1985 United Soccer League season
Statistics of United Soccer League in season 1985.
History
The United Soccer League played its first season in 1984 as the de facto United States second division. The previous second division, the American Soccer League, had collapsed in 1983 and the United Soccer League intended to establish itself as a fiscally sound replacement for the failed league. The USL played the 1984 season with nine teams in three divisions. In February 1985, the North American Soccer League and USL began negotiations to merge the two leagues.[1] On March 5, USL President William Burfeind announced the merger would not take place.[2] The NASL collapsed soon afterwards, along with six of the USL franchises. The Oklahoma City Stampede moved to Tulsa and became the Tulsa Tornados and the league added the El Paso/Juarez Gamecocks. The season was scheduled to run from May 19 through August 24.[3] By mid-May, league officials had extensively revamped the schedule. They decided to hold a six game "cup" schedule beginning at the end of May. The top two teams would then play for the cup title. After a short break, the league planned to continue with a twelve game regular season. This would allow the league to expand the number of teams. Burfeind resigned as league president and Kalman Csapo replaced him.[4] By the end of the six game cup schedule, the league and team was bankrupt and failed to complete the championship between the two top teams, the South Florida Sun and the Dallas Americans. The league announced the Sun were champions and disbanded.
League cup standings
The league cup was a last minute creation. The United Soccer League had intended to run a twenty game regular season but when only four teams committed to the season, the league decided to run a six game cup schedule. This would give league officials time to find more teams for the later eighteen game regular season. Initially, the league intended to have the top two teams in the cup compete in a two game, home and away series to determine the champion. In the end, the league staged only the six games per team, announcing that the South Florida Sun had won the cup. As a harbinger of what was to come, no actual cup was presented to the team, causing Sun player-coach, Keith Weller, to quip at the time, "There ain't no cup."[5] Days later the league folded.
| Place | Team | GP | W | T | L | GF | GA | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Florida Sun | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 8 | .667 |
| 2 | Dallas Americans | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 9 | .500 |
| 3 | Tulsa Tornados | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 7 | .500 |
| 4 | El Paso/Juarez Gamecocks | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 15 | .333 |
Scoring leaders
| Rank | Scorer | Club | GP | Goals | Assists | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Josue Portillo | El Paso/Juarez Gamecocks | 6 | 8 | 0 | 8 |
| 2 | Mark Schwartz | South Florida Sun | 5 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Hassan Nazari | Dallas Americans | 5 | 3 | 1 | 4 | |
| 4 | Boris Bandov | South Florida Sun | 6 | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| 5 | Teófilo Cubillas | South Florida Sun | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 6 | Zequinha | Tulsa Tornados | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 7 | Wolfgang Rausch | Dallas Americans | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 8 | Miguel Carcamo | El Paso/Juarez Gamecocks | 5 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 9 | Tom Fazekas | Dallas Americans | 5 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 10 | Arnaldo Correa | El Paso/Juarez Gamecocks | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 11 | Tony Crescitelli | South Florida Sun | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
References
- ↑ USL, NASL CONSIDERING A MERGER The Miami Herald (FL) - Saturday, February 2, 1985
- ↑ MERGER TALKS FALL THROUGH IN SOCCER Miami Herald, The (FL) - Tuesday, March 5, 1985
- ↑ SUN SCHEDULE IS ANNOUNCED The Miami Herald (FL) - Tuesday, March 19, 1985
- ↑ VITAL SIGNS ARE OMINOUS, BUT USL CONTINUES FIGHT Miami Herald, The (FL) - Sunday, May 19, 1985
- ↑ "Sun Wins Invitational Cup – Wherever That May Be". Sun Sentinel. Retrieved 15 July 2015.