Red Bulls, Galaxy clash in East, West battle

Soccer Betting Lines

05/09/2008 - Carson, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two of Major League Soccer's biggest markets will clash when the New York Red Bulls travel to California to take on the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday night at the Home Depot Center.

Both teams are trying to establish their spots in their respective conference tables, with the Galaxy currently third in the West and New York second from the bottom in the East.

The Galaxy are the hotter of the two lukewarm teams, unbeaten in their last three including a 2-2 draw with Real Salt Lake in their last league fixture. David Beckham scored two goals less than five minutes apart to give L.A. a share of the points on the road.

"It's what great players do," Galaxy defender Chris Klein said of Beckham. "He delivers good balls, and you have to step to him because he can strike a great ball. On the free kick, everyone knows what he can do there. We're going to need a few of those this year, and he's been known to provide them. I think this is a tip of what he can do, and what everyone has been waiting to see."

All four goals in the 2-2 draw came before the first half break.

"We started coming back into the game just before then and when you're coming back into the game it's important that you keep your eyes on the play," Beckham said. "It was my turn to score the goals tonight instead of Landon (Donovan, who leads MLS with 8 goals), but it's important that all the players take a part of scoring goals and winning games and getting the team back into the game."

"His attitude in those two moments to make the difference," Donovan of Beckham. "Obviously, he has the quality to make the difference. Other people can try it, but can't pull it off - he can. Him saying, 'I'm going to make a difference because we're struggling right now,' then he went and did it - that was the difference between tying the game and losing."

The Red Bulls aren't as confident heading into the match, with number of injury concerns.

Striker Juan Pablo Angel has an injured back, midfielder Claudio Reyna's has a left calf strain, striker Jozy Altidore missed two days of training because of an allergies, and defensive midfielder Seth Stammler suffered a lower back injury at training Wednesday afternoon. Neither Reyna or Stammler will be in action Saturday.

"It's sore," Angel said of his back after the team's draw at Toronto last week. "It got very tight at the end. But I'm happy I managed to play 90 minutes, it'll be good for my fitness. We're just going to have to wait and see how it reacts in the next couple of days ... if it reacts well, that means I'm getting better."

There was some good news from the training room, however, with Dane Richards and Hunter Freeman playing their first minutes of the season last week after coming back from injury. Both Angel and Altidore are expected to play Saturday as well.

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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