D.C., Dallas take mid-week confidence boost in weekend

Soccer Betting Lines

05/07/2010 - Frisco, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - D.C. United and FC Dallas, the two last place teams in their respective conferences, square off in a Major League Soccer clash on Saturday night.

While both teams have gotten off to slow starts this season, both are also feeling good after earning mid-week victories.

United (1-5-0) got two goals from forward Danny Allsopp to top the Kansas City Wizards 2-1 at RFK Stadium on Wednesday.

"Obviously it feels great," United coach Curt Onalfo said of his team collecting its first win of the season. "It's just one win but it's certainly an important one. What we've dealt with over five weeks in terms of adversity has been very trying and I commend our group for not letting any negativity enter into our group and understanding along the way what it takes to win games in this league. It takes hard work, it takes sacrifice, it takes playing every play like it's the last. We had a very good, hard-fought, workmanlike effort for 90 minutes and it's really encouraging to get the victory."

United rookie Bill Hamid also stepped in goal and played very well in place of veteran Matt Pickens, who has been disappointing so far this season.

"I thought [Hamid] performed extremely well," Onalfo said. "He's 19-years-old and it's his first MLS game. I think he looked a little bit shaky on a couple of plays but that's normal but he's a gamer and that's the kind of performance he put in during preseason and that's the reason why he's our backup. I'm proud of his performance and I thought he had a really solid game."

Dallas (1-1-4) is also coming off its first win of the season after earning draws in four of its first five league fixtures to start the season. A 1-0 result at Houston while playing down a man is as good as it gets for Dallas faithful.

"I think the team is on the right track and I think it was a heck of an effort [at Houston on Wednesday]," FCD coach Schellas Hyndman told mlssoccer.com. "Maybe I'm a stubborn coach, but I look at that as the level of expectation. You expect your players to work hard, you expect your players to be physical and you expect your players to be courageous."

Ugo Ihemelu scored the game winner with a little over 10 minutes to play when he knocked home a Dax McCarty's free kick. The kick was headed by Brek Shea to Ihemelu, who headed it home from close range.

FC Dallas will be without defender Jair Benitez on Saturday because of the red card he received late in the game on Wednesday. Also out are defender Kyle Davies and midfielder Marvin Chavez with injury issues.

OUnited will be without defenders Marc Burch, Dejan Jakovic and Bryan Namoff, and forward Chris Pontius, while defender Julius James is questionable and defenders Juan Manuel Pena, Barry Rice and Clyde Simms are probable, all with injuries.

Americansportstake Soccer Betting News


<< Marlins designate Lamb, Petersen brought up
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Florida Marlins have designated infielder Mike Lamb for assignment. The team will have 10 days to trade, waive or release Lamb. If he clears waivers, he can be outrighted to the minor leag

<< L.A. visits Seattle in search of another shutout
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Galaxy are off to an impressive start, as Edson Buddle's MLS-high nine goals has the top-scoring team in the league off to an unbeaten start through seven games. L.A. leads the league with 11

<< Chivas USA hopes recent road success transfers to The HDC pitch
Carson, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chivas USA hopes a strong performance at New England in mid-week win - a 4-0 decision - transfers into a positive result when it hosts Western Conference rivals the Houston Dynamo in Major League Soccer

<< Isner, Querrey reach semis; ailing Djokovic retires in hometown
Belgrade, Serbia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tall Americans John Isner and Sam Querrey posted quarterfinal wins, while Serbian hero Novak Djokovic retired from his match Friday at the clay-court Serbia Open, a French Open tune-up. The to

<< NL Central: Shakeup could be soon be in store for sliding 'Stros
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Having spent the previous six seasons as the bench coach of the Boston Red Sox, Brad Mills was able to experience an enviable run of success. It's a feeling the first-year Houston Astros manager may not be relieving any time

D.C., Dallas take mid-week confidence boost into weekend >>
Frisco, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - D.C. United and FC Dallas, the two last place teams in their respective conferences, square off in a Major League Soccer clash on Saturday night. While both teams have gotten off to slow starts this s

Germany tops USA in overtime at Worlds >>
Gelsenkirchen, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Felix Schutz scored only 21 seconds into overtime to lift Germany to a 2-1 win over the United States in the opening game of the 2010 hockey World Championship. Michael Wolf scored in the seco

Toronto hopes to stay on Fire at home >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Toronto FC coach Preki admitted he made a poor decision leaving Dwayne De Rosario and Julian de Guzman on the bench last week at Real Salt Lake. "The experiment I had tried with the group didn't work," Preki t

Conveyance won't take track in Preakness >>
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Conveyance will not run in the Preakness Stakes on May 15, trainer Bob Baffert announced Friday. Conveyance finished 15th at the Kentucky Derby this past Saturday. Baffert was still non-committal on

Richmond's Anderson opts out of draft >>
Richmond, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - University of Richmond point guard Kevin Anderson has withdrawn his name from the 2010 NBA Draft and will return to the school for his senior season. The deadline for players who have entered the dr

MySportsbook.com offers Blackjack contest and $10,000.00 in Free Prize money!

Every month MySportsbook.com's casino host, Jack Black, gives away $10,000.00 in free casino prize money. To Enter - All you have to do is play at least 10 hands (total) of Blackjack on one of the specified dates of the blackjack contest. The online casino host randomly hands out free bonuses ranging from $50 - $500, and one lucky player who will receive a free $2,500.00 bonus.


"We have been running this monthly free blackjack contest to our active mebers for 5 years now, and the players just love it," says Jack Black, online casino host at MySportsbook.com. "And why wouldn't they love a free chance to win some extra online blackjack cash."

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts Mastercard needs.

College Football Betting Tips From a Pro

While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.

Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.

The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.

What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.

These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.

College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.

Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.

Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.

Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.

I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.

Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.

It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.

As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.

Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NCAA college football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.