07/03/2009 - Frisco, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Red Bull New York ends a tough seven-match streak Saturday night at FC Dallas, hoping to snap a nine-game winless skid and a road losing stretch that dates back to last season.
New York (2-12-4) contests its sixth road match in its last seven games against Dallas, and with an 0-9-1 record away from Giants Stadium this season - and 22 straight regular season road losses - could still struggle again in a clash vs. another one of the worst teams in MLS.
FC Dallas (3-7-5) has lost just once in its last seven games, but are still in need of more points as it tries to overcome a poor start to the season. Dallas has just four more points than New York.
New York hasn't won since May 8, and has scored just one goal - while allowing 17 - on the road this season.
"Certainly you read it and go, Holy cow," New York's Seth Stammler said about the road losing streak. "We treat road games with the same importance as home games so it's not like we're doing something strategically to let that happen."
The Red Bulls lost to the Columbus Crew last week, 1-0, in a rematch of the MLS Cup. Crew defender Chad Marshall scored the only goal late in the first half. New York has allowed a league-high nine goals in the last 15 minutes of a half.
"If it happened once it wouldn't be that big a deal but we've been talking about it for the last couple of weeks because we continue to do it," Stammler said. "That's how it's been the last two months. Stupid mistakes defensively and we give up goals and then we're not converting our chances. We've got to step up and take care of our responsibilities."
New York was without forward and leading scorer Juan Pablo Angel last week, as well as defender Kevin Goldwaithe. Forward Macoumba Kandji and Dane Richards were on the bench, but neither played.
Goldthwaite is ruled out this week, along with fellow defender Carlos Mendes. Angel and Kandji are questionable, and Richards and Alfredo Pacheco are playing in the Gold Cup for Jamaica and El Salvador, respectively.
The Red Bulls acquired veteran MLS goalie Bouna Coundoul earlier this week - and released Jon Conway - and hope he can make a difference in the back.
"With our past experiences it seems players come to this club and it takes a little more if not much more to play here," New York coach Juan Carlos Osorio said. "But, hopefully Bouna can sustain what is needed to play for the Red Bulls and hopefully he will do well."
If New York can snap its road woes this weekend, it plays six of its next seven at home, starting on July 16 when Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder David Beckham returns to MLS from his loan deal with Italy's AC Milan.
Dallas is coming off a 1-1 draw with the Colorado Rapids, but is also dealing with injuries and losses to the Gold Cup.
Most notably, striker Kenny Cooper and his team-high seven goals will be with the U.S., and coach Schellas Hyndman is still not positive what changes he will make.
"It really does [leave] not only an offensive void for everything Kenny brings plus the experience," Hyndman said.
Second-year forward Brek Shea, who has one assist in seven games, could replace Cooper in the lineup, or Hyndman could turn to veteran Jeff Cunningham.
"I think [Shea] is ready [to play a full 90] but whether he will or he won't, we don't know," Hyndman said.
Defenders Steve Purdy and Daniel Torres, and midfielders Alvaro Sanchez and Marcelo Saragosa are out this week, and Ray Burse will make his 10th straight start in place of usual No. 1 goalie Dario Sala - who is still recovering from a knee injury.
"He started a little shaky in the first four or five games," Sala said of Burse. "Then, he made a transition. He started to do better in Houston when we lost 1-0 there. And from there, he picked it up and has been doing well."
<< Owen agrees to join United
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michael Owen is determined to repay the
faith Sir Alex Ferguson has shown in him after penning a two-year contract
with Manchester United.
The 29-year-old moves to Old Trafford on a free transfer
<< NL Central: Astros creating a buzz
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Astros were one of the National League's
premier teams during the early part of this decade, capturing four division
titles during a five-year span from 1997-2001. A driving force behind that
impressive run was an
<< Gibbs commits future to Arsenal
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Arsenal's England Under-21 international
Kieran Gibbs has pledged his long-term future to the club by putting pen to
paper on a new contract.
The 19-year-old made his debut for the Gunners almost two
<< Bayern remains hopeful over Bosingwa
Munich, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bayern Munich remains hopeful of being able
to sign Jose Bosingwa from Chelsea.
The German giants revealed their interest in the Portugal right-back last
month and chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge stil
Turkoglu to join Blazers >>
Portland, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sharp-shooting forward Hedo Turkoglu is
leaving Orlando for the Great Northwest, reportedly coming to terms on a five-
year, $50 million contract with the Portland Trail Blazers.
The Oregonian newspap
Cano, A-Rod homer as Yankees top Toronto >>
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Robinson Cano and Alex Rodriguez each homered
as the New York Yankees doubled up Toronto, 4-2, in the opener of a four-game
set.
Mark Teixeira added a hit and an RBI for the Yankees, who have won eight of
D.C., Columbus clash for top spot in East >>
Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - D.C. United coach Tom Soehn was excited to have
last weekend off in MLS and thinks the Eastern Conference leaders are refreshed
for Saturday's trip to the Columbus Crew, even though they continued defense of
thei
Daytona qualifying rained out, Stewart awarded pole >>
Daytona Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rain washed out Friday's qualifying
session for the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.
A thundershower moved over the 2.5-mile track shortly before the start of
qualifying. Track
Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) is the world’s premier oddsmaking company and the most respected authority on making the lines. Mike Seba is a Senior Oddsmaker at LVSC and has been making lines for the last six years. In our extended interview, Seba explained that there are 4-5 oddsmakers assigned to make lines for each of the major sports (pro & college football and basketball; MLB, NHL, boxing, golf). Each of these oddsmakers bring unique opinions, strengths and weaknesses to the process. Oddsmakers at LVSC are professional sports junkies who love what they do and would probably do it for nothing if you asked them, but they do get paid for it. By necessity their approach is very research-oriented and concise, since with millions of dollars at risk there is little margin for error.
“You either have a passion for it or you don’t,” Seba said.
“The #1 thing for us is to make a line for each game that creates good two-way action. We do this by drawing from past experiences and applying them to current situations. People think it’s much more complicated, but it’s not. “Divided action means the sportsbook is guaranteed a profit on the game because of the fee charged to the bettor (called juice or vig – typically $11 bet to win $10).
Power ratings are the oddsmaker’s value of each team and are used as a guide to calculate a "preliminary" pointspread on an upcoming game. The power ratings are adjusted after each game a team plays. Examples of non-game factors that would require an adjustment to a team's power rating are key player injuries and player trades.
Once a game’s power rating based pointspread is determined, the oddsmaker will make adjustments to that line after considering each team's most recent games played and previous games played against that opponent. Also, adjustments are made after reading each team’s local newspapers to get a sense of what the coaches & players are thinking going into the game.Since the oddsmaker’s ultimate goal is equally dividing the sports betting action, public perception and sportsbook betting patterns must be taken into account. For example, the public might have heavy betting interest week after week on a popular college football betting team such as USC. If an oddsmaker comes up with a preliminary line of USC -7, then an adjustment up to -7.5 or -8 would be made in response to the public’s expected USC bias.
The last step in the line-making process for each oddsmaker is taking one final look to determine whether or not the line "feels right." This is where common sense and past experience with how games are bet enters into the picture.A round-table discussion among the 4-5 oddsmakers involved in making the line for each sport is then conducted and a consensus line is decided upon by the Odds Director before it is released to the sportsbooks. Of the 4-5 oddsmakers, generally the 2 most respected opinions are weighed more heavily by the Odds Director before he decides on the final line.
Experts working for the individual books having a strong opinion on the game
Individual books having players who consistently bet with certain tendencies (such as an extreme bias toward favorites or toward a certain popular team like USC)The purpose of these adjustments, like all line adjustments, is to more equally divide the betting action.
Once betting begins, sportsbooks can adjust the line at any time. In doing so they attempt to make more attractive the team that is getting less action. By moving the line, sportsbooks can influence how the public bets on a particular game.For example, if the pointspread on a game is 7 and most of the money is coming in on the underdog (taking the +7), sportsbooks will then move the number down to 6 ½ to try and attract money on the favorite.
Moving the line is the oddsmaker's effort to balance betting action, and often times such moves can have a major impact on a bettor’s decision. Oddsmakers can also change the line depending on various event-related factors such as player injuries or weather. Obviously, if the line comes out a week ahead of the event (which is the case in football), there is much that could happen during the week leading up to the event that could affect the line. Oddsmakers have to determine if any changes are necessary and send out an "adjusted line."“The main objective is that our clients get equal action on both sides,” Seba said. “We’re not trying to pick the team that covers the spread, we’re trying to make it a coin flip, a tough decision (for the bettor). If we’ve done that, we’ve done our job.”
To visit this internet sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your sports betting needs and World Series odds.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting