1981 New York Cosmos 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
← 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. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Hubert Birkenmeier 2 DF Andranik Eskandarian 3 DF Robert Iarusci 4 DF Jeff Durgan 7 MF Julio Cesar Romero 8 MF Vladislav Bogićević 9 FW Giorgio Chinaglia 11 FW Seninho 12 MF Larry Hulcer 13 MF Johan Neeskens 14 FW Steve Wegerle

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

Source:

Results

Source:

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

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 (ON), Exhibition Stadium

See also

• 1981 North American Soccer League season
• List of New York Cosmos seasons