Chivas USA hopes to regroup against red-hot Sounders

Soccer Betting Lines

08/13/2010 - Carson, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - One of Major League Soccer's hottest teams, Seattle Sounders FC, travels to take on Chivas USA in a Western Conference clash on Saturday night.

The Sounders have rattled off four straight wins to get back into the playoff picture after a sluggish first three-and-a-half months of the season.

The catalyst of the recent surge has been forward Fredy Montero, who has earned either a goal or an assist in each of the Sounders last nine matches. Seattle (8-8-4) is coming off a 2-0 win over the Houston Dynamo on Sunday in which Montero scored a goal and an assist.

"Fredy is on fire," Sounders FC goalkeeper Kasey Keller told mlssoccer.com. "He's working extremely hard. He is doing some great stuff. What I like so much about his game right now is that he has got a ton of assists as well. He is really turning into a complete player and I'm proud of him."

Montero has eight goals and nine assists this season.

"Today was a good result, especially against Houston," Sounders FC coach Sigi Schmid told mlssoccer.com after the game. "Last year and in the past when we've played teams that are more physical or robust, [they] are teams that have given us a hard time. We were able to match that and came out ahead at the end of the day, so I was very pleased."

Chivas USA (8-8-4), on the other hand, is just hoping to regroup after suffering its 10th loss of the season at Toronto FC in its last MLS fixture.

"We have to make sure that we focus on those little things, especially our concentration and being hard to play against in defense," Chivas USA coach Martin Vasquez said. "I felt that we did enough to come back and get a tie, but we came up short."

Despite the loss, Vasquez is happy with the way his team is playing as of late.

"We felt that in that positive stretch that we had, we were consistent," he said. "We did not make a big trouble about the [Toronto] loss. We just have to rebound and keep doing the same thing."

The Goats should have midfielder Blair Gavin available, although his is battling a hamstring injury, while goalkeeper Zach Thornton is probable with an ankle injury.

Seattle will be without midfielders David Estrada, Peter Vagenas and Brad Evans, forwards Michael Fucito and Pat Noonan, and defender Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, all because of injury.

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Elite 8 NCAA Tournament Betting at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com

In what should be an outstanding Saturday of March Madness betting action, the top four teams in the South and West Regions square off in what should be extremely close match-ups. Three of the four teams are coming off extremely close games on Thursday evening, only UCLA won semi comfortably over Pitt 64-55.

Ohio State is coming off their second game in a row where in all reality they should have lost. Of course that doesn’t matter now since the name of the game is “survive and advance” but as the tournament continues, they can’t afford to keep getting down to their opponents early. Kansas also avoided a scare by holding off a scrappy Southern Illinois squad. In the third thrilling game of the evening Memphis pulled off the minor upset (+3.5) despite being the higher seed to Texas A&M.

Although the spreads are fairly small for Saturday’s games, MySportsbook.com continue to bet against the underdogs. Despite OSU’s two scares, 86% of the “betting public” feels the Buckeyes (-1.5) have what it takes to make the Final Four. In fact, so much of the early money is on OSU that the line has already moved from -1 to -1.5. In the second game of the doubleheader, Kansas and their high-powered offense are 2 point favorites as they take on UCLA and their effective defense. About 63% of the early money thus far is once again backing the favorites. If those percentages stay that high, don’t be surprised if this line moves as well. If you like Kansas (-2) you might want to jump on it early.

Memphis vs. Ohio State

Both squads were involved in thrillers on Thursday evening and should come out fired up. OSU can ill afford to get behind early like they did versus their previous two opponents (Xavier, Tennessee). Greg Oden needs to stay out of foul trouble; the Buckeyes are a completely different team when he is on the court. Memphis definitely has the athleticism and length to match-up with OSU. Of Memphis’ five leading minute earners, the shortest of the bunch is 6’5”. Each team has a very effective defense; Memphis surrenders 62.3 PPG whereas the Buckeyes give up only 61 PPG. With those type of numbers, it isn’t surprising that Memphis covered the UNDER almost 69% of the time this season. As a favorite, OSU has covered the UNDER almost 66% of the time over the last three seasons. The major concern for Memphis which is magnifies this time of the year is their brutal foul shooting (62%). This season, OSU is 17-11 ATS versus teams with a winning record and 7-2 ATS in all tournament games. Memphis has been an extremely reliable cover in tournament play in recent years with a 23-8 ATS record over the last three seasons.

UCLA vs. Kansas

In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, UCLA will play in a role which they are very unfamiliar with that of the underdog. Only twice this season have they been getting points from the handicappers and both times they covered. Over the last three seasons UCLA is a reliable 23-7 ATS in this unfamiliar role. UCLA has not fared well against Big 12 opponents recently going 1-7 ATS since 1997. Giving up only 59.6 PPG, UCLA will definitely look to do what they do best: keep this game as low scoring as possible. Their defense has been especially tough during the tournament. UCLA opponents have been able to muster up only 48.7 PPG while shooting a combined 34.5% from the field. UCLA definitely has a challenge at hand with a Kansas team that is capable of putting points on the board in bunches. As a team, they average 79 PPG and shoot an impressive 49.6% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc. During the tournament Kansas has been “lights out” from the field having shot 56.2%.

With Friday -105 juice on Basketball betting, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on all of the “March Madness” action.  Don’t forget to monitor who the public is backing at MySportsbook.com’s “Betting Trends”.  By doing so, you have the best chance of predicting a possible line change, thus getting the best value for your wager.

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