Soccer Bowl ’82 Game Program

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Soccer Bowl 1982 Collectors Mug

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Soccer Bowl ’82 Game Program

I attended this game. It was frustrating and you could tell the wheels were coming off the old NASL. Soccer in San Diego was thriving in 1979-82 with the San Diego Sockers advancing to one-game-short of the Soccer Bowl four years in a row. This 4th semifinals loss sure killed the momentum on interest. Had the Sockers made it through to their own hosted Soccer Bowl a huge crowd would have been expected—maybe upwards of 50,000. Instead, the Cosmos vs Seattle match-up had the same interest as a lower rung bowl game. Attendance was announced as “22,634” but was probably tickets distributed. Making matters worse, the Cosmos chose play for the result, not to “entertain” and instead played an Italy-style game of possession (don’t go forward much—lull them). Not exactly selling the sport to Americans as I had hoped would happen.

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