Chivas wants to spark revival against Wizards

Soccer Betting Lines

07/09/2010 - Kansas City, KS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chivas USA is winless in seven straight MLS games, but first-year coach Martin Vasquez believes Tuesday's victory over the Houston Dynamo in U.S. Open Cup play could ignite the struggling team.

Vasquez has guided Chivas USA to just three wins through 14 league matches but the California club earned its first-ever win at Houston in the Open Cup, 3-1.

Chivas (3-9-2) has won just one game on the road this year in MLS and is 1-5-1 away from The Home Depot Center but visits the Kansas City Wizards on Saturday with more confidence.

"This win is going to help us to grow and to turn this around in MLS," Vasquez said after the quarterfinal win over Houston.

Chivas USA plays Seattle Sounders FC in the Open Cup semifinals, but that game is more than three weeks away. Chivas has three MLS games in the meantime, and the most important is this week at CommunityAmerica Ballpark in Kansas City.

"If we can continue in this tournament and spark a revival in the league, then I'm all for it," said Michael Lahoud, who scored against Houston.

Chivas did earn a result in its last MLS match against the Philadelphia Union, a 1-1 draw. Although it wasn't a good enough effort to end its winless streak, it did snap a six-game losing streak.

Justin Braun scored the other two goals for Chivas against Houston, and on the heels of the huge win at Robertson Stadium, the struggling side hopes to start a surge off the bottom of the Western Conference table with a win at K.C.

Chivas is 25 points behind the Los Angeles Galaxy, and at least 10 points back of the top four clubs in the Western Conference.

Kansas City (3-7-3) hasn't played much better than Chivas USA. Despite sitting in fifth in the Eastern Conference, K.C. is just one point off the bottom. The Columbus Crew are 16 points away in first.

The Wizards lost their last match, 1-0, to FC Dallas to remain winless on the road. David Ferriera scored on a penalty kick for Dallas. Overall, Kansas City has just one win in its last 11 dating back to the second of two straight wins to open the season on April 10.

K.C. coach Peter Vermes made a tactical adjustment against Dallas that did not work but he switched back to the team's familiar 4-3-3 formation in the second half and the team played well enough to take some confidence from the loss.

"Our adjustment back to the 4-3-3 put a lot of pressure on them," Vermes said, "and we started to put them on their heels."

Sportsilne Soccer Betting News

<< Russia, Argentina tied at 1-1 in Davis Cup QF
Moscow, Russia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Friday's opening singles winners in the best-of-five Davis Cup quarterfinal between visiting Argentina and host Russia were David Nalbandian and Mikhail Youzhny, respectively. The oft-injured former W

<< 'Quakes, Union in search of full points at PPL Park
Chester, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Union host the San Jose Earthquakes in Major League Soccer action at PPL Park on Sunday evening. Both teams are coming off of disappointing draws in their last league fixtures,

<< Line of Scrimmage: NFL GameChangers '10: O-Line and TEs
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The news that you are being forced to move to Detroit is, in most cases, best broken gently. No disrespect to the Motor City, which is on the way back under mayor Dave Bing and has produced some of the greate

<< Wizards' top pick Wall sits out with injury
WASHINGTON (AP) -Washington Wizards top draft choice John Wall has missed practice after injuring his groin a day earlier during his first workout with the team.Coach Flip Saunders says the overall No. 1 pick in last month's NBA draft has tightness

<< Rangers re-sign D Girardi
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Rangers have re-signed defenseman Daniel Girardi to an undisclosed contract. The 26-year-old registered six goals and 18 points with a minus-two rating over a full 82-game schedule in 2009-1

Dulgheru, Szavay into Budapest semis >>
Budapest, Hungary (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Second seed Alexandra Dulgheru was a hard-fought quarterfinal winner, while reigning champion Agnes Szavay of Hungary was an easy victor Friday at the $220,000 Budapest Grand Prix. The 21-year-old Dul

Revs hope to make statement vs. Galaxy >>
Foxborough, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New England Revolution have won just one of their last 11 Major League Soccer fixtures. The Los Angeles Galaxy have lost just one in 15 to start the 2010 season. Obviously Saturday's game between the

Toronto adds former Chivas USA striker Santos >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Toronto FC signed forward Maicon Santos, who was the released earlier this week by Chivas USA, the Major League Soccer club announced on Friday. "We are delighted to welcome Maicon on board," TFC manager, di

Sharks sign D Hjalmarsson to offer sheet >>
San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Jose Sharks have signed restricted free agent defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson to an offer sheet. Hjalmarsson skated in 77 games last season for the Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks, who have

NL West: Rockies becoming the hitmen of baseball >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It's all about making the 'hits' in organized crime. In Major League Baseball, producing hits is what usually wins games and the Colorado Rockies have been whacking opposing pitchers on their four-game winning st

Pacific-10 Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Stanford

Oregon and USC get their tickets punched after taking care of business this weekend. Yes, the Trojans' computer numbers aren't great, but there's no way the third-place team in this league is getting nixed. Grudgingly, I added Arizona after consultation with our Bracketologist. I don't know that Arizona will lose its last three (including a Pac-10 quarterfinal game), and even if the Cats do, I still can't see how they'd be left out, given the overall profile. That said, it bears watching, as three more L's would leave them at 18-12 (9-9) and on a 6-11 skid entering the Dance. It would be nice to see the Wildcats get at least one W in the Bay Area next week, as Cincinnati (albeit without Armein Kirkland and with a worse profile) was axed after a similar slide last season. I just couldn't rationalize having some of the other teams as locks and not having Arizona in that category -- there just aren't enough good teams behind the Cats to threaten their spot, it seems. Stanford has its fate in its own hands with the Arizona schools coming to the Farm to close out the regular season next weekend.

Should be in:

Stanford [17-10 (9-7), RPI: 40, SOS: 21] No shame in not getting a win in L.A., but that makes the home game against Arizona State a must-win ahead of what could be an intriguing meeting with Arizona should the Cats lose at Cal. Getting to 11 Pac-10 wins would make Selection Sunday much more comfortable, but 10's probably more than enough this season. The Cardinal have nonconference wins over Texas Tech and at Virginia to lean on, although they also lost badly to Air Force and Santa Clara at home.

Southeastern Conference odds
Work left to do: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State

It looks more and more possible that no one from the SEC West will make the NCAAs. How weird is that? Tennessee and Vandy move into the locks category after more good work this weekend. Kentucky stays there, although it would be smart for the Cats to handle Georgia at home Wednesday ahead of a trip to the Swamp. Could a disaster scenario (two more L's and a first-round SEC tourney exit) somehow dislodge the Cats despite their incredible computer numbers? Still unlikely, but not worth chancing it.

Work left to do:

Alabama [19-9 (6-8), RPI: 43, SOS: 47] The tough L at Tennessee was understandable, and even created some hope. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed by a home loss to Auburn, which leaves the Tide in some real trouble. There's still no signature win on the profile (no, Kentucky doesn't count), and the computer profile is weakening rapidly. The Tide conceivably could beat Ole Miss and win at Miss. State to get to 8-8 and clinch at least a share of the West crown, but that's probably not enough right now. The Tide will need to do some work in the SEC tourney.

Georgia [16-10 (8-6), RPI: 52, SOS: 23] This is the team with the best chance to make it from this section right now. The Bulldogs rebounded from a terrible performance at Ole Miss to beat down Miss. State. Now they are at Kentucky (king of the RPI 51-100 win) and home to Tennessee. That would be worth a lot of computer points to get both (which is doable), as both teams are in the top 11 in RPI. Finishing at least 9-7 is an absolute must, and I would feel much better about the Dawgs' chances if they got both to get to 10 SEC wins. They also beat Gonzaga, but lost to ACC bubblers Georgia Tech and Clemson.

Mississippi [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 63, SOS: 79] Like everyone else in this division, Ole Miss gacked up a chance to stake a claim, losing by double figures at South Carolina. Even 9-7 likely is not nearly enough with a nonconference profile devoid of anything notable.

Mississippi State [16-11 (7-7), RPI: 66, SOS: 37] With a chance to get in the mix, these Bulldogs were leashed by their Georgia counterparts. Could they get to 9-7? I guess -- although winning at Arkansas, then beating Alabama is no lock -- but would that mean all that much for a team with this overall profile? Probably not. There's nothing of note (on the good side) in the nonconference profile.

For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com

Additional sports lines can be found at: www.Sportsbooks.com

To bet on March Madness games this online sportsbook accepts credit cards.