Ching leads champs to Western final

Soccer Betting Lines

11/03/2007 - Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - For the second straight season, the Houston Dynamo came back from a first leg deficit in the Western semis to advance to the Major League Soccer Western Conference Final.

Last season, the Dynamo fell at Chivas USA, 1-0, in the first leg before topping the California club, 2-0, in the return leg at Robertson Stadium to advance.

This season, after falling behind, 1-0, at FC Dallas in the first leg of the Western Semifinal Series, Houston dug deeper with Carlos Ruiz scoring the first goal in the game to push the Hoops' aggregate-goal lead to 2-0.

But the defending MLS Cup champs came through in the second half and overtime with Dallas down a man, with Brian Ching leading the way with two goals and an assist, to lead Houston to a 4-1 win and help them advance, 4-2, on aggregate.

With the loss, Dallas extends its drought of first-round playoff failures. The club has failed to advance past the conference semifinal series since 1999.

The game started ominously for the visitors, with top defender Clarence Goodson, the lone goalscorer in the first leg, forced to miss the game with a stomach ailment. This came after one of the teams other top defensive players, midfielder Pablo Ricchetti, missed the start because of a hamstring injury suffered in training this week. To top that off, starting goalkeeper Dario Sala tweaked his knee early in the contest and had to be replaced by rookie Ray Burse just 25 minutes in.

Despite all that misfortune, Dallas was able to score the game's first goal just 14 minutes in when veteran defender Bobby Rhine played a long ball into the Houston defensive third. the ball was headed in the box by Hoops striker Kenny Cooper right to fellow striker Ruiz, who fired just under the crossbar, first time, to make it 1-0 and increase the aggregate lead.

That was how the score stayed until the break, and Dallas looked like it was in good shape at the start of the second half until winger Arturo Alvarez lost his cool and kicked Brad Davis in the midsection after the two got tangled out of bounds in the 47th minute.

Referee Baldomero Toledo issued a straight red card, meaning Dallas, already thin in the back, had to play the entire second half down a man.

With that, Houston started pushing for the equalizer, but Burse held strong in goal. His best save occurred when he came out to challenge second-half sub Joseph Ngwenya in the box, knocking the ball out of bounds.

But the Houston pressure relented, with Stuart Holden scoring the first goal of his playoff career just two minutes later.

The goal was almost identical to the Ruiz' tally with Dynamo defender Ryan Cochran played a long ball into the box to Ching, who headed it to the top of the six to Holden for the volley.

The goal tied the score in the game at one, but Dallas still led on aggregate, 2-1.

That was short lived, however, as Ching got his first goal of the game just five minutes later after receiving a perfect through-ball from Dwayne De Rosario in the box. The U.S. international one-timed the shot, beating Burse to make it 2-1.

That was how the score stayed through regulation, forcing the teams to play two 15 minute extra time periods.

Seven minutes into the first extra time period, Ching powered home a deflected ball in the box to give the home side a one-goal lead before a Davis free kick from just outside the box three minutes later was placed perfectly into the top corner of the net to close out the scoring.

The Dynamo outshot Dallas 24-5 in the contest while the two teams combined for 40 fouls and 12 cards in the Texas rivalry match.

Houston will now play the winner of the Kansas city Chivas USA semifinal series in the Western final on Saturday. If Fourth-seeded Kansas City, which currently leads the series 1-0, advances, second-seeded Houston will host the game. If top-seeded Chivas USA advances, the Western Final will be at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.

Snadbox Soccer Betting News


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March Madness odds and printable March Madness brackets

With the field of 64/65 set, MySportsbook.com has the Florida Gators as the 4-1 favorite to successfully defend their National Championship.  Men’s Division-1 College Basketball has not seen a team repeat as National Champions since Duke won back to back championships in ’91 & ‘92.  After losing three out of four late in the season, the Gators are full of momentum as they won their last four games by an average of 18 points.  Not surprisingly, right behind the Gators are the other three top seeds: Kansas 5-1, UNC 6-1, and Ohio State 7-1.  Many consider Kansas to be the hottest team in the country, having won 11 straight. With Kansas, it is hard to ignore all of the early exits from the “dance” in recent years.  With an impressive ACC Tournament, UNC ensured themselves the other top seed.  UNC has about as much talent as any other team in the tournament but with a team that’s best players are primarily freshman and sophomores, could youth be a concern.  Behind freshman sensation, Greg Oden, OSU will look to do what their football team failed to do just a few months earlier.  OSU seems to have peeked at the right time, as they currently have a 17 game winning streak.  Since the tournament field was expanded in 1985, there has never been an instance where all four #1 seeds advanced to the Final Four.  It is obvious that each of the top seeds have the talent to make it through to Atlanta.  But as everyone knows, when makes the NCAA Tournament so special are all of the spoilers and “Cinderella” stories that knock off the favorites on a daily basis.

Be sure to logon to MySportsbook.com to see check out all of the early lines and “March Madness” props.  Also be sure to enter the “$10,000,000 Perfect Bracket Contest”. If someone has the skills to predict every winner, they will be set for life and walk away with $10,000,000.  Even if no one can cash in on the Grand Prize, with a $35,000 guaranteed prize pool and a Mazda RX-8 to the first prize winner, Sportsbook.com’s bracket is a must for all “March Madness” fans.

MySportsbook.com’s odds to win the Championship and Regions:

EAST National Championship Region
Arkansas 300-1 50-1
Belmont 1000-1
Boston College 100-1 40-1
Eastern KY 1000-1
George Washington 75-1
Georgetown 10-1 3-2
Marquette 100-1 40-1
Michigan State 100-1 25-1
New Mexico St. 500-1 200-1
UNC 6-1 6-5
Oral Roberts  500-1
Texas 15-1 5-1
Texas Tech 200-1 5-1
USC 75-1 20-1
Vanderbilt 100-1 30-1
Washington State 40-1 15-1
WEST
Duke 50-1 10-1
Florida A&M 1000-1
Gonzaga 200-1  40-1
Holy Cross 300-1
Illinois 300-1 60-1
Indiana 75-1 40-1
Kansas 5-1 13-10
Kentucky 100-1 40-1
Niagara 1000-1
Pittsburgh 40-1 8-1
Southern Ill. 50-1 12-1
UCLA 10-1 3-2
VCU 500-1 100-1
Villanova 100-1 40-1
VA Tech 50-1 15-1
Weber St 1000-1
Wright St 1000-1 300-1
MIDWEST
Arizona 50-1 30-1
Butler 40-1 30-1
Davidson 300-1
Florida 4-1 4-5
Georgia Tech 75-1 25-1
Jackson State 1000-1
Maryland 30-1 6-1
Miami-OH 300-1
Notre Dame 100-1 20-1
ODU 500-1 100-1
Oregon 40-1 6-1
Purdue 300-1 60-1
Texas A&M CC 1000-1
UNLV 100-1 30-1
Winthrop 500-1 100-1
Wisconsin 15-1 7-2
SOUTH
Albany 200-1
BYU 200-1 40-1
Central CT St. 1000-1
Creighton 100-1 35-1
Long Beach St. 500-1 200-1
Louisville 40-1 10-1
Memphis 30-1 4-1
Nevada 75-1 35-1
North Texas 500-1
Ohio State 7-1 6-5
Penn 500-1
Stanford 200-1 50-1
Tennessee 100-1 20-1
Texas A&M 12-1 11-5
Virginia 75-1 18-1
Xavier 100-1 40-1

Field                                              100-1

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