United downs Dynamo to clinch berth in second round

Soccer Betting Lines

11/07/2007 - Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester United clinched a spot in the second round of the Champions League on Wednesday as the club handled Dynamo Kiev 4-0 at Old Trafford.

Gerard Pique and Carlos Tevez scored six minutes apart in the first half to put the Red Devils out in front, and Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo both added goals in the final 15 minutes to keep United alone at the top of Group F.

Dynamo is now winless in its last 11 Champions League matches, and will fail to advance to the knockout round again this year.

United spent plenty of time in the Dynamo half of the field early on, but lacked the final touch to finish off any of their chances.

It was a positive first 30 minutes from the home side, but they didn't move ahead until the 31st minute, when Pique scored his first-ever Champions League goal.

United won a free kick just outside the area on the right. Ronaldo drove the ball into the box and Michael Carrick got his head to it, sending the ball toward goal. Carrick's header hit off the back of Tevez' head, but it caromed to Pique at the back post, and he rose up over a defender and headed it into the right corner.

The Red Devils kept the pressure on the Dynamo defense as Nemanja Vidic sent a header just wide of the right post minutes later, but United's second goal was not far away.

Six minutes after Pique tallied his first Champions League goal, Tevez bagged his as he dropped into the midfield to collect the ball and start a run towards goal.

The Argentine slipped a pass to Rooney, who quickly returned the ball to Tevez, and he fired the ball past keeper Oleksandr Shovkovskiy from the top of the box to give United a two-goal cushion heading into halftime.

United brought backup 'keeper Tomasz Kuszczak on at halftime, and he was tested in the first few minutes but held up well. Dynamo's Diogo Rincon got free at the edge of the area and he ripped a shot that was headed for the right corner of the net, only to be denied by a sprawling Kuszczak.

Dynamo gradually found some more openings in the United defense and came within inches of pulling a goal back on the hour mark.

Marjan Markovic took possession of the ball inside the area on the right and sent a cross through the face of goal for Rincon at the back post. The Dynamo striker lunged for the ball but it was just out of his reach and rolled harmlessly out of play.

Tiberiu Ghioane then forced another good stop from Kuszczak in the 70th minute, but United responded with their third goal of the match to put the result out of reach.

Luis Nani lobbed a perfect ball into the path of Rooney from the right flank. The England international then got to the ball and drove it into the back of the net with a first-time strike from the penalty spot.

Ronaldo then capped the win in style as he carried the ball down the left flank, made a nice move to free himself from a defender, and blasted the ball inside the far post.

In the group's other contest, Roma earned a 2-2 draw with Sporting Lisbon as an own goal from Sporting's Anderson Polga in the 89th minute handed the Italian club a point. Roma remains three points clear of the Portuguese club in second place, but is now five points behind leaders Manchester United.

Barcelona took sole possession of first place in Group E as the Catalan side took care of Rangers 2-0, while Lyon beat Stuttgart 4-2 to move to within one point of Rangers in second place.

Group G saw Inter Milan get two goals each from Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Esteban Cambiasso in the club's 4-2 win over CSKA Moscow, while Turkish side Fenerbahce stayed just one point behind Inter with a 2-0 win against PSV Eindhoven.

Arsenal had a chance to clinch a spot in the knockout round as well, but was held to a 0-0 draw by Slavia Prague, while Sevilla won its third game in four matches as it beat Steau Bucurest 2-0. Arsenal can now clinch a second-round spot with a draw in either of its final two games, while Sevilla can also ensure a knockout-round berth with a win over Arsenal in its next match.

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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