The Dallas Tornado team was assembled in the summer of 1967, and was registered for the first season of the NASL (North American Soccer League) in 1968. The coach, known as Bob Kap, travelled around Northern Europe recruiting young players who could portray a stereotypical "All-American" image - most of the players were taken from England, Netherlands, and Scandinavia. None of them had ever visited Dallas. The players were required to have short haircuts and were outfitted with smart matching jackets and ties, and Stetson cowboy hats. After training in Spain and Morocco, the team embarked on an extensive tour across Asia and the Pacific, eventually arriving in Dallas in mid-February 1968. The players were given barely a couple of weeks to settle into their new lives in Texas before the team left again for a short tour of Central America. Exhausted from their touring, the team began the NASL season on 30th March 1968 with a 6-0 home defeat to the Houston Stars. During the 32 game season, they won only two games, drew four, and lost 26, with a goal-difference of minus 81. At the end of the season almost all of the touring players were released by the club. A team named 'Dallas Tornado' had played in the 1967 United Soccer Association league, but it was in fact the Scottish club Dundee United; the other teams in this league were also foreign clubs, which had been assigned to represent American cities. In 1969 Dundee United again played as Dallas Tornado during the 'International Cup' phase of the NASL season. TOURING SQUAD Manager/Coach: Božidar Kapušto 'Bob Kap' (Yugoslavia) Assistant: Frank Randorf (Denmark) Players: Odd Ivar Lindberg (Norway), John Stewart (England), Bobby Roach (England), Eddie Hall (England), Anders Fagri (Norway), Dave Moorcroft (England), Brian Harvey (England), Fons Stoffels (Netherlands), Chris Bachofner (Netherlands), Chris Tönning (Sweden), Mike Renshaw (England), Per Larsen (Norway), Jay Moore (USA), Jan Bock (Sweden), Bill Crosbie (England), Hans Petter Enger (Norway), Graham Stirland (England), Tom Weinholdt (Norway). Of this touring squad, only Mike Renshaw and Brian Harvey were retained after the 1968 season. In 1971 Dallas Tornado won the NASL championship, with Renshaw scoring the winning goal in the playoff final. Renshaw went on to play for the US national team in 1973 (despite the fact that he had not obtained US citizenship, and his work visa had expired). Bob Kap was later influential in introducing "soccer-style" kicking to the NFL. RESULTS The results below have been taken primarily from sources (1) and (2), see below. Where possible the dates, scores, and the natures of the opposition teams have been confirmed via contemporary newspaper reports: in the first column below, 'd' denotes a confirmed date, 's' denotes a confirmed score, and 'o' denotes a confirmed opponent team. Unconfirmed alternatives, mainly from source (2), are shown on the right in square brackets. A report in the 'Mid-Cities Daily News' after the match in Taipei stated that, up to that point, the tour record was W6 D8 L19, which is in agreement with the results below (including those in Spain and Morocco as part of the tour). A second report after the first game in Manila stated that the team had so far scored 56 goals in total, also in agreement. In Spain and Morocco: P5 W3 D0 L2 F11 A16 dso 24- 8 Córdoba Córdoba CF 4-0 Dallas Tornado 29- 8 Alcalá de G. CD Alcalá 4-5 Dallas Tornado dso 8- 9 Coria del Río Coria CF 2-3 Dallas Tornado 15- 9 Tanger UDT 2-3 Dallas Tornado dso 20- 9 Oviedo Real Oviedo CF 4-0 Dallas Tornado World Tour: P40 W7 D9 L24 F66 A93 dso 10-10 İstanbul Fenerbahçe SK 2-2 Dallas Tornado dso 13-10 Limassol Apollon FC 4-2 Dallas Tornado dso 14-10 Nicosia APOEL 5-2 Dallas Tornado dso 17-10 Tehran Iran Air Force 2-1 Dallas Tornado ds 18-10 Tehran Tehran XI 1-1 Dallas Tornado [or vs 'Showa'] d o 20-10 Shiraz Shiraz XI 2-1 Dallas Tornado [or 1-1] d 22-10 Rasht Rasht XI 4-1 Dallas Tornado [or 1-0] ds 24-10 Shahi Shahi XI 2-2 Dallas Tornado dso 27-10 Karachi Pakistan 0-2 Dallas Tornado dso 29-10 Lahore Pakistan 4-1 Dallas Tornado dso 31-10 Dacca Pakistan 5-2 Dallas Tornado dso 1-11 Chittagong Pakistan 0-0 Dallas Tornado dso 5-11 Calcutta Indian FA XI 0-0 Dallas Tornado dso 8-11 New Delhi President's XI 1-0 Dallas Tornado dso 12-11 Bombay President's XI 5-1 Dallas Tornado dso 15-11 Bangalore Governor's XI 3-1 Dallas Tornado dso 17-11 Hyderabad Andhra Pradesh XI 0-0 Dallas Tornado dso 19-11 Madras South India XI 1-4 Dallas Tornado dso 22-11 Colombo Ceylon 2-1 Dallas Tornado dso 24-11 Colombo Ceylon 3-0 Dallas Tornado dso 29-11 Rangoon Burma Youth 4-0 Dallas Tornado dso 1-12 Rangoon Burma Youth 3-1 Dallas Tornado dso 3-12 Singapore Singapore 4-2 Dallas Tornado dso 5-12 Singapore Sino-Malays - Dallas Tornado [cancelled after crowd aggression during previous game] dso 8-12 Jakarta Persija 2-0 Dallas Tornado dso 10-12 Jakarta Indonesia XI 6-1 Dallas Tornado dso 14-12 Saigon S.Vietnam "Youth" 1-1 Dallas Tornado [labelled as a youth team but included senior players] dso 16-12 Saigon Saigon XI 2-2 Dallas Tornado so 20-12 Taipei Taiwan 2-3 Dallas Tornado [or on 19-12] dso 24-12 Tokyo Mitsubishi 2-1 Dallas Tornado dso 26-12 Osaka West Japan XI 3-2 Dallas Tornado dso 1- 1 Manila Manila Chinese XI 0-7 Dallas Tornado dso 5- 1 Manila Philippines 2-1 Dallas Tornado dso 10- 1 Brisbane Queensland 1-0 Dallas Tornado dso 12- 1 Newcastle Northern NSW - Dallas Tornado [cancelled due to waterlogged pitch] dso 17- 1 Adelaide South Australia 2-3 Dallas Tornado dso 19- 1 Sydney Sydney XI 2-1 Dallas Tornado Dallas Tornado's visit to New Zealand 1968 dso 25- 1 Christchurch Christchurch XI 2-2 Dallas Tornado dso 27- 1 Auckland Auckland XI 3-2 Dallas Tornado dso 3- 2 Suva Southern Division 2-10 Dallas Tornado dso 4- 2 Lautoka North-Western XI 1-3 Dallas Tornado d 11- 2 Papeete Tahiti 3-0 Dallas Tornado [or vs Papeete, 2-1] Mini-tour of Central America: P4 W0 D1 L3 F5 A10 dso 6- 3 San José CD Saprissa 3-1 Dallas Tornado dso 8- 3 San José AD Mun. Puntarenas 3-3 Dallas Tornado d 10- 3 Quesada AD San Carlos 2-0 Dallas Tornado d 14- 3 Tegucigalpa CD Olimpia 2-1 Dallas Tornado Overall record: P49 W10 D10 L29 F82 A119 Notes on opposition teams: 15- 9 The identity of the 'UDT' team is unclear. 17-10 Iran Air Force reportedly fielded seven national team players 27-10 & 29-10 entirely West Pakistan players but still a national team organized by the PFF 31-10 mostly East Pakistan players but still a national team organized by the PFF 1-11 national team of combined East and West Pakistan players 5-11 Indian FA XI, i.e. selected by the IFA (West Bengal) rather than the national AIFF 8-11 "President of India's XI" 12-11 West India FA President's XI 15-11 Mysore State Governor's XI 19-11 South India XI consisted of players from the Indian States of Andhra Pradesh, Madras, Mysore, and Kerala 29-11 & 1-12 Burma team labelled as "Aung San selected" 10-12 Indonesia XI was labelled as PSSI Kombinasi 14-12 The South Vietnam team was labelled as a youth selection but included older players 1- 1 Manila Chinese XI selected by FICFRA (Filipino-Chinese Football Referees' Association).
SOURCES:
Newspapers: New York Times, Pittsburgh Gazette, Mid-Cities Daily News (Texas), Cyprus Mail, Times of India (Bombay), Indian Express (Madras), Sunday Standard (Madras), Ceylon Daily News (Colombo), Straits Times (Singapore), Sydney Morning Herald, Kompas (Jakarta), The Guardian (Rangoon), Pakistan Observer (Dacca), Dawn (Karachi), Canberra Times, Fiji Times, La Nación (Costa Rica), El Mundo Deportivo (Barcelona), Gadsden Times (Alabama), Deccan Herald (Bangalore), Statesman (Calcutta), Djakarta Times, Japan Times (Tokyo), Manila Times, Saigon Post Magazine: (1) "The Footballer" Volume 2 No. 1 (Aug/Sep 1989). Webpages: (2) NASL Jerseys (Dave Morrison and Bill Crosbie) RSSSF - Dallas Tornado's visit to New Zealand (Andre Zlotkowski) The American Soccer History Archives (Dave Litterer)
With thanks to Novan Herfiyana, Bobby Moffat (former NASL player), Dave Morrison and Eric Villante
Prepared and maintained by Neil Morrison for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
Author: Neil Morrison
Last updated: 7 Apr 2017
(C) Copyright Neil Morrison and RSSSF 2011/17
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