob Evans (USA)

August 24, 1984
7:35 CST

Oklahoma City Stampede (OK)	1–2	Houston Dynamos (TX)
Kenny Killingsworth 13'		28' Manny Andruszewski 55', 69' Jose Neto

Taft Stadium, Oklahoma City

Referee: Bill Schofield (USA)

August 23, 1984
8:00 EST

Fort Lauderdale Sun (FL)	3–0	Buffalo Storm (NY)
Mark Schwartz 59:20' (Cubillas) Teófilo Cubillas 62:58', 76:59' (Crescitelli) Tom Groark  70:13' John Lignos  76:59'

Lockhart Stadium, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Attendance: 3,186^[12]

August 25, 1984
8:00 EST

Fort Lauderdale Sun (FL)	5–1	Buffalo Storm (NY)
Mark Schwartz 12:16', 17:49', 45:21' Teófilo Cubillas 42:20' Christiansen  52' Dave Watson 56:53'		49:12',  52' Jerry Martello  55' Corney

Lockhart Stadium, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Attendance: 4,502^[13]

August 29, 1984
8:30 CST

Houston Dynamos (TX)	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Fort Lauderdale Sun (FL)
Giulio Bernardi 105:30'		78' Tom Mulroy  83' Asa Hartford 98:12' Keith Weller (Christensen) David Irving
Penalties
Jose Neto Walter Schlothauer Giulio Bernardi Lesh Shkreli	4–2	Mark Longwell Boris Bandov Ronil Dufrene Tom Groark

J.K. Butler Stadium, Houston, Texas

Referee: Manuel Ortiz (USA)^[14]

August 31, 1984
8:00 EST

Fort Lauderdale Sun (FL)	3–0	Houston Dynamos (TX)
Mark Schwartz (Crescitelli) 11:04' Mark Schwartz (Cubillas) 22:43' Teófilo Cubillas (Dufrene) 33:15'	Report

Lockhart Stadium, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Attendance: 4,250

Referee: Ron Miller^[15]

September 1, 1984
8:00 EST

Fort Lauderdale Sun (FL)	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Houston Dynamos (TX)
Dave Watson (Bandov) 41:08'	Report	33:20' Jose Neto (Hilton)
Penalties
Teófilo Cubillas Mark Schwartz John Lignos Tom Mulroy Boris Bandov ? ? ? Dave Watson	3–2	Jose Neto  ?  ? Nathan Sacks Beto Dos Santos  ?  ? Manny Andruszewski Glenn Davis[17]

Lockhart Stadium, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Attendance: 4,642^[16]

• MVP: Jose Neto
• Leading goal scorer: Jose Neto
• Leading goalkeeper: Jim Tietjens
• Rookie of the Year: Mark Schwartz
• Coach of the Year: Gary Hindley
• Playoffs MVP: Mark Schwartz^[18]
• Executive of the Year: Peter Kane

• United Soccer League (RSSSF)
• The Year in American Soccer - 1984