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09/15/2007 - Hangzhou, China (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lisa DeVanna came on as a second-half substitute and rescued a point for Australia as she scored in the 83rd minute to give the Matildas a 1-1 draw with Norway on Saturday.
Ragnhild Gulbrandsen scored five minutes into the game for Norway, but the Scandinavians could not hold off the rugged Australians and ensure advancement into the next round.
The group will now be decided on the final day, with Australia and Norway tied atop the group with four points and Canada right behind those two with three.
Ghana, meanwhile, has been eliminated after dropping its first two games and will finish up its World Cup campaign on Wednesday against Norway, which should have no problem in taking care of the African club.
Australia will take on Canada on Wednesday in a game that will decide the second team to go through. The Aussies need only a draw while Canada must produce a win to move on.
Norway picked up where it left off against Canada in the opening game, when the team scored twice in the second half for a comeback win. The Norwegians came out strong and scored on their first chance of the match.
Melissa Wiik took a pass on the right and dribbled through the middle of the field toward goal. She then slid a perfect pass to Gulbrandsen inside the area, and the striker turned it past keeper Melissa Barbieri and into the lower left corner.
It looked as though Norway would overpower the Matildas, but Australia was not unnerved by the early goal.
Cheryl Salisbury got her head to a corner but put the ball over the net, and four minutes later, Collette McCallum carried the ball to the end line on the left and drove a cross through traffic that rolled across the face of goal. There was nobody on the other end, but Australia began to show its quality.
McCallum in particular was giving the Norway defense trouble, and a big giveaway in the 23rd minute nearly handed McCallum the equalizer. A poorly handled pass in the back allowed McCallum to collect a loose ball near the box. However, Norway keeper Bente Nordby came off her line and McCallum fired her shot into the keeper.
Norway nearly doubled its lead minutes later when Camilla Huse curled a shot from the edge of the area that narrowly missed the right post, but Australia looked good at the end of the first half.
McCallum continued to create in the offensive third, providing nice passing and a hard shot from the left that forced Nordby to punch the ball away.
The early part of the second half was a back-and-forth affair with Australia claiming the first good opportunity of the half. DeVanna came off the bench and scored twice against Ghana in the opener, and she once again provided a spark for the Matildas.
DeVanna dribbled into the box and laid a pass off to Dianne Alagich on the left, giving Alagich a great look at goal. However, she was let down by the shot, which squirted well wide of the far post.
Norway's Lene Mykjaland then drilled the post with a driven shot minutes later, and DeVanna dashed through the midfield and found herself one-on-one with the keeper. Nordby came to the edge of the box and DeVanna rolled a shot around the keeper toward the right corner. However, it hit the post and stayed out, denying Australia the equalizer by inches.
Australia kept pressing while Norway looked like a team that was just trying to hang on.
DeVanna would get another chance to equalize in the 83rd minute, and this time she capitalized. After taking a pass from midfield, DeVanna turned with the ball and took on a defender. She cut the ball back to get room at the edge of the area and fired a perfect left-footed shot into the upper right corner past a diving Nordby.
Salisbury sent a header wide in the 90th minute that would have given Australia all three points, but it is still a great result for a team that has never advanced past the group stage in three previous World Cups.
<< Robredo, Gonzalez advance to China Open final
Beijing, China (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tommy Robredo and Fernando Gonzalez will
meet in Sunday's final after each took care of business in Saturday's
semifinals at the $500,000 China Open.
Robredo nipped German wild card Nicolas K
<< Another late rally for Europe keeps it close
Halmstad, Sweden (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 18th hole doomed the Americans.
Two European teams won the 18th hole to earn crucial halves in the first two
matches of Saturday's foursomes matches at the Solheim Cup.
In the foursomes, each tea
<< New mom Davenport moves into Bali final
Bali, Indonesia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lindsay Davenport continued her remarkable
ride in Bali on Saturday, cruising past Italian Sara Errani, 6-1, 6-3, in
semifinal action at the $225,000 Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic.
The three-time
<< Denmark overcomes distractions to top New Zealand
Wuhan, China (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Katrine Pedersen scored and set up a goal as
Denmark, playing with its coach in the stands because of a suspension, topped
New Zealand, 2-0, on Saturday.
Coach Kenneth Heiner-Moller was suspended two games
Rangers try to halt skid versus A's >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Texas Rangers try to put the brakes on a four-game
losing streak this afternoon when they play the third contest of a four-game
set against the Oakland Athletics at McAfee Coliseum.
Texas continued to fall further away
Pirates continue road trip in Houston >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Pirates kicked off their 10-game road trip
in a good way and will try for another win tonight when they continue a three-
game series with the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park.
Jose Bautista put the Pira
Butler uses safety, field goals to beat St. Joseph's 11-8 >>
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -Butler held St. Joseph's (Ind.) to negative three rushing yards and scored a safety and three field goals to squeak past their Division II foe 11-8 on Saturday.Senior Derek North led the Bulldogs to their first 3-0 start since 199
Cleveland's Carmona takes on Royals shooting for 17th win >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fausto Carmona goes for win No. 17 this evening when the
Cleveland Indians continue their three-game series against the Kansas City
Royals at Jacobs Field.
Carmona has been a pleasant surprise for the AL Central-leading In
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Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."
When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules.
The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.
The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.
“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”
The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.
“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”
The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.
“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”
Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.
“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."
So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?
“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.
Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.
Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.
Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.
“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.
Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.
The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.
“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.
Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.
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