Red Bulls look to cool Fire, improve playoff position

Soccer Betting Lines

09/14/2007 - Bridgeview, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Red Bull New York and the Chicago Fire square off for the third and final time this season in a Major League Soccer fixture Saturday at Toyota Park.

The teams just played each other on Sept. 1 - a 1-0 New York win at Giants Stadium - so there should be little mystery involved with this game.

The Fire will probably pack it in, in an effort to limit the Red Bulls chances while using its talented trio of attackers - Chris Rolfe, Cuauhtemoc Blanco and Paulo Wanchope - in a counter-attacking role and on set pieces.

"Their focus as a group is they establish a block of players that are very hard to break down," New York coach Bruce Arena said. "They have seven or eight players behind the ball which makes it hard to play against them. It's no secret that the games they play are generally 1-0. I think there is a reason for that. I think they do a pretty good job of trying to keep Wanchope, Blanco and Rolfe up high and try and bring defenders. They try to take advantage of the opportunities they get the run of play on the counter attack. They can be very offensive at times, they have the ability to go forward with such fine players as Wanchope, Blanco and Rolfe."

That strategy has worked well in recent games for the Fire, who have crept into the eighth and final playoff spot with seven games remaining since the addition of Blanco, among others.

"They have been able to bring in a number of players, specifically Blanco, Wanchope and now with the addition of (defender) Wilman Conde," Arena said. "I think they are very good players. Over the last five or six games they have gotten a number of points and some good results. I think they are a good team."

The Red Bulls needed a Juan Pablo Angel goal on one of their only chances in the game to earn the victory over the Fire in their last meeting. That victory has helped New York stay in a strong position to make the playoffs. It is currently in the sixth position, four points up on Chicago.

"It is extremely disappointing that at the end we limited Juan (Pablo Angel) to one chance and it was a goal and we also limited (Dane) Richards to one cross the whole game," Chicago coach Juan Carlos Osorio said after the New York loss. "They didn't have many goal scoring opportunities so it was disappointing. We know that we can play better offensively and we need to create more chances and just keep working. Hopefully, when we play them back at our place, it will be a different game."

The teams are coming off opposite results in their most recent fixtures, with New York being dominated 3-0 at CD Chivas USA and the Fire earning a 1-0 victory at Columbus, thanks to a goal by Wanchope.

"All week we worked very hard on the tactical side of things because we knew that today could be the decisive moment for us," Osorio said. "I think it worked well for us today. We limited a very good team going forward to few chances and we waited patiently for our chance and when it came our way, Paulo [Wanchope] put it in very well."

"It was one of those games," Arena said of the Chivas loss. "I guess we obviously shot ourselves on the foot. Give them credit, they capitalized on the mistakes we made, they won the game. I think we actually played pretty well in spurts and it was a very lopsided score given the quality of play. I think we created most of the chances in the game and made some individual mistakes that resulted in goals."

The Red Bulls will look to rebound Saturday, and could welcome back injured striker Jozy Altidore, who has been out since before the last Chicago fixture with what the team is calling "a lower left leg injury."

"He is day-to-day. We haven't made any decision on him at this time," Arena said Thursday.

The New York midfield could also see a shakeup. Dema Kovalenko, one of the better two-way players on the team, has seen limited action this season with injuries and after a recent car accident, but should be fit to see extended minutes Saturday.

"We haven't decided on a lineup for the game, but Dema could play more than he did in the last game," Arena said.

Also, midfielder Clint Mathis, who is third on the team in scoring behind Angel and Altidore, could miss the game because of personal reasons.

"(He's) day-to-day with personal reasons. I'm not going to get into it, it is a family thing," Arena added.

The Fire will be without midfielder Justin Mapp with an ankle injury while midfielders Chris Armas and Ivan Guerrero should play even though they are nursing injuries.

After Saturday's fixture, New York hosts Eastern rival New England next Saturday while Chicago travels to Dallas on Thursday.

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Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting

So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.

Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?

If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)

Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).

In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.

Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.

The Bubble Breakdown
CONFERENCE LOCKS SHOULD BE INS AT-LARGES TAKEN
(assuming no auto bid outlier)
ACC Betting Odds 6 0 5
Big East Betting Odds 5 0 4
Big Ten Betting Odds 2 2 3
Big 12 Betting Odds 3 0 2
Pac-10 Betting Odds 5 1 5
SEC Betting Odds 4 0 3
MVC Betting Odds 1 1 1
MWC Betting Odds 2 1 2
TOTAL 28 5 25

As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.

(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)

If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.

Atlantic Coast Conference

Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech

The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.

 

Work left to do:

Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.

Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).

Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.

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