Venezuela

 

Venezuela. First Stage

Final Table:

 1.Deportivo Italia        16   9  2  5  22-15  20
 2.Tiquire Aragua          16   8  3  5  24-18  19  [Maracay]
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 3.Anzoátegui FC           16   6  6  4  18-12  18  [Puerto La Cruz]
 4.Estudiantes de Mérida   16   6  6  4  15-14  18
 5.Deportivo Galicia       16   6  5  5  11- 9  17
 6.UD Canarias             16   4  9  3  11-12  17
 7.Portuguesa FC           16   6  4  6  23-19  16  [Acarigua]
 8.Valencia FC             16   3  4  9  12-19  10
 9.Deportivo Portugués     16   3  3 10  12-30   9
Second Stage

Final Table:

 1.Anzoátegui FC           16  10  5  1  22- 8  25  [Puerto La Cruz]
 2.Deportivo Galicia       16   7  7  2  17-11  21
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
   Valencia FC             16   8  5  3  19-11  21
 4.Estudiantes de Mérida   16   8  4  4  16-12  18
 5.Portuguesa FC           16   4  6  6  17-17  14  [Acarigua]
 6.Deportivo Italia        16   2  7  7   7-12  11
 7.Tiquire Aragua          16   2  7  7  18-27  11  [Maracay]
 8.Deportivo Portugués     16   2  7  7  13-22  11
 9.UD Canarias             16   3  4  9  14-23  10
Championship Playoff

NB; between top-2 of first and second stage

Final Table:

 1.Deportivo Italia         6   3  1  2   5- 5   7
 2.Anzoátegui FC            6   3  0  3  11- 9   6  [Puerto La Cruz]
   Deportivo Galicia        6   3  0  3  10- 9   6
 4.Tiquire Aragua           6   2  1  3   8-11   5  [Maracay]
Second Place Playoff

23.12   Deportivo Galicia        4-0       Anzoátegui FC
28.12   Anzoátegui FC            2-2       Deportivo Galicia

Deportivo Galicia won the silver medals. Standing from left: Andrés Jiménez (paraguayan), Pedro Castro (español), David Mota, Luis Watfi (argentinian), Efraín Issa.
Agachados: Reinaldo Rengel, Antonio Ravelo (español), Víctor Filomeno (uruguayan), Hamilton Rivero (uruguayan), José Franqui (uruguayan), Walter Iturralde (uruguayan)

Deportivo Italia (Caracas) – champion. Forth title.

The Cup: Copa Valencia 1972

Final Table:

 1.Deportivo Portugués     10   4  6  0  12- 6  14  Winners
 2.Estudiantes de Mérida   10   4  4  2  12- 7  12
 3.Anzoátegui FC           10   3  4  3  15-20  10
 4.Tiquire Aragua          10   3  3  4   9-11   9
 5.Deportivo Galicia       10   2  4  4  16-16   8
 6.UD Canarias             10   1  5  4   7-11   7 
Deportivo Portugues (Caracas) won the Venezuelan Cup for second time. 

Copa Interamericana

 

Copa Interamericana 1972

June 17, 1973
First leg [Estadio Francisco Morazán, San Pedro Sula]
OLIMPIA (Hon)  1-2  INDEPENDIENTE (Arg)
  [Jorge Brand 53; Alejandro Estanislao Semenewicz 29, Eduardo Andrés Maglioni 55] 
 
OLIMPIA:       Samuel Sentine, Selvin Cárcamo, Miguel ángel Matamoros, Oscar García, 
               Juan Ventura López, Marco Mendoza, Ángel Paz, Rigoberto Gómez, 
               Reynaldo Mejía, (Dagoberto Espinal), René Suazo, Jorge Brand; 
               HC: Juan Andino (HON)
INDEPENDIENTE: Miguel Ángel Santoro, Eduardo Antonio Commiso, Miguel Ángel Raimondo,       
               Miguel Ángel López, Ricardo Elbio Pavoni, Alejandro Estanislao   
               Semenewicz, Francisco Pedro Manuel Sa, Rubén Galván, 
               (Ricardo Enrique Bochini), Eduardo Andrés Maglioni, (Miguel Ángel 
               Giachello), Agustín Alberto Balbuena, Mario Mendoza; 
               HC: Humberto Maschio (ARG)
 
Referee:       Jorge R. Mirón (Guatemala).
 

 
 June 20, 1973
Second leg [Estadio Tiburcio Carias Andino, Tegucigalpa]
OLIMPIA (Hon)  0-2  INDEPENDIENTE (Arg)
  [Eduardo Andrés Maglioni 42, Agustín Alberto Balbuena 85]

OLIMPIA:       Samuel Sentine, Selvin Cárcamo, Miguel Ángel Matamoros, Oscar García, 
               Juan Ventura López, Marco Mendoza, Domingo Ferrera, (Ángel Paz), 
               Rigoberto Gómez, René Suazo, (Reynaldo Mejía), Dagoberto Espinal, 
               Jorge Brand; HC: Juan Andino (HON) 
INDEPENDIENTE: Miguel Ángel Santoro, Eduardo Antonio Commiso, Miguel Ángel Raimondo, 
               Miguel Ángel López, (Luis Garisto), Ricardo Elbio Pavoni, Alejandro 
               Estanislao Semenewicz, Francisco Pedro Manuel Sa, Héctor Jesús Martínez,
               Eduardo Andrés Maglioni, Agustín Alberto Balbuena, Mario Mendoza; 
               HC: Humberto Maschio
 
Referee:       Luis Rojas (Costa Rica)

Independiente triumphed and predictably so.

Olimpia had no chance even playing both legs at home.

Independiente won Copa Interamericana for the first time. Expected victory of relatively unimportant competiton.

Most likely not a photo of the winning squad, but close.

Copa de Campeones y Subcampeones CONCACAF

 

Copa de Campeones y Subcampeones CONCACAF 1972

Northern/Central Section

NB: earlier results unavailable; eliminated participants apparently included
    América (Mexico), Santa Cecilia (Nicaragua) and Unión Española (Panama);
    unclear whether clubs from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala or the USA
    entered the tournament.

Final Round (Jul 23 & 30)
Toluca                   Mex  Vida                     Hon   3-1  1-0  4-1x
  [Albino Morales 44, Vicente Pereda 65, 71; Oscar García 75pen]
  [José Luis González 8]
x 2nd leg in San Pedro Sula

NB: also Olimpia (Honduras) qualified for 'final 3'.

Caribbean Section

Round 1 (Jul 2 & 16)
Transvaal                Sur  Robin Hood               Sur   1-0  1-3  2-3
NB: other results not known; Don Bosco apparently elimated Águila Negra (Haiti)

Final
Robin Hood               Sur  Don Bosco                DoR   w/o          x
x Don Bosco withdrew

Semifinal (Dec 18 & 20)
Toluca                   Mex  Olimpia                  Hon   0-1  1-1  1-2x
  [Reinaldo Mejía 32]
  [Jorge Urquía 40; Héctor Hugo Eugui 72]
x both legs in Tegucigalpa

Final (Jan 28 & 31, 1973)
Robin Hood               Sur  Olimpia                  Hon   0-1  0-0  0-1x
  [Jorge Brand 65]
x 1st leg in San Pedro Sula, 2nd leg in Tegucigalpa

S.V. Robinhood (Paramaribo) lost by single goal.

Olimpia (Tegucigalpa) won the trophy for the first time.

Mexico

 

Mexico. I Division.

Group A                  P       W       T       L      GF      GA      PTS     GAVG
  1. Cruz Azul          34      22       7       5      65      36      51      1.81 (playoffs) [Ciudad de México]
  2. América            34      20       8       6      70      35      48      2.00 (playoffs) [Ciudad de México]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  3. Jalisco            34      15       9      10      57      48      39      1.19 [Guadalajara]
  4. León               34      12      11      11      76      58      35      1.31
  5. Zacatepec          34      11      12      11      34      36      34      0.94
  6. Laguna             34       9      15      10      34      34      33      1.00 [Torreón]
  7. San Luis Potosí    34      11      10      13      37      47      32      0.79
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  8. Veracruz           34       8      13      13      40      51      29      0.78 (relegation playoffs)
  9. Atlético Español   34       8       8      18      48      72      24      0.67 (relegation playoffs) [Ciudad de México]

Group 1                  P       W       T       L      GF      GA      PTS     GAVG
  1. Monterrey          34      14      12       8      41      37      40      1.11 (playoffs)
  2. Guadalajara        34      14      11       9      37      33      39      1.12 (playoffs)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  3. Puebla             34      13       9      12      47      42      35      1.12
  4. Atlante            34      13       9      12      30      28      35      1.07 [Ciudad de México]
  5. Pachuca            34      10      13      11      38      46      33      0.83
  6. U.N.A.M.           34      11       9      14      36      38      31      0.95 [Ciudad de México]
  7. Toluca             34      11       9      14      46      51      31      0.90
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  8. Torreón            34       8      11      15      35      55      27      0.64 (relegation playoffs)
  9. Irapuato           34       2      12      20      26      50      16      0.52 (relegation playoffs)
 
Championship playoffs

Semifinals

Cruz Azul 0 Guadalajara 1    
Guadalajara 0 Cruz Azul 2 (1-2 agg)
  
América 1 Monterrey 0
Monterrey 2 América 1 (2-2 agg)   
Replay
[Estadio León, León]
América 3 Monterrey 1

Final 
[Estadio Azteca, Ciudad de México]
Cruz Azul 4 América 1
America lost the championship final.  
Champion: CRUZ AZUL

Relegation Playoffs

Semifinals

Torreón 1 Atlético Español 1
Atlético Español 3 Torreón 2 (4-3 agg)

Veracruz 3 Irapuato 1
Irapuato 0 Veracruz 0 (1-3 agg)

Final
[Estadio Jalisco, Guadalajara]
Torreón 1 Irapuato 0

Relegated: Irapuato

2nd. Division Final 
[Estadio Azteca, Ciudad de México]
Atlas 4 (Guadalajara) U.A.N.L. (Monterrey) 0
No luck for UANL.
Promoted: Atlas

NASL

 

NASL. The league changed its offside rule during the season on June 26. They created a "Blue Line" which was an offside line across the field, 35 yards from the goal line. Thereafter, no player could be offside unless he had crossed the 35-yard line. This made the NASL unique in the soccer world; the league received temporary approval for the change from FIFA on an experimental basis only. The league also switched the playoff format to single-match elimination contests rather than series.

New teams

• None

Teams folding

• None

Teams moving

• Washington Darts to Miami Gatos

Name changes

• None

6 points for a win, 3 points for a tie, 0 points for a loss, 1 point for each goal scored up to three per game.

Northern Division W L T GF GA PT

New York Cosmos 7 3 4 28 16 77

Rochester Lancers 6 5 3 20 22 64

Montreal Olympique 4 5 5 19 20 57

Toronto Metros 4 6 4 18 22 53

Southern Division W L T GF GA PT

St. Louis Stars 7 4 3 20 14 69

Dallas Tornado 6 5 3 15 12 60

Atlanta Chiefs 5 6 3 19 18 56

Miami Gatos 3 8 3 17 32 44

Semifinals

August 15	Rochester Lancers	0–2	St. Louis Stars

---

August 19	Dallas Tornado	0–1	New York Cosmos

NASL Final 1972

August 26 New York Cosmos	2–1	St. Louis Stars
The losing finalist.

1972 NASL Champions:New York Cosmos

Asian Champions' Cup

 

Asian Champions' Cup 1972

(to be played in Tehran)

The tournament was to have had seven entrants:

Rangers                  Hkg
Perspolis                Irn
Maccabi Netanya          Isr
Al-Qadisiya              Kuw
Racing Beirut            Leb
Korea University         SKo
Port Authority           Tha

These had already been drawn into two groups:

Group A
Maccabi Netanya
Rangers
Korea University

Group B
Perspolis
Port Authority
Al-Qadisiya
Racing Beirut

However, after Rangers withdrew for financial reasons and Qadisiya and Racing Beirut
refused to play because of Maccabi Netanya's presence, the tournament was cancelled.

African Player Of The Year

 

African Player Of The Year

1st  Chérif Souleymane (Guinea) Hafia 21

2nd  Bwanga Tshimen (Zaire) TP Mazembe 16

3rd  Petit Sory (Guinea) Hafia 14

Cherif Souleymane, born in 1944, started his playing career at 17, when he stadied in DDR to become a plumber. Switched to studying architecture, because it was easier to play football that way – as he revealed years later. So, very unusually for the time, he started playing in Europe and in East Germany at that: first for TSG Neustrelitz (1961-62) and later for SC Neubrandenburg (1962-65) in the Second Division of DDR. In 1965 he returned to Guinea and joined Hafia, than named Conacry II, and stayed with them to the end of his playing days in 1980. He was national team player for Guinea since 1965 and, so far, is the only Guinean voted African Player of the Year. Considering the success of Hafia and his contribution to it – well deserved award.