1983 NASL Grand Prix of Indoor Soccer

The 1983 NASL Grand Prix of Indoor Soccer was an indoor soccer tournament staged by four franchises of the North American Soccer League.

North American Soccer League
1983 Grand Prix of Indoor
NASL Indoor Grand Prix
Tournament details
DatesJanuary 21, 1983 –
February 20, 1983
Teams4
Final positions
ChampionsTampa Bay Rowdies (3rd title)
Runners-upMontreal Manic
Tournament statistics
Matches played16
Goals scored199 (12.44 per match)
Attendance37,111 (2,319 per match)
Top scorer(s)England Laurie Abrahams
Canada Dale Mitchell
(12 goals)
Best player(s)England Laurie Abrahams
Algeria Mehdi Cerbah

Overview edit

The NASL franchises from Fort Lauderdale, Tampa Bay, Montreal, and Tulsa opted to play the Grand Prix in early 1983 as a makeshift indoor season, because for various reasons, the eight other NASL clubs had chosen to forego playing a full 1982–83 NASL indoor season.[1] Three of those eight teams (Chicago, Golden Bay and San Diego) had joined the Major Indoor Soccer League for 1982-83 season, while the remaining five squads chose to sit out winter indoor play completely.

The tournament consisted of three weeks of double round-robin play for the purpose of seeding, followed by a Championship weekend at the Forum in Montreal.[2][3] Fort Lauderdale did not host a round because there was no suitable venue in the area that also met the minimum seating requirements. Instead, Tulsa hosted Rounds 1 and 3. The tournament would mark the third time NASL teams played in such an event, with the first two coming in 1975 and 1976. Additionally the teams participated in a season-long Shootout Challenge competition, the champions of which would split a $5,000 purse.[4]

Montreal and Tampa Bay finished tied on both points and record after the preliminary rounds, but Montreal held the head-to-head tie-breaker, and with it the top seed.[2] Tampa Bay won the championship final 5–4 on a golden goal by Mark Karpun at 1:58 of the second, seven and a half minute, overtime period.[5] This victory marked the Rowdies' third indoor trophy and fourth title overall in the NASL. Laurie Abrahams of Tulsa led all scorers (12 goals, 6 assists) and was named the offensive MVP, while Montreal goalie Mehdi Cerbah who posted a 4.36 goals-against-average was the defensive MVP of the tournament. Tampa Bay also won the $5,000 Shootout Challenge purse by defeating Ft. Lauderdale, 2–0, with Rowdies goalie Jürgen Stars stopping all three Strikers shots in the final round.[6][7][8]

Preliminary rounds edit

Round 1 edit

played at Tulsa Fairgrounds Pavilion in Tulsa, Oklahoma[9][10]

January 21 Montreal Manic 6–3 Tampa Bay Rowdies Attendance: 3,522
Fort Lauderdale Strikers 8–4 Tulsa Roughnecks

January 22 Montreal Manic 8–6 Fort Lauderdale Strikers Attendance: 4,341
Tampa Bay Rowdies 7–2 Tulsa Roughnecks

Round 2 edit

played at the Bayfront Center in St. Petersburg, Florida[11][12]

February 4 Montreal Manic 6–3 Fort Lauderdale Strikers Attendance: 4,450
Tampa Bay Rowdies 7–6 Tulsa Roughnecks

February 5 Tulsa Roughnecks 7–4 Montreal Manic Attendance: 5,545
Tampa Bay Rowdies 10–6 Fort Lauderdale Strikers

Round 3 edit

played at the Tulsa Fairgrounds Pavilion in Tulsa, Oklahoma

February 11 Tampa Bay Rowdies 7–5 Fort Lauderdale Strikers Attendance: 2,064
Tulsa Roughnecks 8–7 Montreal Manic

February 12 Montreal Manic 5–4 Tampa Bay Rowdies Attendance: 3,245
Tulsa Roughnecks 5–4 (OT) Fort Lauderdale Strikers

Seeding edit

G = Games, W = Wins, L = Losses, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, GD = Goal Differential, PTS= point system

6 points awarded for a win. Beginning with the fourth goal, 1 bonus point awarded for each goal scored. Maximum of 5 bonus points per game.

Pos Team G W L GF GA GD PTS
1* Montreal Manic 6 4 2 36 31 +5 42
2 Tampa Bay Rowdies 6 4 2 38 31 +7 42
3 Tulsa Roughnecks 6 3 3 33 37 –4 33
4 Fort Lauderdale Strikers 6 1 5 32 40 –8 20

*Montreal wins top seed based on 2–0 head-to-head edge over Tampa Bay

Grand Prix Championship rounds edit

Bracket edit

Semifinals Championship Final
      
1 Montreal Manic 11
4 Fort Lauderdale Strikers 4
1 Montreal Manic 4
2 Tampa Bay Rowdies 5(2OT)
3 Tulsa Roughnecks 6
2 Tampa Bay Rowdies 8 Third place
3 Tulsa Roughnecks 9
4 Fort Lauderdale Strikers 4

Semi-finals edit

played at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec

February 18 Tampa Bay Rowdies 8–6 Tulsa Roughnecks Attendance: 6,049[13]
Montreal Manic 11–4 Fort Lauderdale Strikers

Third-place match edit

played at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec (1:30 PM EST)

February 20 Tulsa Roughnecks 9–4 Fort Lauderdale Strikers

Championship final edit

Montreal Manic4–5 (2OT)Tampa Bay Rowdies
Mitchell   16:17'
Mitchell   19:51' (McGrane)
Mitchell   24:53' (Uremovich)
Lodeweges   44:01'
Report (p. 2C) Tatu   7:06' (McLeod, Perez)
Perez   11:12'
Nogly   31:46'
Zequinha   58:05' (Gruber, Tatu)
Karpun   69:28'  (Nogly)

1983 Indoor Grand Prix Champions: Tampa Bay Rowdies

Tournament awards edit

  • Most Valuable Players:
    - Offensive:   Laurie Abrahams (Tulsa) - Goals: 12 Assists: 6 Total Pts: 30
    - Defensive:   Mehdi Cerbah (Montreal) Goals-against-average: 4.36
  • $5,000 Shootout Challenge:
    - Semi-finals: Tampa Bay 3 – 1 Tulsa • Fort Lauderdale 3 – 1 Montreal
    - Finals: Tampa Bay 2 – 0 Fort Lauderdale

Final rankings edit

G = Games, W = Wins, L = Losses, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, GD = Goal Differential

Pos Team G W L GF GA GD
1 Tampa Bay Rowdies 8 6 2 51 41 +10
2 Montreal Manic 8 5 3 51 40 +11
3 Tulsa Roughnecks 8 4 4 48 49 -1
4 Fort Lauderdale Strikers 8 1 7 40 60 -20

Statistics edit

Leading Scorers Goals Assists Points
Laurie Abrahams (Tulsa) 12 6 30
Dale Mitchell (Montreal) 12 4 28
Branko Šegota (Fort Lauderdale) 10 8 28
Dragan Vujović (Montreal) 9 7 25
Teófilo Cubillas (Fort Lauderdale) 8 9 25
Hugo Pérez (Tampa Bay) 10 4 24
Tatu (Tampa Bay) 9 5 23
Keith Weller (Tulsa) 8 7 23
Wes McLeod (Tampa Bay) 5 12 22
Njego Pesa (Tulsa) 9 4 22
Alan Willey (Montreal) 8 6 22
Steve Wegerle (Fort Lauderdale) 7 6 20
Leading Goalkeepers Minutes GA GAA
Mehdi Cerbah (Montreal) 330 24 4.36
Jürgen Stars (Tampa Bay) 377 32 5.09
Craig Scarpelli (Fort Lauderdale) 330 33 5.99
Winston DuBose (Tulsa) 486 49 6.05

Non-grand prix matches edit

In addition to the Grand Prix tournament, the four teams took part in other indoor matches as tune-ups for both the outdoor season and the Grand Prix itself.

Match reports edit

January 15, 1983 2 Tulsa Roughnecks 3–6 Tampa Bay Rowdies Dallas, Texas
Belfiore   8:42' (Krupa, DuBose)
Danaeifard   36:17'
Pesa   55:57' (Abrahams)
Report p. 2-C McLeod   6:59' (Nogly, Perez)
Karpun   37:23'
Zequinha   39:53' (Molina, Nogly)
Van der Beck   42:30' (Roe)
McLeod   51:45'
Pérez   56:33' (Zequinha)
Stadium: Reunion Arena
Attendance: 5,451
January 18, 1983 3 Tulsa Roughnecks 3–5 Tampa Bay Rowdies Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Saldana   21:07'
Saldana   21:29' (Danaiford)
Saldana   52:00' (Riordan)
Report 1 (p. 5-C)
Report 2
Nogly   18:08' (Oliveira)
Van der Beck   19:14'
McLeod   (Myernick)
Karpun   (Myernick)
Roe   (Karpun, Nogly)
Stadium: Myriad Arena
Attendance: 2,500
January 29, 1983 4 Tampa Bay Rowdies 7–5 Montreal Manic St. Petersburg, Florida
7:30 PM (EST) Karpun   7:38' (Myernick)
Tatu   34:32' (Molina, Kozic)
Oliveira   35:46' (Molina, Myernick)
Tatu   39:05' (Molina)
Pérez   40:28' (McLeod)
Nogly   48:47' (Pérez)
Van der Beck   58:37'
Report p. 2-C Mitchell   18:46'
Willey   24:27' (Falzon, Knight)
Usiyan   37:56' (Marcantonio, Lodeweges)
Usiyan   39:40'
Mitchell   40:40' (O'Brien)
Stadium: Bayfront Center
Attendance: 5,525
February 25, 1983 5 Tampa Bay Rowdies 8–5 Fort Lauderdale Strikers Lakeland, Florida
8:00 PM (EST) Tatu   6:15' (Gruber, Easton)
Karpun   13:04'
Miller   22:55' (Pérez, Kozic)
Karpun   31:35' (Fall)
Gruber   44:42' (Fall)
Molina   46:43' (Thompson)
Bates   53:38' (Molina, McLeod)
Oliveira   57:51' (Pérez, Molina)
Report p. 2-C Kidd   13:26' (Segota)
Cubillas   23:55' (Kidd)
Kidd   36:14' (Whelan)
Meschbach   39:31' (Kadupski, Cubillas)
Kidd   54:16' (Kadupski)
Stadium: Lakeland Civic Center
Attendance: 3,506

References edit

  1. ^ "Rowdies take on Montreal". Lakeland Ledger. January 21, 1983. p. 3D. Retrieved January 23, 2014 – via Google News Archive Search.
  2. ^ a b Beard, Randy (February 15, 1983). "Rowdies' pair united in feelings toward Team America and coach". The Evening Independent. p. 3-C. Retrieved January 23, 2014 – via Google News Archive Search.
  3. ^ "Manic, Rowdies Clash Today". Youngstown Vindicator. February 20, 1983. p. D-4. Retrieved January 23, 2014 – via Google News Archive Search.
  4. ^ "Rowdies enter touney". Lakeland Ledger. December 12, 1982. p. 3D. Retrieved January 23, 2014 – via Google News Archive Search.
  5. ^ Johnson, Mark (February 21, 1983). "Rowdies win Grand Prix on Karpun's goal in OT". St. Petersburg Times. p. 1C. Retrieved October 4, 2017 – via newspapers.com.
  6. ^ Allen, Diane Lacy (February 23, 1983). "Rowdies meet Strikers at Civic Center". Lakeland Ledger. p. 3D. Retrieved January 23, 2014 – via Google News Archive Search.
  7. ^ Beard, Randy (February 21, 1983). "Championship effort carried Rowdies to title". The Evening Independent. p. 1-C. Retrieved January 23, 2014 – via Google News Archive Search.
  8. ^ "Miller resigns as Rowdies coach". Lakeland Ledger. October 4, 1983. p. 1D. Retrieved January 23, 2014 – via Google News Archive Search.
  9. ^ "Manic win opener". The Montreal Gazette. October 4, 1983. p. H-2. Retrieved January 23, 2014 – via Google News Archive Search.
  10. ^ "Injury takes edge off Rowdies' victory". The Evening Independent. January 24, 1983. p. 8-C. Retrieved January 23, 2014 – via Google News Archive Search.
  11. ^ "Rowdies whip Strikers in Grand Prix Soccer". Lakeland Ledger. February 7, 1983. p. 6D. Retrieved January 23, 2014 – via Google News Archive Search.
  12. ^ "Manic triumph". The Montreal Gazette. February 5, 1983. p. H-1. Retrieved January 23, 2014 – via Google News Archive Search.
  13. ^ Beard, Randy (February 19, 1983). "Power play went short-handed Rowdies' way". The Evening Independent. p. 3-C. Retrieved January 23, 2014 – via Google News Archive Search.