By Dave Litterer of The US Soccer History Archives, with supplemental materials by Steve Holroyd

The MISL entered its second decade with eleven teams and an expanded 56 game schedule, its most grueling yet. The league marked the anniversary by signing a two-year TV agreement with FNN/SCORE. This package included a Friday game of the week, as well as the all-star game, the entire championship series and a weekly highlight show. Early in the season, Steve Zungul became the first player in league and indoor history to score 1,000 points.

The regular season featured the return of San Diego to championship form as the Sockers took the West Division by 11 games. In the East, the Minnesota Strikers took the divisional title in a close race with perennial favorite Cleveland, with Dallas not far behind. Some new players made their mark in the scoring race as Wichita's Erik Rasmussen won his first scoring title, followed by Preki of Tacoma. Steve Zungul, feeling his age, continued to slide down the list. The playoffs saw few surprises, with favored teams generally prevailing until a minor upset in the divisional finals when Cleveland beat the Minnesota Strikers to set up a championship series with the San Diego Sockers. San Diego completed its triumphant return by taking the series in four straight to win yet another league title. Attendance was down slightly, to 8,439 per game, but the longer season boosted total attendance to 2,599,101.

By the end of the 1987-88 season, the protracted salary war with the AISA really began to take its toll. The league demanded that the Major indoor Soccer League Players' Association accept a plan for reducing the salary comepensation cap. Commissioner Bill Kenting offered a plan for reducing player contracts 33% across the board. By April, after marathon negotiations, the league and MISLPA reached a two-year stabilization agreement. This wasn't enough to save some franchises however. The two division winners were near death, as were several other strong teams. San Diego filed for bankruptcy and in June, Chicago, St. Louis, Tacoma and Minnesota all folded. In July, the board of directors called a special meeting to discuss the future of the league. John Kerr, head of the MISLPA was intensively involved, and by July 18, the two sides signed a four year collective bargaining agreement, which reduced the team salary cap to $850,000 per year. Cleveland dropped out shortly after this agreement, but San Diego was sold to new owners, and a new franchise was awarded to Tacoma allowing the league to continue in 1988-89 as a seven team circuit.

Divisional Semifinals
Minnesota defeated Baltimore, 5-3, 4-2, 1-5, 9-4
Cleveland defeated Dallas, 3-2, 3-6, 5-4 (2OT), 5-2
Kansas City defeated Los Angeles, 9-6, 4-2, 7-5
San Diego defeated Tacoma, 6-2, 3-4 (OT), 7-2, 7-6

Divisional Finals
Cleveland defeated Minnesota, 7- 3, 0-7, 5-4, 5-2, 7-2
San Diego defeated Kansas City, 4-5, 5-4, 6-7 (OT) 3-7, 7-1, 6-1, 8-5

Championship
San Diego defeated Cleveland, 6- 5 (OT), 6-1, 3-2, 7-4

After the season, Chicago, Tacoma, Cleveland, St. Louis and Minnesota folded.

All-Star Game:  Western Division defeated Eastern Division 9-3 in overtime.
(at Tacoma.  Att:  17,251.  MVP:  Preki)

Leading Scorers                   GP   G   A   TP
Erik Rasmussen, Wichita           51  55  57  112
Preki, Tacoma                     56  53  58  111
Jan Goossens, Kansas City         53  45  56  101
Chico Borja, Los Angeles          54  47  51   98
Dale Mitchell, Kansas City        51  48  47   95
Branko Sebota, San Diego          45  56  33   89
Thompson Uslyan, Los Angeles      51  52  36   88
Steve Zungul, Tacoma              52  47  41   88
Hector Marinaro, Minnesota        56  58  23   81
Poli Garcia, St. Louis            56  50  30   80
David Byrne, Minnesota            47  35  42   77
Craig Allen, Cleveland            47  41  32   73
Godfrey Ingram, Dallas            51  40  25   65

LEADING GOALKEEPERS   (Min. 1344 minutes to qualify)

                             GP    Min. Sho  Svs   GA   W-L   GAA
Zoltan Toth, San Diego       28  1673   648  359   82   21-6  2.94
Krys Soboeski, Dallas        30  1836   979  364   98  17-13  3.20
Jim Gorsek, San Diego        29  1730   620  307   99   21-8  3.43
Joe Papaleo, Dallas          26  1537   790  335   94  11-15  3.62
P. J. Johns, Cleveland       36  2159  1035  474  134  19-17  3.72
Chris Vaccaro, Chicago       49  2827  1231  543  184  23-23  3.91
Tino Lettieri, Minnesota     44  2588  1089  459  172  24-19  3.99
Nenad Zigante, Wichita       38  2179   850  388  153  19-14  4.21
Scott Manning, Baltimore     43  2287  1047  467  166  19-20  4.36
Mike Dowler, Tacoma          51  2977  1544  623  224  26-23  4.51
 
Most Valuable Player:  Erik Rasmussen, Wichita Wings
Coach of the Year:  Ron Newman, San Diego Sockers
MISL Scoring Champion:  Erik Rasmussen, Wichita Wings
MISL Pass Master (most Assists):  Preki, Tacoma Stars
Defender of the Year:  Kevin Crow, San Diego Sockers
Goalkeeper of the Year:  Zoltan Toth, San Diego Sockers
Rookie of the Year:  David Doyle, Kansas City Comets
Newcomer of the Year:  Nanad Zigante, Wichita Wings
Championship Series Player of the Year:  Hugo Perez, San Diego Sockers
Championship Series Unsung Hero:  George Fernandez, San Diego Sockers

All-MISL team:

G - Zoltan Toth, San Diego Sockers
D - Fernando Clavijo, San Diego Sockers
D - Kevin Crow, San Diego Sockers
M - Branko Segota, San Diego Sockers
F - Preki, Tacoma Stars
F - Erik Rasmussen, Wichita Wings