Seattle edges D.C. United with late winner

Soccer Betting Lines

07/15/2010 - Washington, D.C. (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Roger Levesque scored in the 89th minute and Kasey Keller made five saves, leading Seattle Sounders FC to a 1-0 victory over D.C. United in MLS on Thursday night at RFK Stadium.

Keller made a few great saves for his fifth shutout of the season and Levesque scored his first goal of the year to end Seattle's four-game winless skid.

Seattle (5-8-4) won for just the second time in its last eight matches and for just the second time on the road this season.

D.C. United (3-10-3) became the first team to lose 10 matches in MLS this year and is winless in four straight.

Both clubs created tons of scoring chances, as Fredy Montero and Steve Zakuani both missed wide on early chances and United 17-year-old Andy Najar was denied by Keller in the eighth minute.

Montero forced a save from D.C. goalkeeper Troy Perkins in the 15th minute and D.C.'s Stephen King forced Keller to turn his shot by the post in the 19th.

Najar found the side netting in the 32nd, then Zakuani and Moreno responded on the other end with chances that were both off target.

Seattle's Patrick Ianni turned a header over the crossbar early in the second, and Montero continued the trend of missing the target with a free kick around the right post in the 55th.

United's Chris Pontius followed with a shot wide left in the 59th but D.C. was gifted a chance to take the lead minutes later when Keller came out of his box to challenge Najar. Keller remained on the ground after the challenge, but his absence in goal was wasted by D.C.

Santino Quaranta fired a quick shot at the empty net but Ianni headed the ball off the line to prevent a goal. Keller, who finished the game with a limp, had another save in the 67th on new D.C. signing Pablo Hernandez.

Keller then tipped a long drive from Quaranta over the bar in the 76th and was up to the task again in the 87th when D.C.'s Branko Boskovic directed the ball on goal from close range.

Zakuani fired wide again in the 87th but Seattle found the game-winner seconds later through Levesque. Montero took the ball to the right edge of the box and crossed over Perkins to the far post, where Levesque lunged to head the ball just inside the left post.

Seattle will try to build on the win July 25 when it hosts the Colorado Rapids and D.C. will try to bounce back Sunday when the Los Angeles Galaxy visit.

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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.

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