09/05/2008 - Santa Clara, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The expansion San Jose Earthquakes continue their quest for a playoff spot in their return season to Major League Soccer when they host D.C. United at Buck Shaw Stadium on Saturday night.
The 'Quakes (6-9-7) have won three of their last four league fixtures, including the last three at home, to climb out of the Western Conference basement and get back into playoff contention.
San Jose's last MLS match was a 2-1 victory over the Kansas City Wizards last week.
"It was a good three points and an important time in the season to win," San Jose coach Frank Yallop said. "I thought we played well the first half, the first 20 minutes of the second was poor, we allowed Kansas City back into the game; but is great to come back and win the game in the end,. It is a sign of a good team that sticks together and doesn't quit."
D.C. United (10-10-2) is also battling for a playoff spot. Currently the club owns the first of two wild card spots earned by the top team teams that aren't in the top three in their conference table. United is riding high after capturing its second U.S. Open Cup title at mid week and will be looking to carry that momentum into league play.
"Getting a chance to run around with a trophy in front of our fans, who deserve it more than anybody, is a great feeling," D.C. coach Tom Soehn said. "You remember that stuff. There are a lot of things you forget but situations and moments like that you remember. You want to taste that again. I hope they all got a great taste of it because there are other things that we still have to accomplish."
D.C.'s last league match was a scoreless draw with the New York Red Bulls last weekend.
"I don't think we were very good with the ball in the first half," Soehn said of the draw at home. "We had to make a few adjustments. The game was there to take it. We've been better with the soccer part than in the first half so I was a little disappointed coming into the locker room because we talked a lot about possession. I think we got better in the second half."
D.C. will be without one of its better players Saturday - Jaime Moreno - because of international duty. Also out are forward Luciano Emilio, midfielders Jeff Carroll, Joe Vide and Ben Olsen and defender Gonzalo Peralta because of injury.
The 'Quakes will be without midfielder Ramiro Corrales and forward Gavin Glinton because of injuries.
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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 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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