Between 1978 and 1981, the original North American Soccer League broke ties in playoff series through use of a 30-minute “mini-game.” If the teams split the two (home-and-home) games, they would play the mini-game to determine who advanced. The 1978 mini-games were all sudden death, more akin to MLS’ “Series Overtime” during its “First-to-Five” playoff period. Below is a list of the 17 mini-games played in NASL history:
| Day | Date | Site | Winner | Sc | Loser | Sc | Round | |
| Wed | 8/16/1978 | Pontiac | Ft. Lauderdale | 1 | Detroit | 0 | Conference Semifinal | |
| Wed | 8/16/1978 | Tampa | Tampa Bay | 1 | San Diego | 0 | Conference Semifinal | |
| Wed | 8/16/1978 | E. Rutherford | New York | 1 | Minnesota | 0 | (SO) | Conference Semifinal |
| Wed | 8/23/1978 | Tampa | Tampa Bay | 1 | Ft.Lauderdale | 0 | (SO) | Conference Final |
| Sat | 8/25/1979 | Vancouver | Vancouver | 1 | Los Angeles | 0 | Conference Semifinal | |
| Sun | 8/26/1979 | E. Rutherford | New York | 3 | Tulsa | 1 | Conference Semifinal | |
| Sat | 9/1/1979 | E. Rutherford | Vancouver | 1 | New York | 0 | (SO) | Conference Final |
| Sun | 9/2/1979 | Tampa | Tampa Bay | 1 | San Diego | 0 | Conference Final | |
| Sat | 8/30/1980 | Chicago | San Diego | 2 | Chicago | 1 | (SO) | First Round |
| Sat | 8/30/1980 | Los Angeles | Los Angeles | 2 | Washington | 0 | First Round | |
| Sun | 8/31/1980 | Edmonton | Edmonton | 1 | Houston | 0 | First Round | |
| Sun | 8/31/1980 | Ft. Lauderdale | Ft. Lauderdale | 1 | California | 0 | (SO) | First Round |
| Fri | 9/5/1980 | Seattle | Los Angeles | 2 | Seattle | 1 | (SO) | Conference Semifinal |
| Sat | 9/6/1980 | Ft. Lauderdale | Ft. Lauderdale | 3 | Edmonton | 0 | Conference Semifinal | |
| Sun | 9/7/1980 | Tampa | San Diego | 2 | Tampa Bay | 1 | (SO) | Conference Semifinal |
| Sun | 9/7/1980 | E. Rutherford | New York | 3 | Dallas | 0 | Conference Semifinal | |
| Sat | 9/13/1980 | Ft. Lauderdale | Ft. Lauderdale | 3 | San Diego | 0 | Conference Final |
Here are a few notes about these tiebreakers:
- Home teams won 12 of the 17 mini-games.
- Six times, a team won on the road to force the mini-game after losing the first game at home. None of them won the mini-game.
- Eleven times, a team won at home to force the mini-game after losing the first game on the road. They won six of those mini-games.
- Seven of the 17 were decided in Shootout. (Only three were won by the home team.)
- A total of 26 goals were scored in the 17 games (1.53 per mini-game).
- The Ft. Lauderdale/Minnesota Strikers won the most mini-games (4), while the Vancouver Whitecaps were undefeated (2-0) and the Tampa Bay Rowdies and New York Cosmos were both 3-1. San Diego lost the most mini-games, but damned if they didn’t win the one I attended, the one that probably kept the Rowdies from their third straight trip to Soccer Bowl. (Sigh.)
The NASL discontinued the mini-game after the 1981 playoffs and went to a traditional best-of-three series. (Well, it was traditional for America. Obviously, soccer tradition would have had a two-legged, aggregate goal series.)
The mini-game lives on, though, in indoor1I won’t call it “Arena Soccer.” Please. soccer. Click here to see the results of these tiny tiebreakers in the indoor game.
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