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12/26/2006 - Rotterdam, Holland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eredivisie leaders PSV extended their unbeaten run to 18 games on Tuesday with a tough 1-1 draw against Feyenoord at De Kuip Stadion.
Phillip Cocu opened the scoring in the 24th minute for PSV, but had his goal erased 14 minutes later as Feyenoord's Angelos Charisteas leveled the match with a strong header.
The hosts had the better of the play in the second half and were the more threatening side, controlling the majority of the possession. However, the strong PSV back line would not be breached twice on this day, and Gomes did enough in the visiting club's goal to make sure of it.
The draw increases PSV's advantage at the top of the table to 10 points, while Feyenoord jumped Twente to move into the fourth position.
Feyenoord came out the stronger side over the opening 20 minutes, and nearly jumped in front eight minutes in. Stein Huysegems swung in a cross that found Joonas Kolkka in front of the net. The Finnish striker could not make the most of the chance though, as his header from eight yards out sailed wide.
Despite the pressure from Feyenoord, it was PSV that found the opener in the 24th minute with a little luck. Cocu collected the ball 25 yards from goal and fired a low shot towards goal. The ball took a nasty deflection on its way through, leaving keeper Henk Timmer out of position and with no chance to keep it out.
The goal could have been a deflating one, but Feyenoord continued to press the action and were rewarded 14 minutes later.
Roysten Drenthe drove a free-kick from the left wing into the penalty area and Charisteas got on the other end of it, driving into the back of the net with his head from six yards out.
After the restart, it was Feyenoord who once again threatened to move in front. In the 57th minute, Drenthe produced a moment of individual brilliance that nearly put his team ahead. The Feyenoord defender made a dashing run down the left flank, maneuvered his way through the PSV defense and let loose a hard shot that Gomes did well to deflect around the post.
It wasn't the best performance of the season by PSV, but with a little bit of a cushion at the top, extending their unbeaten run against a tough squad on the road will do.
In other Dutch play on Tuesday, Kristof Imschoot scored twice in the final eight minutes to lift Willem II to a 2-1 win over Excelsior and Sparta surprised Groningen 1-0.
<< Clippers have been a big disappointment
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Clippers are just 11-15 and are in the
cellar in the Pacific Division. Expectations are high for the Clippers after
they won 47 games during the 2005-06 campaign and advanced to
the con
<< Jazz continue solid play
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Utah Jazz (20-8) are four games ahead of the second
place Denver Nuggets in the Northwest Division. They look like they are ready
to end their three-year drought of postseason play.
The Jazz are 10-3 when they
<< Eskandarian headed to Toronto
Washington, D.C. (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Toronto FC took another step towards its
inaugural Major League Soccer season by acquiring forward Alecko Eskandarian
from D.C. United in exchange for a partial allocation.
The 24-year-old was the to
<< Iverson and Nuggets need to get familiar with each other
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Denver Nuggets made a blockbuster move when they
acquired All-Star guard Allen Iverson and reserve Ivan McFarlin from the
Philadelphia 76ers last Tuesday for a pair of 2007 first-round draft picks,
point guard Andre Mi
Angels' Rivera to undergo surgery >>
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim outfielder
Juan Rivera will undergo surgery on his broken left leg on Wednesday.
Rivera, 28, was playing for the Oriente Caribbeans against the Aragua Tigers
in Maracay, V
Dorsey gets the start for Cleveland >>
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Browns named Ken Dorsey as
their starting quarterback for the season finale against the Houston Texans.
Dorsey gets the nod after backup Derek Anderson separated his shoulder in
Sunday
Phoenix-Denver game rescheduled >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Phoenix Suns-Denver Nuggets contest
that was postponed due to blizzard conditions in Denver on December 20 has
been rescheduled for Monday, February 5 at 9:00 p.m. (et).
In addition, the start
Onyewu, Lilly named U.S. Soccer Athletes of the Year >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Monday, U.S. Soccer named National Team
defender Oguchi Onyewu and forward Kristine Lilly the 2006 Male and Female
Athletes of the Year, respectively.
For more than 20 years, U.S. Soccer Athletes
My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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