FCD, Chicago aiming to get on track

Soccer Betting Lines

05/26/2010 - Bridgeview, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - FC Dallas travels to take on the Chicago Fire in a mid-week Major League Soccer clash on Thursday night at Toyota Park.

Both teams are sitting on just two wins to start the season, while taking winless streaks into Thursday's fixture.

Dallas (2-2-5) is coming off a 1-0 loss to the Los Angeles Galaxy in what coach Schellas Hyndman called his team's "worst performance since I've been here."

"I think we're too good of a team to have that poor of a performance," he told mlssoccer.com. "It was just very disjointed. I think we're much better than that."

The loss was just FCD's second of the season, but because of its five draws, it needs to pick up the pace to stay in the playoff race almost a third of the way into the season.

Chicago (2-3-3), which hasn't been much better, is on a three-game winless streak. A 2-2 draw at Kansas City last weekend in which it jumped out to a 2-0 advantage before being forced to share the points feels like a loss.

"Giving up that goal right after we scored the second one really hurt us," Fire midfielder Logan Pause said. "It is pretty disheartening, to go up two to zero and work extremely hard, but with the amount of pressure the Wizards put on and the numbers they throw we really needed another goal to put it away, but unfortunately we dropped points. The way this locker room feels right now this game was like a loss. We did enough to win this game, but we did drop two points and we aren't happy about it, regardless if it was on the road."

"We started very well, and we finished bad,' Fire coach Carlos de los Cobos said. "We defended very close to our box, in the last few minutes of the first half we played with a lot of risk, and they pushed us. In the second half, the substitutions performed well and changed the face of the team. But it was a difficult game because they are a very good team with good players. I am happy with our players, they worked hard, but the end result was not good for us."

The Fire will have to find a way to rebound without forward Calen Carr, midfielder John Thorrington, and defender Tim Ward because of injuries. Defender Mike Banner is also questionable with a quad injury.

FC Dallas is relatively healthy, with only midfielder Marvin Chavez and his ankle injury showing up on the injury report.

Wwmsnbc Soccer Betting News

<< Kings sign F Parse
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Kings agreed to terms on a two-year contract with forward Scott Parse on Wednesday. The 25-year-old registered 11 goals and 24 points with a plus-13 rating in 59 games during his first NHL

<< Tentative agreement reached on new CBA in CFL
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Canadian Football League Player Relations Committee and Canadian Football League Players' Association have reached a tentative agreement on the terms of a new collective bargaining agreement. The agre

<< Jury awards $1.25M in lawsuit against Tubby Smith
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -A jury in Minneapolis has awarded an assistant coach nearly $1.25 million in his lawsuit against Minnesota basketball coach Tubby Smith over an aborted hiring.Jimmy Williams was an assistant at Oklahoma State when Smith called him

<< Great Alaska Shootout announces 2010 field
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -Arizona State and St. Johns will be on the basketball court for the 2010 Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout.Steve Cobb, athletic director for tournament host Alaska-Anchorage, says the Thanksgiving week field also will inclu

<< Royals earn split with Rangers
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Billy Butler went 2-for-4 with a solo homer, and Luke Hochevar tossed eight strong innings, as the Kansas City Royals earned a 5-2 win over the Texas Rangers in the finale of a brief two- game se

Oakland sends Crisp back to DL >>
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Athletics put outfielder Coco Crisp back on the 15-day disabled list on Wednesday with a strained intercostal muscle on his right side. Crisp, who has played only two games this sea

Jeter's homer lifts Yanks over Twins in completion of suspended game >>
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Derek Jeter's sixth-inning homer was the difference as the New York Yankees clipped Minnesota, 1-0, in the completion of a suspended contest at Target Field. Tuesday's game was delayed 1 hour, 23 m

Mariners rally in eighth inning to shock Tigers >>
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Josh Wilson capped a four-run rally in the eighth inning with a two-run single for the Mariners, who stormed back to capture a 5-4 victory over the Detroit Tigers, sweeping a two-game set at Safeco

Redskins' Doughty signs tender >>
Ashburn, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Redskins on Wednesday announced that safety Reed Doughty signed his tender offer. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the Washington Post reported it is for approximately $1.75

Yankees sign Gaudin >>
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Yankees announced Wednesday that the club signed pitcher Chad Gaudin to a major league contract and added him to the 25-man roster. To make room on the 40-man roster, the Yankees desi

Betting Football

NFL Football Betting Online

Is there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?

I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.

Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.

There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.

Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.

For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.

A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.

The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.

Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.

So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.

Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.

“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.

Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.

“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.

It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.

Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.

The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.

“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.

“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”

Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.

The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.

“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”

Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?

“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”

Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.