1989 American Soccer League
Football league season
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The 1989 American Soccer League was the second and final season of the American Soccer League. In 1990, the league merged to form the American Professional Soccer League.
Season1989
ChampionsFort Lauderdale Strikers
(1st title)
(1st title)
PremiersWashington Stars
(1st title)
(1st title)
Matches100
| Season | 1989 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1st title) |
| Premiers | Washington Stars (1st title) |
| Matches | 100 |
| Goals | 266 (2.66 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | Ricardo Alonso, Mirko Castillo (10 goals) |
← 1988 | |
League standings
Northern Division
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | PKW | PKL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Washington Stars | 20 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 19 | 14 | +5 | 37 |
| 2 | Boston Bolts | 20 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 27 | 19 | +8 | 37 |
| 3 | Albany Capitals | 20 | 10 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 29 | 19 | +10 | 36 |
| 4 | Maryland Bays | 20 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 28 | 32 | −4 | 27 |
| 5 | New Jersey Eagles | 20 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 21 | 35 | −14 | 21 |
Southern Division
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | PKW | PKL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 20 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 32 | 25 | +7 | 35 |
| 2 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 20 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 33 | 25 | +8 | 35 |
| 3 | Washington Diplomats | 20 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 32 | 26 | +6 | 33 |
| 4 | Orlando Lions | 20 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 25 | 20 | +5 | 30 |
| 5 | Miami Sharks | 20 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 20 | 51 | −31 | 9 |
Playoffs
Bracket
| Semifinals Best-of-3 | 1989 ASL Championship Best-of-3 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Washington Diplomats | 1 | 1 | - | |||||||||
| 4 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 3 | 3 | - | |||||||||
| 4 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||||||||
| 3 | Boston Bolts | 0 | 2 | 0 | |||||||||
| 2 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 0 | 1 | - | |||||||||
| 3 | Boston Bolts | 2 | 2 | - | |||||||||
Semifinal 1
| Fort Lauderdale Strikers (FL) | 3–1 | Washington Stars (DC) |
|---|---|---|
Ricardo Alonso  44:58' (Moreland)Ricardo Alonso 62:49' (Donev)Ricardo Alonso 69:40' (Carrera, Magallanes)Victor Moreland  81:14' |
Report | Scott Snyder 30:50' (Vaudrieul) Dave Vaudrieul 35:30'Doug Davies 81:14' |
| Washington Stars (DC) | 1–3 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers (FL) |
|---|---|---|
| Scott Snyder 41:51' (Stone, Maier) |
Report | Marcelo Carrera 20' (Moreland) Pedro Magallanes 53:29'Pedro Magallanes 65:00' (Moreland) |
Attendance: 3,287
Fort Lauderdale advances two games to none.
Semifinal 2
| Boston Bolts (MA) | 2–0 | Tampa Bay Rowdies (FL) |
|---|---|---|
| Steve Potter 54:14' Stan Koziol 76:09' |
Report | Perry Van der Beck 29' |
| Tampa Bay Rowdies (FL) | 1–2 | Boston Bolts (MA) |
|---|---|---|
| Steve Wegerle 51:45' (pen.) |
Report | Patrick Hughes 41:45' Steve Potter 85:30' (Hughes) |
Attendance: 5,101
Boston advances two games to none.
ASL Championship Final
| Higher seed | Series | Lower seed | Game 1 | Game 2 | Mini-game | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston Bolts | 1–2 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | August 19 • Lockhart Stadium • 5,752 August 26 • Nickerson Field • 5,730 |
Game 1
| Fort Lauderdale Strikers (FL) | 1–0 | Boston Bolts (MA) |
|---|---|---|
| Marcelo Carrera 4:38' |
Report | Greg Kenney 44:40' |
Attendance: 5,752
Game 2
| Boston Bolts (MA) | 2–0 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers (FL) |
|---|---|---|
| Steve Potter 57:10' (Donigan, George) Paul Duffy 74:03' |
Report |
Attendance: 5,730
Mini-game
| Boston Bolts (MA) | 0–1 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers (FL) |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Marcelo Carrera 7:46' (Eichmann, Alonso) |
Attendance: 5,730
Points leaders
| Rank | Scorer | Club | Goals | Assists | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ricardo Alonso | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 10 | 7 | 27 |
| 2 | Mirko Castillo | Miami Sharks | 10 | 1 | 21 |
| 3 | Martin Hill | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 7 | 6 | 20 |
| Leonel Suazo | Washington Diplomats | 7 | 6 | 20 | |
| 5 | Jean Harbor | Washington Diplomats | 7 | 5 | 19 |
| 6 | Marcello Bauza | Washington Diplomats | 9 | 0 | 18 |
| 7 | Marcelo Carrera | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 4 | 10 | 18 |
| Steve Wegerle | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 4 | 10 | 18 | |
| 9 | Rod Castro | Orlando Lions | 8 | 1 | 17 |
| 10 | Scott Snyder | Washington Stars | 7 | 3 | 17 |
| 11 | Steve Kinsey | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 6 | 5 | 17 |
| 12 | Elvis Comrie | Albany Capitals | 7 | 2 | 16 |
| 13 | Jorge Acosta | New Jersey Eagles | 7 | 1 | 15 |
| 14 | Sadri Gjonbalaj | New Jersey Eagles | 6 | 3 | 15 |
| Paul Rutenis | Maryland Bays | 6 | 3 | 15 | |
| 15 | Dan Donigan | Boston Bolts | 4 | 7 | 15 |
| 16 | Pedro Magallanes | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 5 | 4 | 14 |
| 17 | Franklin McIntosh | Orlando Lions | 4 | 6 | 14 |
| 18 | Chico Borja | Albany Capitals | 1 | 12 | 14 |
| 19 | Patrick Hughes | Boston Bolts | 4 | 5 | 13 |
| 20 | Paul Duffy | Boston Bolts | 4 | 4 | 13 |
1989 ASL All-Star game
The ASL All-Star game was hosted by the Washington Diplomats at RFK Stadium. Players that were unable to play due to injury, as well as any Dips selected to the squad were replaced, since the All-Stars' opponent was the Dips.
All-Star selections
| All-Stars[1] | Position | Alternates |
|---|---|---|
| Winston DuBose, Tampa Bay | G | Neil Cowley, Washington • Greg Kenney, Boston |
| Mike Windischmann, Albany | D | Dehinde Akiniotan, Boston |
| Steve Trittschuh, Tampa Bay | D | - |
| Ronald Simmons, Albany | D | - |
| Ricardo Alonso, Fort Lauderdale | D | - |
| Tab Ramos, Miami | M | Steve Wegerle, Tampa Bay |
| John Harkes, Albany | M | Paul Riley, New Jersey |
| Michael Brady, Washington | M | Osvaldo Ardiles, Fort Lauderdale |
| Jean Harbor, Washington | F | Steve Kinsey, Fort Lauderdale |
| Phillip Gyau, Maryland | F | - |
| Rod Castro, Orlando | F | - |
| Lincoln Phillips, Maryland | Coach | - |
Match summary
| Washington Diplomats | 1–2 | ASL All-Stars |
|---|---|---|
| Suazo 69:46' (Melendez, Perez) |
Report | Gyau 24:41' (Riley, Kinsey) Rod Castro 27:22' (Alonso) |
Attendance: 4,375
- All-Star game MVP: Osvaldo Ardiles[2]
Post-season honors
All A-League Team
- Goalkeeper: Neil Cowley, Winston DuBose
- Defenders: Dehinde Akinlotan, Ricardo Alonso, Eric Hawkes, Ronald Simmons, Steve Trittschuh
- Midfielders: Osvaldo Ardiles, John Harkes, Willington Ortiz, Tab Ramos, Paul Riley
- Forwards: Chico Borja, Michael Brady, John Kerr, Jr., Steve Kinsey, Steve Wegerle
1989 National Professional Soccer Championship
In anticipation of a proposed merger (which took place the following year) the ASL champions faced off against the Western Soccer League champions in the 1989 National Pro Soccer Championship on September 9 in San Jose, California's Spartan Stadium. This would be the first time since 1984 that an undisputed national champion of professional soccer was crowned in the United States.[3]
Match report
San Diego Nomads  | 1–3 |  Fort Lauderdale Strikers |
|---|---|---|
| Watson 73:13' (Nguyen) Ortiz 86:10' |
Report | Moreland 44:40' Eichmann 74:24' (Alonso)Edwards 84:40' (Carrera)Carrera 89:00' (Moreland) |