Goats fight back to earn draw with United

Soccer Betting Lines

09/07/2007 - Carson, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - CD Chivas USA and D.C. United both kept their current unbeaten streaks intact after a 2-2 draw at The Home Depot Center in a Major League Soccer fixture Thursday night.

Chivas is still unbeaten at home at 7-0-2 while D.C. (13-6-4) is unbeaten in its last seven league fixtures, although, its six-game winning streak is no more.

The visitors jumped ahead 2-0 after 26 minutes after a brace from Luciano Emilio - who now leads the league in scoring with 16 - before the Goats came charging back.

A miscue by United goalkeeper Troy Perkins led to an Ante Razov goal to cut the lead in half before the break, and a Lawson Vaughn shot that was deflected by the United defense evened the score an hour into the match.

The comeback also marked the first time in its brief three-year history that CD Chivas USA (11-6-4) has fought back from two goals down to tie.

Emilio scored the first goal against the Goats since a July 29 loss to Kansas City just three minutes into the fixture. The league's all-time career leader in goals and Emilio's strike-partner, Jaime Moreno, took control of the ball in the offensive third and passed to Emilio, who was breaking through the Chivas defense. Emilio took control of the ball in the center of the box and blasted a hard shot past goalkeeper Brad Guzan to make it 1-0.

The early goal marked the fourth straight game in which D.C. has taken a 1-0 lead inside three minutes.

Emilio doubled the visitors' lead about 23 minutes later when he fed Moreno in the box and the Bolivian international blasted a shot on Guzan. The U.S. international goalkeeper made the save on Moreno, but Emilio knocked in the rebound for his 16th goal of the season.

Five minutes later, the home side pulled a goal back when Perkins came out of the box to clear a ball out of the defensive third. His attempted clearance up the middle of the field deflected off Razov, who jumped in front of Perkins as he was kicking the ball, and it rolled slowly into United's goal.

It wasn't Razov's prettiest goal, but it was good enough to get him within four of all-time leader Moreno. It was Razov's seventh of the season and 105th of his career.

Fifteen minutes after the break, the Goats scored another crazy goal to pull even when Sacha Kljestan controlled the ball on the right flank, just outside the United penalty area, and dished a pass to Vaughn. The defender fired a shot from just inside the box, which was deflected by a United defender, and into the right corner of the net, just inside the near post.

It was Vaughn's first tally of the year and Kljestan's seventh assist on the campaign.

Both teams tightened up the rest of the way, seeming to be content with the 2-2 outcome. With the draw, United keeps its unbeaten record against the third-year franchise intact.

D.C.'s point earned it first place overall in the Eastern table with 43, one ahead of New England with the same amount of games played. The two teams square off in D.C. Sunday to decide Eastern supremacy. The winner will also have the best record in the league.

Chivas, on the other hand, hosts Red Bull New York in an out-of-conference clash. That game is also important because both teams are fighting for playoff positioning. Both teams are also within striking distance of the top of their respective conferences as well. The Goats are just two points back of Western- table leading Houston with three games in hand while the Red Bulls are six back of United with the same amount of games played.

Lotteruamerica Soccer Betting News

<< Allen, Brohm set records as eighth-ranked Louisville outscores MTSU
Louisville, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Anthony Allen set a school record with 275 rushing yards and scored twice, as eighth-ranked Louisville survived a first-half scare and downed Middle Tennessee, 58-42, at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium

<< Peyton's Place: Manning leads Colts over Saints in NFL opener
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Peyton Manning threw for 295 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Indianapolis Colts over the New Orleans Saints, 41-10, at the RCA Dome in the NFL's season opener. Manning completed 18-of-30 pas

<< Crisp leads BoSox over O's
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Coco Crisp went 3-for-4 with a three-run homer and three runs scored and Jason Varitek drove in the go-ahead run in the ninth inning to lead Boston past Baltimore, 7-6, in the opener of a four- game se

<< Mariners release Rick White
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Seattle Mariners released veteran right-handed relief pitcher Rick White on Thursday. White, who joined the Mariners almost two weeks ago from Houston, went 0-1 with an 8.40 ERA in six appea

<< Ferrer, Djokovic roll into U.S. Open semis
Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Spaniard David Ferrer and Serbian Novak Djokovic each eased into the semifinal round of the 2007 U.S. Open Thursday with straight-set quarterfinal wins on Thursday. The 15th-seeded Ferrer

Anderson, Kotchman spark Angels over Indians >>
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Garret Anderson finished with three RBI, including a two-run homer, and set a new club record in the process while Casey Kotchman's two-run double keyed a four-run fifth inning, as the Angels defeate

Report: Ankiel received HGH shipments >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Rick Ankiel reportedly received shipments of human growth hormone from a Florida pharmacy in 2004. According to the New York Daily News, Ankiel received eight shipments of

What happened to the playoff races? >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Geez, a couple of weeks ago it looked as if we were going to have a pretty exciting September with all the divisions, as well as the wild cards, up for grabs. Now it appears all the playoff teams in the American League are se

Around the FCS: Who's Next? >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - So what do we do for encore? Most of us are still dealing with the information hangover in the wake of Appalachian State's 34-32 victory over Michigan. But as we head into the second full week of the seas

Phils welcome Fish to South Philly >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Phillies have put their terrible road trip behind them and will open a seven-game homestand tonight with the first of three straight games versus the Florida Marlins at Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies wen

Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com

Additional sports lines can be found at: www.Sportsbooks.com

To bet on March Madness games this online sportsbook accepts credit cards.