Teams 4 Matches played 4 | Runners-up Tampa Bay Rowdies Goals scored 42 (10.5 per match) | |
Dates January 27, 1979 –
January 28, 1979 Champions Dallas Tornado (2nd title) | ||
The 1979 NASL Budweiser Indoor Soccer Invitational was a four-team indoor soccer tournament held in St. Petersburg, Florida at the Bayfront Center on the last weekend of January of the same year.
Contents
Overview
Four teams, all from the North American Soccer League, participated in the two-day event; the Dallas Tornado, the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, the Tampa Bay Rowdies, and the Tulsa Roughnecks. Matches were 45 minutes long and divided into three 15-minute periods with an intermission between each. Each session consisted of two games (i.e. a doubleheader). Nearly 12,700 people attended the two sessions. Dallas and Tampa Bay each won both of their matches, but Dallas Tornado were crowned champions based on a greater goal differential. Dallas forward Jim Ryan lead the invitational in scoring with 7 goals. The tournament's final match saw goalkeeper Winston DuBose of Tampa Bay become only the second NASL goalie to record a rare indoor shut-out. Dallas goalkeeper Ken Cooper had accomplished the feat on two previous occasions.
These were not the only indoor games played that winter. With a fully sanctioned season of indoor soccer still eleven months away, NASL teams were free to schedule their own games at that time. Tampa Bay, for example played three other indoor matches. By contrast, Fort Lauderdale scheduled only the two games of the invitational.
Tournament sessions
Session 1: January 27, 1979
Session 2: January 28, 1979
Final standings
* Dallas wins title on goal differential