Red Bulls, Galaxy clash in East, West battle

Soccer Betting Lines

05/09/2008 - Carson, CA (Soccer Betting) - Two of Major League Soccer's biggest markets will clash when the New York Red Bulls travel to California to take on the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday night at the Home Depot Center.

Both teams are trying to establish their spots in their respective conference tables, with the Galaxy currently third in the West and New York second from the bottom in the East.

The Galaxy are the hotter of the two lukewarm teams, unbeaten in their last three including a 2-2 draw with Real Salt Lake in their last league fixture. David Beckham scored two goals less than five minutes apart to give L.A. a share of the points on the road.

"It's what great players do," Galaxy defender Chris Klein said of Beckham. "He delivers good balls, and you have to step to him because he can strike a great ball. On the free kick, everyone knows what he can do there. We're going to need a few of those this year, and he's been known to provide them. I think this is a tip of what he can do, and what everyone has been waiting to see."

All four goals in the 2-2 draw came before the first half break.

"We started coming back into the game just before then and when you're coming back into the game it's important that you keep your eyes on the play," Beckham said. "It was my turn to score the goals tonight instead of Landon (Donovan, who leads MLS with 8 goals), but it's important that all the players take a part of scoring goals and winning games and getting the team back into the game."

"His attitude in those two moments to make the difference," Donovan of Beckham. "Obviously, he has the quality to make the difference. Other people can try it, but can't pull it off - he can. Him saying, 'I'm going to make a difference because we're struggling right now,' then he went and did it - that was the difference between tying the game and losing."

The Red Bulls aren't as confident heading into the match, with number of injury concerns.

Striker Juan Pablo Angel has an injured back, midfielder Claudio Reyna's has a left calf strain, striker Jozy Altidore missed two days of training because of an allergies, and defensive midfielder Seth Stammler suffered a lower back injury at training Wednesday afternoon. Neither Reyna or Stammler will be in action Saturday.

"It's sore," Angel said of his back after the team's draw at Toronto last week. "It got very tight at the end. But I'm happy I managed to play 90 minutes, it'll be good for my fitness. We're just going to have to wait and see how it reacts in the next couple of days ... if it reacts well, that means I'm getting better."

There was some good news from the training room, however, with Dane Richards and Hunter Freeman playing their first minutes of the season last week after coming back from injury. Both Angel and Altidore are expected to play Saturday as well.

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Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting

So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.

Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?

If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)

Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).

In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.

Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.

The Bubble Breakdown
CONFERENCE LOCKS SHOULD BE INS AT-LARGES TAKEN
(assuming no auto bid outlier)
ACC Betting Odds 6 0 5
Big East Betting Odds 5 0 4
Big Ten Betting Odds 2 2 3
Big 12 Betting Odds 3 0 2
Pac-10 Betting Odds 5 1 5
SEC Betting Odds 4 0 3
MVC Betting Odds 1 1 1
MWC Betting Odds 2 1 2
TOTAL 28 5 25

As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.

(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)

If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.

Atlantic Coast Conference

Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech

The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.

 

Work left to do:

Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.

Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).

Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.

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