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On Wednesday night 2 of the biggest and most storied soccer teams on the globe are at home in the 2nd leg of their Champions League ties. Manchester United hosts AC Milan and unless they have a huge collapse at home it looks as if they will make it to the Champions league quarterfinals. However, Real Madrid lost to Lyon 1-0 in the 1st leg in France and even though they are favorites in the home match they have to win to make it to their 1st quarterfinals in 6 years.
Lyon at Real Madrid
One of the leading online sportsbooks has Real Madrid as the major favorite posted with a moneyline of -350 with Lyon the underdog at +800 and a draw at +400.
Real Madrid spent a ton of cash in the off-season, especially to bolster their offense, but they were held scoreless in the 1st leg against Lyon in a 1-0 loss. There will be a lot of pressure on Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo, as they have to provide some offense for the Spanish side. Karim Benzema was a big off-season addition for Real, but he will miss this match due to an injury.
Lyon has a solid defense led by G Hugo Lloris, who will have to play stellar for Lyon to win this match. Real Madrid will come out firing in this match, as they have to press forward on offense in order to score.
Lyon has played great since the New Year only losing twice in their last 13 matches. Real Madrid has won 4 of their last 5 matches and their only loss was to Lyon in the 1st leg of this tie.
Lyon’s defense has to come up big since their offense is not a great one. Sure, they did score 4 goals last month, but it was against French League 1 Sochaux, who are not a strong squad. Including that game Lyon has only scored 8 goals in their last 5 matches.
AC Milan at Manchester United
One of the leading online sportsbooks has Manchester United as the favorite in this match posted at -150 with AC Milan the underdog at +390 with a draw at +265.
Since away goals in the Champions League are worth 1.5 goals Man U is up 4.5-2 in aggregate to AC Milan. The Italian side really has their work cut out for them in this match, as they really have to press forward on offense and score at least 2 away goals.
Manchester United has a great offense led by DF Rio Ferdinand and G Edwin van der Sar. They will both be helped in this game by the Man U midfielders, as they will drop back to help on defense. Manchester United will stack the backfield to thwart the AC Milan offensive onslaught. Pato and Ronaldinho really have to provide an offensive spark for AC Milan to have any chance to win this huge match.
March 9th, 2010 9:59:19 AM GMT+5 | Posted in International, Soccer, Sports, Sports Betting by Jason Green | No Comments
Well, the 1st leg of the Champions League is over and while there were some shocking results some of the usual suspects won their match and look like a lock to get to the final 8.
Real Madrid spent a ton of money in the off-season in order to challenge Barcelona in Spain’s La Liga, but also to progress far in the Champions League. Their offense looked far from solid in their first match losing to Lyon 1-0 in France. Sure, Real does get home field advantage in the 2nd leg, but their offense has to wake up, as they did not put much pressure on the Lyon defense at all in the match.
AC Milan has turned things around this season in Serie A in Italy and in the Champions League, which they missed out on last season, but they have a tall order to progress to the next round after losing at home to Manchester United in the 1sdt leg. Their offense looked solid, but their D could not keep Man U from scoring =3 precious away goals, which will be hard to make up when they head to England for the 2nd leg.
Arsenal has been up and down this season, but they gave up a late goal to FC Porto to lose 2-1 in Portugal. However, they did score an away goal so they have a chance at home, especially if they keep a clean sheet. They trail Chelsea by several points in the English Premier League, so if they flame out at home to Porto in the 2nd leg they will hear it from the fans.
Bayern Munich is on a superb run in Germany’s Bundesliga and in the Champions league and they came away with a 2-1 win over a struggling Fiorentina team in the 1st leg in Munich. Fiorentina does have a chance at home and since they are not even in the top 10 in Serie A in Italy the 2nd leg is their only chance to qualify for European competition next season.
Barcelona is favored by many of the sportsbooks to win the Champions League for a 2nd straight season, but they did not look great in their first match. The defending champions were favored in the match in Germany and will be heavily favored back in Spain and their offense has to wake up at home or they may lose out to the surprise German squad.
Neither Olympiacos or Bordeaux were supposed to go far in this competition, but the French side got off to a good start with a 1-0 win in Greece.
CSKA Moscow came into their match against Sevilla unsure of themselves, as the Russian league has not even started yet. However, they played solid defense in holding the free flowing Sevilla squad to only one goal. However, the Spanish side did score that goal in Moscow so heading back to Spain they have a big advantage to progress to the next round.
Inter Milan have won the Italy Serie A title 4 years in a row, but have been major disappointments in the Champions league for the last few years. Also, they have lost to teams from the English Premier league in the last 2 seasons in the Champions League. Is the monkey off their back after they beat Chelsea 2-1 at home? Maybe, but they did give up an away goal to Chelsea, who is in 1st place in the Premier League, so they have their work cut out for them in the 2nd leg.
February 25th, 2010 9:31:38 AM GMT+5 | Posted in International, Soccer, Sports, Sports Betting by Jason Green | No Comments
This is not a sport I usually cover in my blogs but it certainly seems to attract alot of attention, the women at my work seem to really love this Winter olympics and is actually fun to watch at times.It was a a really great opening ceremony and we have had some medals already for the US.We have our first American gold and Canada had to wait for theirs. Hannah Kearney waited four years to overcome her bitter disappointment. Canada will have to wait at least one more day before it can really let loose but it will.
Kearney, a 23-year-old from New Hampshire, slashed through the rain and down the moguls Saturday night — a remarkable run that gave America its first gold medal of the Vancouver Games and denied Jenn Heil the honor of becoming the first Canadian to win gold on home turf.
Freestyle skiing: Kearney wins first American gold
Hannah Kearney waited four years to overcome her bitter disappointment. Canada will have to wait at least one more day before it can really let loose.
Kearney, a 23-year-old from New Hampshire, slashed through the rain and down the moguls Saturday night — a remarkable run that gave America its first gold medal of the Vancouver Games and denied Jenn Heil the honor of becoming the first Canadian to win gold on home turf.
InSpeedskating: Kramer set an Olympic record in the 5,000 meter speedskating event.Dutch speedskater Sven Kramer won the gold medal in the men’s 5,000 meters in a games record at the Olympic Oval on Saturday, finally claiming the one major title that had eluded him.
Kramer, the 23-year-old pre-race favorite, won in 6 minutes, 14.60, shaving six hundredths of a second off Jochem Uytdehaage’s Olympic record set at altitude in Salt Lake City in 2002.
American challengers Chad Hedrick, the 5000-meter gold medalist at the Turin Games in 2006, and Shani Davis finished 11th and 12th, respectively.
The first gold medalist of the 2010 Winter Games was the guy who won two golds in Salt Lake City eight years ago.Simon Ammann, a 28-year-old Swiss ski jumper, won the individual normal title.
In other news, Slovakia’s Anastazia Kuzmina won the women’s biathlon and became the first Slovakian woman to win a gold medal at a Winter Olympics.
The opening ceremony was incredible and actually did really well.The Ceremony telecast set a record.The broadcast of the Olympics’ opening ceremony was the most-watched TV event ever in Canada, with more than two-thirds of the country tuning in, according to the broadcast consortium.
About 13.3 million Canadians watched all of the three-hour ceremony, eclipsing the previous record of 10.3 million for the gold medal hockey game at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.
So what are the stories we need to watch?
Can the American Alpine skier Lindsay Vonn overcome her bruised shin and compete?
Will short track speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno become the most decorated winter Olympian?
Will hockey-crazed Canada win the event that matters most?
Futures Odds supplied by Betus
Winter Olympics 2010 : Mens Ice Hockey
Sun, Feb 14, 2010 EST
Rot To Win Gold Moneyline
501 Canada -175
502 Russia +200
503 Sweden +600
504 USA +700
505 Czech Republic +1200
506 Finland +1500
507 Slovakia +3000
508 Switzerland +8500
509 Germany +35000
510 Latvia +75000
511 Belarus +75000
512 Norway +125000
Rot To Win Group A Moneyline
513 Canada -500
514 USA +200
515 Switzerland +3000
516 Norway +10000
Rot To Win Group B Moneyline
517 Russia -325
518 Czech Republic +200
519 Slovakia +1500
520 Latvia +10000
Rot To Win Group C Moneyline
521 Sweden -250
522 Finland +125
523 Germany +3000
524 Belarus +9000
Will the Americans continue their snowboard supremacy?
Are the U.S. women’s figure skaters in danger of becoming irrelevant?
This should be a great olympics so stay tuned to the site for updates.
February 14th, 2010 10:04:42 AM GMT+5 | Posted in International, Sports by johngm | No Comments
The futures are out for the 2010 World Cup for all the teams that qualified and they will not change much until next summer unless there are major injuries. The rankings of the teams below are the current FIFA rankings, which also should not change much.
Both Spain and Brazil have the best odds to win the World Cup next summer both posted at +450.
Brazil is a solid team with many stars and they have never lost when playing on the African continent. Add to the fact that the Brazilians will be used to the hot and humid weather that will be in South Africa next summer. However, Brazil will not have an easy time getting out of the their pool, as they are in the Group of Death. They face Portugal, semifinalists in 2006, a tough Ivory Coast squad, and North Korea, who may be the best team from Asia.
Spain is the top-ranked team in the world and they finally won a big tournament by capturing the 2008 European Championships. They have many world-class players on the squad, such as Francisco Torres, and they are not in a weak, but also not in a strong, pool with Honduras, Switzerland, and Chile.
England (+550) has not fared well in the last few World Cup tournaments, but that may change since they have a solid team with superstars like Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney, Terry Cole, Steven Gerard, and Frank Lamped. They still lack a world-class goalkeeper, but they are not in a very tough group with Slovenia, USA, and Angola.
Argentina (+900) did not play great in WC qualifying, but they have a stacked squad headed by Lionel Messi, who is one of the best young strikers in the world. However, they are in one of the tougher groups, especially the two teams of Greece and Nigeria, who are both ranked in the top 15 in the world.
Germany (+1100) looked solid in qualifying and they are not in a very tough group with Ghana, Serbia, and Australia. They have a great squad with some experienced players such as Michael Ballack and Bastian Schweinsteiger.
Italy (+1200) is the defending champion and they will still have Gianluigi Buffon, who is still one of the best around. Italy started slow in WC qualifying, but finished very strong. They are not in a strong group with New Zealand, Slovakia, and Paraguay. They won the World Cup in 1934 and 1938 and look to repeat again next summer.
Holland (+1200) played great in WC qualifying and they have a great offense that can pour on the goals, but they have concerns on defense. They also have to play in a very tough group with Japan, Cameroon, who is the highest-ranking team from Africa, and Denmark.
France (+1400) got lucky in qualifying with the non-call on the hand-ball in their last group match AND they got lucky in the draw not being grouped with a top-flight team, but host South Africa. However, the other two teams in the group are solid in Uruguay and Mexico.
Portugal (+2500) had to go to a playoff with Bosnia to qualify for the World Cup, but they did so without star Cristiano Ronaldo. Portugal made the semifinals in 2006 and Ronaldo should be healthy for next summer. However, they were drawn into the Group of death with Brazil, North Korea, and the Ivory Coast.
Here are the odds at one of the most reputable sportsbooks on the Internet today to win the 2010 World Cup.
Brazil +450
Spain +450
England +550
Argentina +900
Germany +1100
Italy +1200
Holland +1200
France +1400
Ivory Coast +2500
Portugal +2500
Chile +4000
Paraguay +5000
Serbia +5000
Ghana +6600
Denmark +8000
Mexico +8000
Uruguay +10000
Greece +10000
Cameroon +10000
Australia +10000
Nigeria +10000
USA +10000
South Africa +12500
Switzerland +15000
Japan +20000
Slovenia +20000
Slovakia +20000
South Korea +20000
Algeria +40000
Honduras +50000
North Korea +75000
New Zealand +100000
December 19th, 2009 10:49:25 PM GMT+5 | Posted in Futures, International, Soccer, Sports, Sports Betting by Jason Green | No Comments
Here are the 8 Champions League matches this Tuesday and their odds at one of the leading sportsbooks.
Liverpool 1.35 at Debrecen 9.00 Draw 4.75
This is a match of the two bottom teams in Group E and Liverpool has been a major disappointment. The Reds have to win this last 2 matches and hopes Fiorintina loses their last 2 or they will make it out of the group.
Lyon 3.80 at Fiorintina 2.00 Draw 3.30
Lyon leads Group E with 10 points and Fiorintina is right behind them with 9 points. If Fiorintina wins this match both teams will make it out of the group and Liverpool will be out, as even if they win their last 2 matches and Lyon loses their last match they will be tied with 10 points and Lyon won both games against the Reds in group play.
Dinamo Kiev 4.20 at Rubin Kazan 1.95 Draw 3.40
Both teams still have a shot to make it out of the group, but the loser of this game will probably not make it to the knock out phase. Rubin Kazan has 5 points and Dinamo Kiev has 4 points, but each has to play either Barcelona or Inter Milan in their last match.
Inter Milan 5.00 and Barcelona 1.70 Draw 3.35
Inter leads Group F with 6 points and Barcelona has 5 points. The winner of this game should make it out of the group. However, even if they draw or lose each team should make it out if they win in their next match against either Dinamo Kiev or Rubin Kazan.
VfB Stuttgart 2.40 at Rangers 2.60 Draw 3.25
These two teams are at the bottom of Group G and the loser of this game will not make it to the knock out phase. Sevilla has already made it out with 10 points and they are followed by FC Unirea Urziceni (5 points), Stuttgart (3 points), Rangers (2 points). Stuttgart has the advantage, as they host FC Unirea Urziceni in the last match and Rangers play away at Sevilla.
Sevilla 2.10 at Unirea Urziceni 3.00 Draw 3.25
If Unirea Urziceni can win this match it will be these two teams that will make it out of the group. If Unirea Urziceni lose then it will be a 3-way battle between VfB Stuttgart, Unirea Urziceni, and Rangers to be the 2nd place team in the group.
Olympiakos 3.25 at AZ Alkmaar 2.10 Draw 3.25
AZ Alkmaar will not make it out of the group and Olympiakos will make it out if they can win this match. If they lose this match then Standard Liege still has a shot to make it out, but they have a tough match playing at Arsenal.
Standard Liege 10.00 at Arsenal 1.25 Draw 5.00
Arsenal leads Group H with 10 points and if they win or even draw they will make it out of the group. Standard Liege may have to pull off the huge upset to make it to the knockout phase.
November 23rd, 2009 5:36:36 AM GMT+5 | Posted in International, Soccer, Sports, Sports Betting by Jason Green | No Comments
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