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morial Coliseum on 14th July 1967. Chick Hearn, play-by-play announcer for the Los Angeles Lakers, introduces the highlights and provides his unique commentary on the match. In 1967 the United Soccer Association announced plans for the formation of a professional league in North America. However a rival group known as the National Professional Soccer League, having secured a TV contract from CBS, intended to launch a professional league in advance of the USA. In order to gain an advantage over their rivals, the USA brought forward its launch and, without any players of its own, imported entire teams from Europe and South America to represent various city franchises. Wolverhampton Wanderers, who had won promotion to the First Division at the end of the 1966-67 season, represented Los Angeles - the franchise being bought for $250,000 by Jack Kent Cooke, owner of the LA Lakers and future owner of the Washington Redskins. Based for the nine week duration at the Sheraton West Hotel and travelling extensively throughout the continent, Wolves secured the Western Division ahead of Dutch team ADO Den Haag (San Francisco Golden Gate Gales) to advance to the Championship where Aberdeen (Washington Whips) awaited. The Championship match at the LA Memorial Coliseum was an absolute classic, albeit, bad-tempered encounter. Both teams provided fast, attacking football with a total of eleven goals scored (including two hat-tricks), three penalties, a sending-off and an own goal in sudden-death 'overtime' that secured the Championship for Wolves in the 126th minute of the match! In his autobiography 'Waggy's Tales', Wolves left-winger Dave Wagstaffe recalls "... looking at the stadium clock as the teams walked out and it was 20 minutes to 8 o'clock. The kick-off was scheduled for 8 o'clock, leaving 20 minutes for the introduction of the teams and all the razzmatazz that the Americans love before a game." Following the trophy presentation and speeches at the end of the match, as the two teams left the stadium to the cheers of the 17,824 crowd that had remained to the very end, Wagstaffe once again looked up at the clock; "It was 20 minutes to 12. We had been on the field for four hours." Wolves: Parkes, Taylor, Thomson, Holsgrove, Woodfield, Burnside, Wharton, Hunt, Dougan, Knowles, Wagstaffe Aberdeen: Clarke, Whyte, Shewan, Munro, McMillan, Peterson, Storrie, Smith, Johnston, Buchan, Wilson The performance in the final of Aberdeen's inside-forward Frank Munro, who scored a hat-trick, impressed Wolves manager Ronnie Allen to the extent that he signed Munro in January 1968. In his subsequent near-decade long career at Molineux, Munro provided outstanding service to Wolves following his conversion into a stylish centre-half, becoming one of the most popular and finest Wolves players of the post-war period. For more on Wolves' fourteen game, nine week tour of North America in 1967: http://www.wolvesheroes.com/2009/05/04/usa-1967/