THROWBACK THURSDAY | U.S. Vs. Canada In 1984 NASL Title Game

The last time an NASL Final was contested by a team from Canada – the Toronto Blizzard – and a team from the United States – the Chicago Sting – was in 1984.

Much has changed in the North American soccer landscape since then, but on Sunday evening The Championship Final will be won by and the Soccer Bowl trophy will be hoisted by either a team from Canada – Ottawa Fury FC – or a team from the United States – the New York Cosmos -- to crown the 2015 champion of the NASL’s Modern Era.

The format to claim the Soccer Bowl trophy was changed from a single championship game at a neutral site to a Soccer Bowl Series, home-and-away games in 1984 – first at Comiskey Park in Chicago, a 2-1 Sting victory, then at Varsity Stadium in Toronto, a 3-2 Sting win, giving the club its second title in four years.

“Honestly, it really wasn’t such a big deal that a Canadian team was playing a team from the U.S.,” said Bruce Wilson, a Vancouver native and Canadian international who played in the 1986 World Cup and for the Whitecaps, Sting, Cosmos and Blizzard. Wilson has been the coach of the University of Victoria for the past 28 years. “But Toronto did surprise people because we went to two finals in a row. We had a mix of players, Canadian and American. It may have been a rivalry in some people’s mind, but not like the rivalry with national teams.”

In those days, hard to imagine, Canada’s national team was pre-eminent. Its Olympic team went to the quarterfinals at the Los Angeles Games (losing to Brazil, the silver medalist, in a penalty-kick shootout) while the United States did not make it past the first round. Canada went on to play in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, though Canada has not qualified since.

Game 1 of the Soccer Bowl Series at Chicago included an odd twist when Wilson, a defender not exactly noted for his prowess on offense, gave the Blizzard a 1-0 lead in the 16th minute.

“It was a rainy, rainy night and not a lot of people (8,352) showed up,” Wilson said. “I played a ball to our center forward. He missed it and it ended up rolling through the legs of the goalkeeper [Victor Nogueira]. It was kind of funny.”

Chicago stormed back to win on goals by Pato Margetic and Manny Rojas.

Two days later in Toronto, it was another defender scoring an unexpected goal, this time Chicago’s Mark Simonton, who is now a businessman in the Chicago area. He gave the Sting the lead in the 17th minute.

“We had both Americans and Canadians, on the team, a lot of North Americans,” Simonton said. “Seven guys from either Canada or the U.S. starting. The ’81 team only had three or four guys, at most, starting. It was a struggle being a citizen and trying to get a job in the starting lineup. But by that time we had gotten more competitive as a group.”

Game 2 in Canada, Chicago built a 2-0 lead on the goal by Simonton and a goal by Margetic, the charismatic Argentine striker, in the 68th minute. But the Blizzard tied the game on goals two minutes apart by John Paskin and the Italian star Roberto Bettega. Margetic won the match, and Soccer Bowl for Chicago when he scored his third goal of the series, in the 82nd minute.

“It was a great time in my life,” Simonton said. “We won. It was a great final. I marked David Byrne, one of their leading scorers. I know the format changed, but I kind of liked it because it gave us a home game, rather than a game at a neutral site like in 1981 when we beat the Cosmos in Toronto.”

Five seasons into the league’s reboot, the two best teams in the 2015 regular season will meet at Shuart Stadium in Hempstead, N.Y., in a renewal of an international series lost to history, but not to memory.