Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
09/14/2007 - Chengdu, China (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kyong Hwa Kim and Kum Suk Ri scored as North Korea cruised to a 2-0 win over Nigeria on Friday, proving its tie against the United States on Tuesday was no fluke.
Kim and Ri scored four minutes apart in the opening half off corner kicks, and North Korea's lead was never really threatened.
With the win, North Korea moved into a tie with the United States atop Group B and all but assured itself a spot in the quarterfinals.
A win or a tie against Sweden on Tuesday and North Korea would advance, but it could also advance with a loss. The United States plays Nigeria on Tuesday and faces the same scenario, but the top spot in the group is still on the line.
North Korea opened the game against Nigeria showcasing an attacking style that caught the United States off guard and also had the African champions on their heels.
Nigeria goalie Precious Dede played well early, continuing the strong form she showed in a 1-1 tie with Sweden on Tuesday. Twice in the early minutes of the match she did well to push shots over the crossbar.
North Korea solved Dede for the first time in the 17th minute, finding the net directly off a corner kick. Kim took the corner from the left side, swinging a ball just over Dede that skimmed off the bottom of the crossbar.
After Dede survived two long shots from North Korea, one that went just over the crossbar and one she punched wide, she was helpless on another corner in the 21st minute.
Kim took the kick and sent a cross toward the far side of the box. Ri was wide open and she jumped to head the ball, squeezing it between two Nigeria players who stood flat-footed on the line.
Nigeria showed a little life on offense in the first half, putting three shots on target, but North Korea goalie Myong Hui Jon wasn't tested.
North Korea had the first chance in the second half, a Kim blast from well out of the box that took a high hop in front of Dede and nearly bounced off of her and into the goal.
North Korea continued creating chances early in the second half, hitting the frame in the 51st minute.
Nigeria had its first good scoring chance after halftime in the 63rd minute when Cynthia Uwak, 2006 FIFA Player of the Year nominee and reigning African Woman Footballer of the Year, headed a ball just wide of the right post.
From there, the pace of the game slowed considerably as North Korea settled in to protect its lead. The team rarely threatened over the final 30 minutes, but Nigeria did little to worry the Koreans.
Nigeria really only threatened once in the last third of the game, getting a shot off a corner that was easily handled by North Korea's goalie.
For Nigeria to advance to the quarterfinals for just the second time in its history, it has to beat the United States by at least three goals on Tuesday.
<< Woods closes gap at Tour Championship
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tiger Woods closed the gap a bit on Friday
morning as he polished off a six-under-par 64 to complete the first round at
the Tour Championship.
Darkness halted play on Thursday, but a nearly three-hour
<< Japan continues late magic against Argentina
Shanghai, China (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Yuki Nagasato rescued all three points
for Japan as she scored in stoppage time to give the Japanese a 1-0 win over
Argentina on Friday.
After being held scoreless for 90 minutes against the strugg
<< Americans lead after foursomes at Solheim Cup
Halmstad, Sweden (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The American team took a 2 1/2 - 1 1/2
lead after Friday morning's foursomes matches at the Solheim Cup at Halmstad
Golf Club.
The first match was the only one that went the distance. The European
<< Wambach double leads United States past Sweden
Chengdu, China (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Abby Wambach scored two goals as the United
States posted an impressive 2-0 win over Sweden on Friday in the World Cup.
Wambach converted a penalty kick in the first half and added her third goal of
the tou
Around the FCS: It's Primetime for top teams in FCS >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It's just week three of the college
football season and already we've seen an FCS team (Appalachian State) playing
an "Instant Classic" on ESPN Classic.
We've watched Northern Iowa not just beat, but beat
Chakvetadze-Schiavone will open up 45th Fed Cup final >>
Moscow, Russia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - When the 45th Fed Cup final commences on
Saturday, Russian Anna Chakvetadze will battle Italian Francesca Schiavone in
the opening singles rubber in Moscow. The heavily-favored Russians and
defendi
Rockies try and keep playoff hopes alive in opener with Fish >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Rockies just split a four-game set in
Philadelphia and will try to inch closer to the top of the NL wild card
standings in the first of three straight games against the Florida Marlins
tonight at Coors Field.
O's begin series north of the border with Jays >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Slumping rookie right-hander Jesse Litsch will try for his
first win since August 23 and just his second since late July tonight when the
Toronto Blue Jays open a three-game series with the visiting Baltimore Orioles
at Roger
Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting