USA MLS September 16th - 20th

[Leadbelly]

	Thursday 16 September 2010	Home	Draw	Away	BPP
	San Jose Earthquakes v Philadelphia Union (03:00 BST)	2.14	3.45	4	100.71 %
	Friday 17 September 2010	Home	Draw	Away	BPP
	FC Dallas v Red Bull New York (02:00 BST)	2.32	3.4	3.5	101.09 %
	Saturday 18 September 2010	Home	Draw	Away	BPP
	Real Salt Lake v Chicago Fire (21:00 BST)	1.69	3.58	5.5	105.13 %
	Sunday 19 September 2010	Home	Draw	Away	BPP
	Columbus Crew v Seattle Sounders (00:30 BST)	1.66	3.75	5.61	104.49 %
	Houston Dynamo v Toronto FC (01:30 BST)	2.17	3.47	3.25	105.46 %
	Colorado Rapids v New England Revolution (02:00 BST)	1.69	3.58	5	106.95 %
	Los Angeles Galaxy v DC United (03:30 BST)	1.5	3.95	6.62	107.09 %
	Monday 20 September 2010	Home	Draw	Away	BPP
	Chivas USA v Kansas City Wizards (01:00 BST)	1.92	3.47	3.75	107.41 %

[Leadbelly]

Re: USA MLS September 16th - 20th San Jose Earthquake v Philadelphia Union San Jose (33 points and 6th in the Western Conf) take on Philadelphia (24 points and 6th in the Eastern Conf) tonight with both teams in decent form and with sights on maybe making the play-offs (San Jose have the easier run in and will probably get there, but I'd be surprised if Philly make it). San Jose's record for the past five games is 3W 1D 1L which is pretty good, but they haven't been tearing up trees by any means. Their last game against Dallas was a bit of a bore - a good defensive job against a team on a long unbeaten run, but not many shots on goal and they missesd Stephenson who has looked good since joining from Aalesunds. Before that against Houston away they got a 2-1 win, but Houston dominated for long periods and only Ching being injured probably prevented Houston getting a draw at least. Looking further back they got a bit lucky against LA with Ricketts in goal making a howler to give them the win. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that San Jose don't score a lot (or concede a lot). They have brought in Geovanni (from Hull) and Stephenson (who is still recovering from his injury and might not play tonight) to try and be a bit more creative, but a side effect of this is that Wondalowski their top scorer has been shunted out to play on the wing, which to me doesn't make too much sense. Philadelphia's record for the past five games is 2W 2D 1L which is probably their best form of the season, however we can't escape the fact that their record away from home is pretty poor. A lot of their problems have been down to defensive mistakes/goalkeeping howlers/naivety. The game against DC United is a good example - they had lots of the play (against the worst team in the league), but two mistakes from Califf and Nakizawa led to conceding goals and losing the match. However possibly a corner has been turned - after the Kansas game where error prone Seitz (GK) was at fault for the equalizing goal, the coach decided enough was enough and gave Knighton a chance in the nets and of course the next game they recorded their first clean sheet ever, against Chicago Fire (including Ljungberg and Castillo). I don't think they've turned into George Graham's Arsenal overnight, but it's a step in the right direction. Team news is that Mwanga's shoulder injury isn't as bad as feared, but may not be risked tonight. Anyway I can see it being a tight game and I am backing Under 2.25 at 1.9 with Bet365, the only risk I see is Geovanni - if he turns it on, there could be goals. Also a couple of side bets for fun Wondalowski FGS / San Jose win at 13 and Le Toux FGS / Philly win at 15. Both guys are their respective teams top scorers and especially if Stephenson and Mwanga don't play I feel these are decent odds. Both bets with Bet365

[Leadbelly]

Re: USA MLS September 16th - 20th

San Jose Earthquake v Philadelphia Union Anyway I can see it being a tight game and I am backing Under 2.25 at 1.9 with Bet365, the only risk I see is Geovanni - if he turns it on, there could be goals. Also a couple of side bets for fun Wondalowski FGS / San Jose win at 13 and Le Toux FGS / Philly win at 15. Both guys are their respective teams top scorers and especially if Stephenson and Mwanga don't play I feel these are decent odds. Both bets with Bet365

San Jose 1 - 0 Philadelphia :ok Haven't watched the highlights yet so can't comment on the game itself, but the Unders bet came in and it was Wandalowski who popped up with the goal.

[Rick121212]

Re: USA MLS September 16th - 20th Well it's just coincidence I've come across this thread but Leadbelly, the bets on that game were quality. Well done mate! :clap :ok :cheers

[Leadbelly]

Re: USA MLS September 16th - 20th Well that was annoying. Had got about halfway through my Dallas v NY preview, went away to do something else and when I came back the PC had crashed! Anyway thanks Rick (P'dude)! Had a quick look at the highlights and it didn't look the most inspiring of games, not a huge amount of good chances for either side,but Philadelphia were unlucky not to get a penalty in the very last minute. Think it was Mapp who got completely cleaned out when dummying a ball in the box - referee is 5 yards away and gives nothing. Not that I'm complaining. FC Dallas v New York Red Bulls FC Dallas (41 points and 3rd in the Western Conf) take on New York Red Bulls (40 points and 2nd in the Eastern Conf) tonight. Should be an interesting game, if tough to predict. Doesn't take Einstein to see that FC Dallas are doing well this season. Results from the last five games are 3W 2D 0L with just the 1 goal conceded and if that's not impressive enough - they are on an unbeaten 14 game run, have won the last 6 home games in a row and have only lost twice all season (to LA and NY). So it should be a home win? Maybe not, their last 4 games have all been very tight close affairs with Hartman having to save their bacon on quite a few occasions and they looked a bit suspect in the Toronto game to throw ins and set pieces (where NY are strong). New York's record for the past five game is 3W 0D 2L which includes some very good performances especially against San Jose and their last game against Colorado. Henry is starting to look back to somewhere approaching the levels we know he can reach - some nice flicks, passes and even a couple of goals. The two defeats though came against RSL and LA Galaxy, two of the better sides in the league and this has been the pattern (generally) so far this season - they do well at home or against "lesser" sides, but poorly away or against "better" sides. Team news is that Marquez is carrying an ankle injury, but is expected to play. Not sure if new signing Bellouchy will make his debut after joining from Colorado. Time for a pick. My advice is no bet! Not gonna follow my own advice though, gone for Under 2.25 at 1.925 with Bet365. Can't see Dallas changing things too much tactically and their five in midfield should be able to control things (especially if Marquez is carrying a knock). I'm wondering if the NY coach wishes he could drop Henry or Angel to put an extra body in the midfield.

[Setup]

Re: USA MLS September 16th - 20th hey there, about Salt Lake - Chicago, I actually like the look of Chicago here. I know RSL is a very strong home team, that Chicago aren't in a good form but if Chicago will need the points in order to be in the playoffs while RSL have already assured their spot. Any thoughts Leadbelly?

[Leadbelly]

Re: USA MLS September 16th - 20th

Time for a pick. My advice is no bet! Not gonna follow my own advice though, gone for Under 2.25 at 1.925 with Bet365. Can't see Dallas changing things too much tactically and their five in midfield should be able to control things (especially if Marquez is carrying a knock). I'm wondering if the NY coach wishes he could drop Henry or Angel to put an extra body in the midfield.

Well I could make excuses about injurys to Hernandez and Hartman (Henry caused it in a goal celebration !) and the red card for Shea in the 29th minute, but it looked like it might have been going overs anyway from the brief highlights I've watched. NY coach did drop Angel after all for the extra body in midfield.

Any thoughts Leadbelly?

Nope! Will probably have a look tomorrow and might do a write up then. RSL do have something to play for though - they'd want to win the Supporters' Shield (team with most points in the regular season), guarantee finishing in the top 2 in their conference (so that they're seeded for the play-offs) and protect their long unbeaten home run (which stretches back to June 2009).

[Leadbelly]

Re: USA MLS September 16th - 20th Real Salt Lake v Chicago Fire Real Salt Lake (44 points and 2nd in the Western Conf) take on Chicago Fire (26 points and 5th in the Eastern Conf) tonight. Quite an injury headache for RSL, but they still go into the game as big favourites. RSL's record for the past five league games is 2W 3D 0L. They've also been playing in the CCL recently losing away to Cruz Azul and winning at home to Toronto and with more games coming up quickly now is not the time for a spate of injurys. Morales in suspended and there are injurys to Espindola, Findley, Saborio and a few others (but the ones named are all attacking players). The question is, whether they will play or not? Their status has been changing a bit since yesterday - Espindola from not playing to questionable and Saborio from questionable to probable. Last game away to Seattle finished 0-0 when Espindola wasn't playing and Findley (who missed a penalty) was carrying his injury. Chicago Fire's record for the past five games is 0W 2D 3L, not the time to go on a poor run and their play-off hopes look slim to none (7 points behind the last qualifying spot). Ljungberg has looked decent since joining - set up all three goals in the 4-3 defeat to Houston, but Castillo is taking longer to settle. Defensively in the past couple of games they've tightened things up, but they look susceptible to crosses / corners, whether RSL can take advantage of this or not might depend on who's playing. The obvious bet is Unders, but that's dropped from 1.9 yesterday down to 1.75 today. So probably not too much value left there. What I'm gonna do is to wait for team news and pick a bet from there. If the players with injurys are playing I might go for RSL to be winning at halftime, if they're on the bench I might wait till halftime and see what's happening and if they don't play at all maybe Under 1.5 or Chicago on the AH might be the bet.

[Leadbelly]

Re: USA MLS September 16th - 20th Teams RSL: Rimando - Wingert Borchers Olave Beltran - Johnson Beckerman Williams Grabavoy - Saborio Findley Fire: Johnson - Robinson Brown Conde Segares - Ristic Pause Ljungberg Pappa - John Castillo So some of the injured are playing for RSL. In that case going for RSL to be winning at halftime at 2.37 with Bet365. Midweek game coming up for them in Panama and I'm sure the coach would love to be able to rest some guys in the second half (and I'll only have to watch the first 45 !)

[Leadbelly]

Re: USA MLS September 16th - 20th 1-0 at halftime :ok Winning bet, but more than a bit lucky. Last minute penalty after a pretty banal first half - only one other good chance which Finley lobbed over the bar (couple of good long range efforts as well from either side). Phew!

[Leadbelly]

Re: USA MLS September 16th - 20th Chivas USA v Kansas City Wizards Chivas USA (25 points and 7th in the Western Conf) take on Kansas City Wizards (27 points and 4th in the Eastern Conf) tonight, both with games in hand on Seattle (the team in the last play-off spot) and needing points to catch them. The Goat's record for the past five games is 2W 1D 2L (both wins at home) and they're just off the back of a win against their "parent" club Chivas Guadalajara. Admittedly it was by a penalty shoot out, but they created a lot of chances and on another day would have won easily in normal time. The partnership of Braun and Gordon has certainly improved over the past couple of games (in contrast to the 0-0 against Seattle in August). Got a few guys who are doubtful with injurys, but I wouldn't be surprised if they drag themselves off the treatment table to play. Kansas City's record for the past five games is 2W 2D 1L and have only lost one of their past nine games and that was away to San Jose 1-0 where Bunbury missed several chances and they had 3 (i think) goals ruled out for offside. Kansas City's problem as far as I see it, is the lack of a proven goalscorer in their 451/433 formation. They were using Bunbury, but recenly Diop has been starting and he's been a bit more successful. Pick time. Going for Both Team to Score at 1.90 with Bet365. Not sure if a draw is good enough for either side (maybe for Kansas) so we should see some attacking football. Kansas should create some chances with the pace and delivery of Smith and Kamara on the wings (Chivas struggled against the pace of Cummings against Colorado) and hopefully the blossoming partnership of Braun and Gordon can continue to flourish.

[Leadbelly]

Re: USA MLS September 16th - 20th

Pick time. Going for Both Team to Score at 1.90 with Bet365. Not sure if a draw is good enough for either side (maybe for Kansas) so we should see some attacking football. Kansas should create some chances with the pace and delivery of Smith and Kamara on the wings (Chivas struggled against the pace of Cummings against Colorado) and hopefully the blossoming partnership of Braun and Gordon can continue to flourish.

Chivas 0-2 Kansas City Wizards Oh well. So much for going for the win and attacking football! Turgid first half and Chivas only managed one shot on goal in the entire match. I guess if you play football like that you don't deserve to be in the play-offs (and Chivas need a miracle now to make it). Decent weekend overall though (thanks to Mr. Wondalowski !), probably back Wednesday for one of the two games then.