The Year in American Soccer, 1993
Maintained and written by Dave Litterer spectrum@sover.net
American Professional Soccer League
The APSL became an international league this year. With the demise of
the Canadian Soccer League, three of
the CSL's clubs, the Vancouver 86ers, Montreal Rockets and Toronto
Blizzard. Also new to the league were
the Los Angeles Salsa, who filled the unexpected vid left by the
departure of the San Francisco Bay
Blackhawks, one of the more successful clubs of years past. The APSL now
had the distinction of being the
top league in both the United States and Canada, gaining FIFA sanction
as a division 2 circuit. This bolstered
considerably their case for gaining USSF sanction to be the new Division
league in the US, but FIFA had
strong reservations about sanctioning a Division 1 league that crossed
national borders.
The season was an exciting affair. Colorado and the expansion Los
Angeles Salsa jumped out to an early lead,
but the Vancouver 86ers launched a major run, climbinging to the top of
the standings on July 4, a position
they would hold for the rest of the season. Salsa teammates Paulinho and
Paul Wright battled for the scoring
title and MVP awards, but Paulinho, the flambouyant Brazilian was the
one to come out on top, with 15 goals
and 7 assists. In the playoff semifinals, Colorado edged Tampa Bay 1-0
and Los Angeles toppled Vancouver
3-2 in a shootout. A sellout watched a nationally televised (on
Sprtschannel) championship match. The two
teams battled through 67 scoreless minutes before Salsa's Phillip Gyau
landed the goal. They looked to be on
their way to victory when, with less than three minutes left, Ted
Ecktied the match, taking it into overtime
where Zgame MVP Talifour Diane and rookie Robert Lipp scored to give
Colorado a 3-1 win and the
Commissioner's Cup.
The APSL benefitted from their new TV show, "This Week in professional
Soccer" on Sportschannel, and
over 300,000 fans attended regular season games. The other highlight of
the season was the Four Nations
Cup Tournament, held in Denver's Mile High Stadum. The Foxes hosted
three premier Eurpean teams, F. C.
Kaiserslautern, of Germany's Bundesliga, F. C. Copnhagen, from Denmark's
First Division, and Norwich City
from England's Premier League. Colorado performed magnificently, gaining
a 3-2 victory over Norwich, and
even more importantly, a 1-1 draw with eventual tournament champion
Kaiserslautern. Although they
eventually lost in a shootout, it was still an impressive effort. In
other Friendlies, the LA Salsa defeated Pumas,
Chivas and Atlante from Mexico, and the South korean national team, and
drew with El Salvador. The Salsa
also tied Alianza of El Salvador 2-2 in the 1993 CONCACAF Champions Cup,
but did not advance, as they
had suffered a road loss to them the previous week. Giddiness turned to
disappointment at the end of the year
when the APSL lost their bid for FIFA sanction as the new Division 1
league required by the World Cup
1994 agreement, to Alan Rothenberg's "Major League Soccer" investment
group, but the league had done
itself proud, and with an influx of new talent and significant
representation on the National team, their fortunes
for 1994 looked good.
Final League Standings, 1993
Before the season, Ft. Laduerdale and Los Angeles were added.
Vancouver, Toronto and
Montreal joined the league from the defunct CSL.
Pd W L WN WE WS LN LE LS G+ G- GD Pts
Vancouver 86ers 24 15 9 11 2 2 8 0 1 43 35 +8 126
Colorado Foxes 24 15 9 12 0 3 6 3 0 40 34 +6 121
Tampa Bay Rowdies 24 12 12 10 2 0 10 1 1 53 47 +6 118
Los Angeles Salsa 24 12 12 8 1 3 9 0 3 41 37 +4 109
Toronto Blizzard 24 10 14 8 2 0 11 1 2 35 41 -6 97
Ft Lauderdale Strikers 24 9 15 8 0 1 11 1 3 39 52 -13 94
Montreal Impact 24 11 13 9 0 2 11 1 1 28 33 -5 90
Semi-finals: Los Angeles defeated Vancouver 2-2 (PK)
Colorado defeated Tampa Bay, 1-0
CHAMPIONSHIP: Colorado defeated Los Angeles, 3-1 (OT)
After the season, Tampa Bay folded.
Leading Scorers:
G A Pts
Paulinho, Los Angeles 15 7 37
Paul Wright, Los Angeles 13 7 23
Paul Dougherty, Tampa Bay 8 11 27
Zico Doe, Ft. Lauderdale 12 2 26
Hector Marinaro, Toronto 7 12 26
Taifour Diane, Colorado 10 5 25
Pierre Morice, Tampa Bay 9 7 25
D. Mobilio, Vancouver 10 3 23
Scott Benedetti, Colorado 10 1 21
Fernando Aguiar, Toronto 9 1 19
Ted Eck, Colorado 8 3 19
Carlo Corazzin, Vancouver 7 5 19
Alvin James, Ft. Lauderdale 7 4 18
Steve Trittschuh, Tampa Bay 7 4 18
Jean Harbor, Tampa Bay 5 7 17
Brad Smith, Tampa Bay 6 4 16
Ivor Evans, Vancouver 4 8 16
Dale Mitchell, Vancouver 4 8 16
A. Gasparin, Toronto 6 3 15
G. Needham, Montreal 6 3 15
Eddy Berdusco, Toronto 5 3 13
Goalkeeping Leaders:
Min GA Sv SH GAA
Jim St. Andre, Colorado 1212 16 75 4 1.19
P. Harrington, Montreal 2209 33 89 6 1.35
Brett Phillips, Tampa Bay 910 14 35 3 1.39
Ian Feuer, Los Angeles 1604 25 72 4 1.40
Paul Dolan, Vancouver 2216 35 145 4 1.42
Mark Dodd, Colorado 1015 18 47 2 1.60
P. Ceccarelli, Toronto 2114 39 187 4 1.66
J. Valenzuela, Ft. Lauderdale 1748 42 96 2 2.16
Bill Andracki, Tampa Bay 1003 26 49 1 2.33
1993 All-APSL Team:
G - Paul Dolan, Vancouver
D - Robin Fraser, Colorado
D - Danny Pena, Los Angeles
D - Mark Watson, Vancouver
D - Patrice Ferri, Montreal
M - paulinho, Los Angeles
M - Ivor Evans, Vancouver
M - Paul Dougherty, Tampa Bay
M - Ted Eck, Colorado
F - Paul Wright, Los Angeles
F - Taifour Diane, Colorado
Most Valuable Player: Paulinho, Los Angeles
Coach of the Year: Ken Fogarty, Tampa Bay Rowdies
Rookie of the Year: Jason Devos, Montreal
(Note:...details of other American leagues and indoor leagues deleted....by Robin Glover)
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