Allsopp, Hamid lead D.C. over K.C. for first win

Soccer Betting Lines

05/05/2010 - Washington, D.C. (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Danny Allsopp scored twice and 19-year-old goalie Bill Hamid won his first MLS start, leading D.C. United to its first win of the year, 2-1 over the Kansas City Wizards on Wednesday at RFK Stadium.

United (1-5-0) snapped its season-opening, five-match losing streak and handed new coach Curt Onalfo his first win. Onalfo coached K.C. from 2007-09.

K.C. (2-3-1), which beat D.C. 4-0 in both teams' season opener, lost for third time in its last four games. The Wizards ended a 402-minute scoring drought in stoppage time when Kei Kamara scored his third goal of the season.

Allsopp handed United its first lead of the season in the 12th minute with his first MLS goal. Defender Rodney Wallace played a long ball, and Allsopp fought off Pablo Escobar to control the pass, then slipped around Jimmy Conrad on the left side of the area to send a deflected shot past goalie Jimmy Nielsen.

Hamid made his first save five minutes later, denying Chance Myers on the edge of the six-yard box. Hamid made another save in the 26th when he pushed a shot from Roger Espinoza over the bar.

Allsopp rewarded Hamid with a two-goal lead in the 34th. Adam Cristman grabbed a bad pass from Escobar and slid a pass to an open Allsopp, who fired into the bottom-left corner from 18 yards to beat Nielsen again.

United, which had scored in only one of its first five games, matched its goal total for the entire season. D.C. scored twice in a 3-2 loss to the expansion Philadelphia Union, but had been shutout in its other four matches.

Hamid made his biggest stop in the closing seconds of the first when he lifted a low, one-hop shot from Jack Jewsbury over the bar for his third save.

Kansas City tested Hamid two more times in the opening minutes of the second, but the rookie denied substitute Kamara just 15 seconds after half, and again off a header in the 48th.

Hamid made another fine play on a cross from Ryan Smith that sailed toward the upper-right corner in the 60th. Hamid had to jump to get the ball, then extend his arms to keep the ball from crossing the line as he collided with the post.

Christian Castillo beat Nielsen on a 45-yard free kick in the 77th but drilled the left post, as D.C. sat on its lead over the final 45 minutes and failed to create many chances.

Kamara scored Kansas City's first goal since his match-winner against Colorado when he slid to reach a pass from Josh Wolff and sent the ball just inside the right post to spoil Hamid's shutout bid.

D.C. allowed a league-high 13 goals in its first five matches, but Hamid saved five shots as United allowed less than two goals for the first time. Hamid was handed the start in place of Troy Perkins, a U.S. national backup who appeared in the first five matches.

United visits FC Dallas on Saturday to wrap up a two-game week. Kansas City is off until May 15, when it hosts the Chicago Fire.

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Kurt Warner to start, Matt Leinart to watch

Despite the debate that's swirling , Kurt Warner will remain the starting quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals, coach Dennis Green said today. The Arizona Cardinals are the +7 point underdog at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com for this Sunday's game.

Green's comment came in a statement released by the team following an ESPN report that Green decided that rookie Matt Leinart would replace Warner as starter for Sunday's game at Atlanta.

"Generally talking about the starting lineup is not something we do," Green told the AP. "However, given the speculation that was out there we want to make it clear. We're disappointed after last week, but we still expect to be a playoff football team and we fully expect Kurt Warner to be the quarterback that leads us. That has not changed."

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs.

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.