Miami Toros

North American Soccer League (1973-1976)

Tombstone

Born: January 17, 1973 – The Miami Gatos re-brand as the Miami Toros¹
Moved: December 21, 1976 (Fort Lauderdale Strikers)

First Game: May 5, 1973 (L 2-0 vs. Montreal Olympique)
Last Game: August 15, 1976 (W 5-4 @ Boston Minutemen)

NASL Championships: None

Stadia

1973-1975: The Orange Bowl (80,000)²
Opened: 1937
Demolished: 2008

1974, 1976: Tamiami Stadium

Marketing

Team Colors: Maroon & White³

Ownership

Owners: Angel Lorie, James Billings, Harper Sibley and Elizabeth Robbie, et al.

Trophy Case

NASL Most Valuable Player

1973: Warren Archibald
1975: Steve David

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Miami Toros NASL
Logo T-Shirt

Miami’s pro soccer club of the early 1970’s enjoyed their finest hour in August 1974, hosting the North American Soccer League title game at the Orange Bowl before a national television audience on CBS. But the Toros lost the high-scoring affair in heartbreaking fashion on penalty kicks.

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Background

The Miami Toros were a North American Soccer League franchise for four summers during the mid-1970’s. The Robbie family, owners of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, were the Toros’ primary financial backers. The club was known as the Miami Gatos in 1972 before a name change.

Trinidadian strikers Warren Archibald and Steve David led the Toros attack. Archibald was named the NASL’s Most Valuable Player in 1973. David earned the honor in 1975.

1974 Championship Game at Orange Bowl

The Toros’ finest season came in 1974. The club won the NASL’s Eastern Division with a 9-5-6 record. Steve David finished third in the league in goals with 13. Roberto Aguirre and Ronnie Sharp were formidable midfielders and both earned selection to the NASL’s 1st Team All-Star squad. Osvaldo Toriani played every minute of the 1974 season in goal.

The Toros hosted the 1974 NASL Championship Game in withering heat on August 25th, 1974. The Los Angeles Aztecs earned the right to host the game by virtue of a better record. But CBS, which broadcast the title game nationwide, intervened to move the game to the Miami’s Orange Bowl. Attendance was disappointing with just 15,507 in the stands and the telecast was blacked out in Miami.

Toros defender Ralph Wright opened the scoring with a header in the 17th minute. Miami never trailed in the match, but never put it away either. Tied 1-1 late, the Toros and Aztecs exchanged four goals in the final 20 minutes to finish regulation tied at 3-3. The Aztecs bested the Toros on penalty kicks to claim the title.

Final Seasons and Move to Fort Lauderdale

The Toros were strong again in 1975 with 14 wins and 8 losses. Steve David scored at an astounding pace (23 goals in 21 matches) and the club advanced to the playoff semi-finals before losing to the Tampa Bay Rowdies.

In 1976 the Toros cut back across the board. 1973 league MVP Warren Archibald was traded away. David had an off year and found himself on th bench. Other veterans of the Toros superior 1974-1975 squads were cut or dealt away. The team moved from the Orange Bowl to smaller Tamiami Park, where official attendance dwindled to 3,000 per game – fewer than half the Toros’ 1974 peak of over 7,000 per match.

In December 1976, owner Elizabeth Robbie moved the Toros to Lockhart Stadium in nearby Fort Lauderdale. As part of the switch, the club re-branded as the Fort Lauderdale Strikers.

The Strikers thrived for a time in Fort Lauderdale and imported global stars including George Best, Gerd Muller and Teofilo Cubillas. The team eventually moved to Minnesota in 1984 and became an indoor soccer team later that year when the NASL went out of business. The Robbie family owned the Strikers franchise until it finally went out of business in June 1988.

Miami Toros Shop

Rock n' Roll Soccer

The Short Life and Fast Times of the North American Soccer League

by Ian Plenderleith

The North American Soccer League – at its peak in the late 1970s – presented soccer as performance, played by men with a bent for flair, hair and glamour. More than just Pelé and the New York Cosmos, it lured the biggest names of the world game like Johan Cruyff, Franz Beckenbauer, Eusebio, Gerd Müller and George Best to play the sport as it was meant to be played-without inhibition, to please the fans.

The first complete look at the ambitious, star-studded NASL, Rock ‘n’ Roll Soccer reveals how this precursor to modern soccer laid the foundations for the sport’s tremendous popularity in America today.