1981 New York Cosmos season

New York Cosmos 1981 soccer season

New York Cosmos

1981 season

Manager

Hennes Weisweiler (Joint with Özdenak)

Yasin Özdenak (Joint with Wiesweiler)

Stadium

Giants Stadium

NASL

Division: 1st
Overall: 1st
Playoffs: Runners-Up

National
Challenge Cup

Did not enter

CONCACAF
Champions' Cup

Did not enter

Top goalscorer

League:

( goals)
All:

( goals)

Highest home attendance

42,385
vs. CHI (May 17)

Lowest home attendance

12,240
vs. FTL (June 24)

Average home league attendance

34,835

Home colors

Away colors

← 1980 1982 →

The 1981 New York Cosmos season was the 11th season for the New York Cosmos in the now-defunct North American Soccer League. Despite winning their fifth straight premiership by five points over the Chicago Sting, the Cosmos lost to the Sting in Soccer Bowl '81.

Squad

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


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	GER	Hubert Birkenmeier
2	DF	IRN	Andranik Eskandarian
3	DF	CAN	Robert Iarusci
4	DF	USA	Jeff Durgan
7	MF	PAR	Julio César Romero
8	MF	YUG	Vladislav Bogićević
9	FW	ITA	Giorgio Chinaglia
11	FW	POR	Seninho
12	MF	USA	Larry Hulcer
13	MF	NED	Johan Neeskens
14	FW	RSA	Steve Wegerle


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
15	DF	NED	Wim Rijsbergen
16	FW	USA	Angelo DiBernardo
17	MF	USA	Rick Davis
18	MF	USA	Boris Bandov
19	FW	PAR	Roberto Cabanas
20	FW	BEL	Francois Van Der Elst
21	GK	USA	David Brcic
22	DF	YUG	Ivan Buljan
24	FW	USA	Darryl Gee
25	DF	USA	Dominick Barczewski
28	FW	USA	Chico Borja

Source:

Results

Source:

Preseason

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	New York Cosmos	32	23	9	80	49	+31	200
2	Montreal Manic	32	15	17	63	57	+6	141
3	Washington Diplomats	32	15	17	59	58	+1	135
4	Toronto Blizzard	32	7	25	39	82	−43	77

Overall League Placing

Pos	Club	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	New York Cosmos	32	23	9	80	49	+31	200
2	Chicago Sting	32	23	9	84	50	+34	195
3	Vancouver Whitecaps	32	21	11	74	43	+31	186
4	San Diego Sockers	32	21	11	67	49	+18	173
5	Minnesota Kicks	32	19	13	63	57	+6	163

Source:

Matches

March 29, 1981: New York Cosmos 3, San Jose Earthquakes 0 Spartan Stadium Attendance 20,671
April 4, 1981: Jacksonville Tea Men 1, New York Cosmos 1 (Tea Men won in Shootout) Jacksonville, Florida Attendance 12,124
April 12, 1981: New York Cosmos 3, Minnesota Kicks 1 Giants Stadium Attendance 40,378
April 18, 1981: New York Cosmos 3, Dallas Tornado 0 Texas Stadium Attendance 10,181
April 26, 1981: New York Cosmos 4, Tampa Bay Rowdies 1 Giants Stadium Attendance 40,238
May 1, 1981: New York Cosmos 3, Atlanta Chiefs 2 Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium Attendance 9,263
May 3, 1981: New York Cosmos 1, Washington Diplomats 0 Giants Stadium Attendance 34,189
May 10, 1981: New York Cosmos 5, Toronto Blizzard 1 Giants Stadium Attendance 27,003
May 15, 1981: New York Cosmos 2, Tulsa Roughnecks 1 Skelly Stadium Attendance 24,231
May 17, 1981: Chicago Sting 3, New York Cosmos 2 Giants Stadium Attendance 42,385
May 23, 1981: Washington Diplomats 3, New York Cosmos 2 Robert F. Kennedy Stadium Attendance 27,676
May 25, 1981: New York Cosmos 5, Dallas Tornado 1 Giants Stadium Attendance 33,640
May 30, 1981: Tampa Bay Rowdies 2, New York Cosmos 1 Tampa Stadium Attendance 36,765
June 2, 1981: New York Cosmos 2, Montreal Manic 1 Olympic Stadium Attendance 38,667
June 7, 1981: New York Cosmos 2, Atlanta Chiefs 1 Giants Stadium Attendance 31,452
June 10, 1981: New York Cosmos 2, Fort Lauderdale Strikers 1 Lockhart Stadium Attendance 18,089
June 14, 1981: New York Cosmos 4, Toronto Blizzard 3 Giants Stadium Attendance 31,210
June 17, 1981: New York Cosmos 2, Washington Diplomats 1 Robert F. Kennedy Stadium Attendance 36,875
June 21, 1981: New York Cosmos 3, Los Angeles Aztecs 0 Giants Stadium Attendance 38,362
June 24, 1981: New York Cosmos 2, Fort Lauderdale Strikers 0 Giants Stadium Attendance 12,240
June 28, 1981: Chicago Sting 5, New York Cosmos 5 (Sting Won in Shootout) Wrigley Field Attendance 35,501
July 5, 1981: New York Cosmos 3, Tulsa Roughnecks 2 Giants Stadium Attendance 33,673
July 8, 1981: New York Cosmos 2, Toronto Blizzard 1 Varsity Stadium Attendance 17,642
July 22, 1981: New York Cosmos 4, Montreal Manic 4 (Cosmos Won in Shootout) Giants stadium Attendance 27,331
July 25, 1981: New York Cosmos 2, Montreal Manic 1 Olympic Stadium Attendance 40,118
July 29, 1981: New York Cosmos 2, Portland Timbers 0 Giants Stadium Attendance 28,640
August 2, 1981: Jacksonville Tea Men 2, New York Cosmos 1 Giants Stadium Attendance 36,408
August 5, 1981: Minnesota Kicks 2, New York Cosmos 1 Metropolitan Stadium Attendance 28,609
August 9, 1981: Edmonton Drillers 2, New York Cosmos 0 Edmonton Commonwealth Stadium Attendance 14,781
August 12, 1981: New York Cosmos 4, Washington Diplomats 2 Giants Stadium Attendance 34,884
August 16, 1981: New York Cosmos 2, Montreal Manic 1 Giants Stadium Attendance 38,123
August 19, 1981: New York Cosmos 1, Toronto Blizzard 1 (Blizzard Won in Shootout) Varsity Stadium Attendance 12,367

Postseason

Overview

First round

			Game 1	Game 2	Game 3
Tulsa Roughnecks	–	Minnesota Kicks	1–3	0–1		August 22, 26
Portland Timbers	–	San Diego Sockers	2–1	1–5	0–2	August 22, 26, 30
Jacksonville Tea Men	–	Atlanta Chiefs	3–2	2–1		August 23, 25
Calgary Boomers	–	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	1–3	0–2		August 23, 26
Tampa Bay Rowdies	–	Vancouver Whitecaps	4–1	1–0		August 23, 26
Seattle Sounders	–	Chicago Sting	2–3	2–0	2–3	August 22, 26, 30
Montreal Manic	–	Los Angeles Aztecs	5–3	2–3	2–1	August 24, 27, 30

Quarter-finals

			Game 1	Game 2	Game 3
Tampa Bay Rowdies	–	New York Cosmos	3–6	3–2	0–2	September 2, 5, 9
Montreal Manic	–	Chicago Sting	3–2	2–4	2–4	September 2, 5, 10
Fort Lauderdale Strikers	–	Minnesota Kicks	3–1	3–0		September 2, 6
Jacksonville Tea Men	–	San Diego Sockers	2–1	1–2	1–3	September 2, 6, 9

Semi-finals

			Game 1	Game 2	Game 3
Fort Lauderdale Strikers	–	New York Cosmos	3–4	1–4		September 12, 16
San Diego Sockers	–	Chicago Sting	2–1	1–2	0–1	September 12, 16, 21

Soccer Bowl '81

September 26	Chicago Sting	1–0	New York Cosmos	Toronto, Exhibition Stadium

Matches

Friendlies

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorer
February 1	FC Birsfelden	N	9–0	n/a	Chinaglia (5), van der Elst (3), Romero
February 16	Deportivo Morón	A	2–2	25,000	Chinaglia (2)
February 21	Cipolletti	A	4–1	8,000	Chinaglia (2), Borja, Cabañas
February 21	Boca Juniors (B)	A	9–1	10,000	Chinaglia (4), Romero (4), Bogicevic
February 25	Colo Colo	A	0–1	45,000	–
March 3	Peñarol	A	4–3	40,000	Chinaglia (3), Romero
March 5	São Paulo	A	1–3	50,000	Chinaglia
March 8	Paraguay	A	5–2	45,000	Romero (2), Seninho (2), Chinaglia
March 11	Guadalajara	A	0–1	45,000	–
March 15	América	A	2–4	105,000	Chinaglia, van der Elst
March 17	El Salvador	A	5–1	31,209	Chinaglia (2), Seninho (2), Cabañas
March 19	Los Angeles Aztecs	A	1–0	3,534	Cabañas
May 20	Anderlecht	H	1–2	30,512	van der Elst
June 4	São Paulo	A	2–2	53,617	Chinaglia, DiBernardo
July 1	Greece	H	2–0	42,318	Cabañas, Chinaglia
July 12	Celtic	H	2–0	29,215	Romero, Durgari
July 15	Southampton	H	2–1	29,614	Bogicevic, Romero
July 19	Seattle Sounders	H	3–3	40,724	Chinaglia (2), van der Elst
August 30	Grêmio	H	1–3	30,523	Chinaglia
October 4	Canada	A	1–1	3,000	van der Elst
October 7	Canada	A	0–4	10,688	–
October 10	Valur	A	6–2	10,500	Chinaglia (3), Bogicevic (2), Romero
October 13	Borussia Dortmund	A	2–4	10,000	Davis, Chinaglia
October 18	Milan	H	1–1	6,000	Chinaglia