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06/24/2010 - Bloemfontein, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Switzerland defender Steve Von Bergen admitted the team was "angry" after a loss to Chile on Monday, when a red card to Valon Behrami proved too much for the Swiss to overcome.
Switzerland held off Chile until the 75th minute, when Mark Gonzalez snapped the European side's World Cup record streak of 558 minutes without allowing a goal.
The Swiss slumped to a 1-0 loss, but remain in contention for a knockout round berth entering its final Group H game Friday against Honduras. Switzerland got three points in its opener, a 1-0 upset of tournament favorite Spain.
Although Honduras also retains some hope of advancing, Ottmar Hitzfeld's Swiss side has a much more realistic chance. Chile plays Spain in the other match in Group H on Friday.
Switzerland is level on points with Spain, which beat Honduras 2-0 in its next match, and with a win or tie and the right result between Spain and Chile will advance.
"We were completely thrown by the red card. We're angry at the moment," said Von Bergen following the Chile loss, "but we're still in with a great chance."
Switzerland's shutout streak dated back to the 1994 knockout stage, when Txiki Begiristain scored the last goal in Spain's 3-0 win. The Swiss were eliminated four years ago without allowing a goal when they lost to Ukraine in penalties.
Hitzfeld was already without central defender Philippe Senderos due to injury, and now has to field a team with suspended midfielder Behrami.
Striker Alexander Frei did provide a boost against Chile, as the captain made his first appearance of this World Cup despite an ankle injury.
Hitzfeld remains optimistic entering the finale against the Central Americans, as long as his side isn't impacted too much by the loss to Chile.
"I'm upbeat about our meeting with Honduras," Hitzfeld said. "We'll put this defeat behind us and recover as quickly as we can."
Honduras heads to Free State Stadium with a slim chance to advance, but needs a win over Switzerland and for Chile to beat Spain, in addition to overturning a sizable deficit in goal differential.
"If Chile win then we've got a chance. We're going to keep working right until the end to try and make it through," Honduras defender Osman Chavez said.
The Hondurans have failed to score in their first two matches, the first being a 1-0 loss to Chile, and were lucky to avoid a more lopsided loss to Spain.
However, "all is not lost yet," Honduras forward David Suazo said.
Honduras manager Reinaldo Rueda expects a difficult match against Switzerland, but even if his side fails to advance, would like to end the tournament with a positive effort.
"We'll now have to see if the players can bounce back mentally and go out and give their all to end on a high for the good of Honduran football," Rueda said.
<< Bedard could make Seattle season debut July 6
SEATTLE (AP) -Left-hander Erik Bedard could make his season debut as early as July 6 if he is able to get through the next week without any injury setbacks.Seattle manager Don Wakamatsu said Thursday that Bedard will throw for the Mariners' team in
<< Kings extend GM Lombardi, head coach Murray
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Kings have announced two-
year contract extensions for a large contingent of its front office personnel,
including president and general manager Dean Lombardi and head coach Terry
Murray.
<< Thrashers tab Ramsay next head coach
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Thrashers are expected to name
Craig Ramsay their next head coach at a 4 p.m. press conference Thursday.
Ramsay was an assistant coach for Boston the last three seasons and previously
served a
<< Bruins extend D Boychuk
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Bruins have signed defenseman
Johnny Boychuk to a two-year contract extension.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Boychuk recorded five goals and 10 assists in 51 games this past season
Serena, Sharapova win second-rounders at Wimbledon >>
Wimbledon, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Reigning champion Serena Williams and
former champ Maria Sharapova were straight-set second-round victors Thursday,
on a day when Queen Elizabeth II visited Wimbledon for the first time in 33
years.
T
Shoppach and Garza send Rays past Padres >>
St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kelly Shoppach went 3-for-4 with a solo
home run to lead the Tampa Bay Rays to a 5-3 win over the San Diego Padres in
the finale of a three-game interleague set.
B.J. Upton and Carlos Pena each had a
Dutch take Group E with win over Cameroon >>
Cape Town, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scored in the
83rd minute, and the Netherlands defeated Cameroon 2-1 on Thursday at Green
Point Stadium to clinch first place in Group E at the FIFA World Cup.
Robin Van Per
Japan defeats Denmark to reach knockout stage >>
Rustenburg, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Japan booked its ticket to the
FIFA World Cup knockout round with a 3-1 win over Denmark at Royal Bafokeng
Stadium on Thursday.
Keisuke Honda and Yasuhito Endo scored first-half free-kick
The most popular sports to bet on are NFL and college football along with NBA and NCAA basketball. There are multiple betting opportunities within those sports, beginning with the basic wager on a game’s outcome (also called betting the side). College Football Point spreads are used in both football and basketball in an attempt to even the attractiveness of each team in a match-up. ( See our article detailing how and why point spreads are made)
But you could also simply bet on the money line, or straight-up winner of the game. Oddsmakers use the money line so that more money must be risked on the favorite or expected winner and less money on the underdog to balance the action on both sides. While money line gambling is an attractive option for football and basketball bettors who only care about picking a winner, it is the primary option for those bettors who enjoy wagering on MLB baseball and individual sports like boxing, tennis, golf and racing events such as NASCAR. ( More details on playing the Money Line)
Another bet across all major team sports including football, basketball, baseball, and hockey involves wagering on the amount of scoring in a game, called an Over/Under total. For example, the Over/Under total on Super Bowl XXXIX was 48, which means a bettor could wager whether there would be more or less than 48 points scored by both teams combined in the game.
The final score of Super Bowl XXXIX was 24-21; the scoring of both teams added up to 45, which means the game went Under . So Under bettors won, and Over bettors lost.
Sports gambling doesn’t end there. Betting sides and totals are the most common wagers available everywhere, but many sportsbooks also offer future bets on big upcoming events like who will win next year’s Super Bowl and what movie will win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
The main advantage of futures is that you can get appealing odds by betting far in advance. For example, with NFL futures you often can get much higher odds on a team by betting before the season even starts. A NFL future bet on a team to win the Super Bowl odds might be 20/1 in the preseason; but by midseason, their odds might decrease to 10/1 if they turn out to be legitimate championship contenders.
Involves one individual wager, whether it be on your team to cover the point spread, to win the game straight-up on the money line, or to go over/under the total.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.
In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and online football betting thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
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