Braun leads Chivas USA to road win against K.C.

Soccer Betting Lines

07/10/2010 - Kansas City, KS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Justin Braun scored two goals in the second half as Chivas USA defeated the Kansas City Wizards, 2-0, on Saturday night at CommunityAmerica Ballpark for its first MLS victory in more than two months.

Braun scored in the 56th and 87th minutes, helping Chivas USA end a seven-game winless run dating back to a 4-0 win over the New England Revolution on May 5. Braun leads Chivas (4-9-2) with six goals.

Kansas City (3-8-3) lost its third straight. The Wizards have just one victory in their last 12 MLS matches.

K.C. created better chances in the first half, but Davy Arnaud fired high, Kei Kamara was denied off a well-executed free kick by Chivas goalie Zach Thornton and Josh Wolff couldn't solve Thornton from a tough angle.

Thornton left the match with an apparent ankle injury after the save on Wolff, and Michael Lahoud followed with a half-chance that K.C. goalie Jimmy Nielsen saved to keep the match scoreless at halftime.

Four streakers ran onto the field at halftime but Braun turned heads after the break. Kamara turned a header wide early for K.C., then Braun scored the first of his two goals to send Chivas on its way to its second road win this year.

Braun latched onto a poor clearance from Wizards defender Jimmy Conrad and hit the upper-right corner from 17 yards to leave Nielsen no chance in the 56th.

Stephane Auvray should have tied the match with just over 15 minutes remaining but put a wide-open header into the side netting off a corner from just a few yards out.

Braun followed with his second goal, this time on a perfect shot from the edge of the area to the top-left corner to seal the win with three minutes left.

K.C. will try to bounce back Wednesday with its first road win of the year at the Columbus Crew. Chivas is off until July 24 when it visits Real Salt Lake.

Waskjeeves Soccer Betting News

<< Rockies surge to sixth straight win
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Gonzalez and Melvin Mora belted home runs in support of Jason Hammel's 6 1/3 sturdy innings in Colorado's 4-2 win over San Diego in the middle test of a three-game series. Brad Eldred added a hom

<< Tillman shines as Orioles top Lee in Rangers' debut
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Tillman overshadowed the much- anticipated Rangers debut of Cliff Lee with 7 1/3 innings of one-run ball, and the Baltimore Orioles recorded their first road series win of 2010 with a 6-1 victory

<< Posey stays hot, keys late rally for Giants
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Buster Posey singled in the go-ahead run during a rally in the seventh inning and added a two-run homer in the ninth, as the Giants upended the Washington Nationals, 10-5, to win for the fifth time in

<< Ruiz breaks up perfect game, scores winner in 11th for Phillies
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Philadelphia catcher Carlos Ruiz broke up Travis Wood's bid for perfection with a leadoff double in the ninth inning and scored the winning run on Jimmy Rollins' single in the bottom of the 11th, as the Phi

<< Blazers sign G Matthews to offer sheet
Portland, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Portland Trail Blazers have signed restricted free agent guard Wesley Matthews to an offer sheet. Financial details were not disclosed, but a report in the Oregonian places the pact at five yea

Reutimann reigns at Chicagoland >>
Joliet, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David Reutimann captured his second career Sprint Cup Series win by taking Saturday's LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. Reutimann passed Jeff Gordon for the lead with 54 laps remaining and held off Carl

Kennedy, D-Backs edge Florida >>
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ian Kennedy pitched into the sixth inning for his first victory in nearly two months as Arizona held off the Florida Marlins, 5-4, in the third portion of a four-game series. Kennedy (4-7), who had lo

On The Tab registers Yonkers Trot win >>
Yonkers, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - On The Tab, driven by David Miller, overtook stablemate Senor Glide down the stretch to win Saturday night's $573,770 Yonkers Trot, the first leg of trotting's Triple Crown. The time for the 56th Yonke

Columbus earns draw at Houston >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - William Hesmer posted his sixth shutout of the season as the Columbus Crew earned their sixth result in seven road games with a 0-0 tie Saturday against the Houston Dynamo at Robertson Stadium in MLS. Columbus

Davis leads offensive charge in A's rout of Angels >>
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rajai Davis' grand slam capped an eight-run third inning as the Oakland Athletics clobbered the LA Angels of Anaheim, 15-1, in the second of a three-game set. Davis finished 4-for-5 with five RBI, two

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.