Goats take West lead with first Super Clasico title over L.A.

Soccer Betting Lines

09/14/2007 - Carson, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In just its third season in Major League Soccer, CD Chivas USA has gone from worst to first.

The Mexican owned, Los Angeles based club took over the top spot in the Western table, as well as winning the third annual Super Clasico - the trophy given to the winner of the L.A. derby against the Galaxy - with an impressive 3-0 victory over its Home Depot Center neighbors Thursday night.

The Goats proved just how far they have come in three seasons, since that 4-22-5 opening campaign in 2005 in which the club finished last in the league, by dominating the Galaxy most of the game. Despite the fact that Chivas USA dominated the match, it only had a 1-0 lead after an Ante Razov tally early in the first half as time was winding down. But two minutes from time, Chivas busted the game open, with Francisco Mendoza blasting home a goal on a breakaway before Laurent Merlin made it 3-0 in stoppage time.

With the win, the Goats capture their first Super Clasico title by going 2-1-1 against L.A. this season, bringing the all-time series between the two clubs to 7-3-2 in favor of the Galaxy. Chivas (13-6-4) outscored L.A. 8-4 this season.

There was some bad blood between the two teams after Chivas' Alex Zotinca and L.A.'s Kevin Harmse were ejected in first half stoppage time of the last fixture between the clubs after a hard challenge by Jesse Marsch on David Beckham led to a scrum at midfield.

That seemed to carry over into the opening minutes of the game as Peter Vagenas fouled Marsch hard, leading the Chivas USA midfielder to throw the ball at the Galaxy player. Vagenas took exception to that and pushed Marsch. Referee Alex Prus put a quick stop to the shenanigans when he issued and early card to Marsch in the second minute.

After that, Chivas controlled possession of the ball and took the play to the Galaxy (4-12-5) for most of the first half.

Goats' leading scorer Maykel Galindo had the best early chance when he out- muscled a defender at the top of the Galaxy penalty area, cut inside past Vagenas and fired a shot on goal. L.A. goalkeeper Joe Cannon stood tall on the play, however, and made the close-range save to keep the game scoreless 20 minutes in.

There was nothing Cannon could do just three minutes later when Razov scored his ninth goal of the season and 107th of his MLS career to make it 1-0.

The U.S. international took a long pass from defender Lawson Vaughn from the defensive third and drove to the top of the box. With Razov flying in, defender Abel Xavier closed and cut off the inside lane, expecting Razov to cut inside and blast a shot with his dominant left foot. Razov instead glided past the defender, beating him badly, and fired a shot with his right, just inside the far post past Cannon.

That was how the score stayed until the 88th minute when Mendoza scored just his second goal of the season to double the lead. Sacha Kljestan played a ball through the Galaxy defense - which was pushing forward for the equalizer - to Mendoza who broke in on Cannon and unleashed a low, hard shot with his left foot into the back of the net.

Merlin added his first career MLS goal a minute into stoppage time when a Galaxy defender cleared a ball to him at the top of the box after a flurry of action inside. The Frenchman took one touch and blasted a shot off the far post and in to make it 3-0.

Chivas, which currently holds a one point lead over Houston in the West with two games in hand, is back in action Sunday when it travels to Colorado while the Galaxy hosts the Dynamo the same day.

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Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting

So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.

Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?

If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)

Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).

In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.

Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.

The Bubble Breakdown
CONFERENCE LOCKS SHOULD BE INS AT-LARGES TAKEN
(assuming no auto bid outlier)
ACC Betting Odds 6 0 5
Big East Betting Odds 5 0 4
Big Ten Betting Odds 2 2 3
Big 12 Betting Odds 3 0 2
Pac-10 Betting Odds 5 1 5
SEC Betting Odds 4 0 3
MVC Betting Odds 1 1 1
MWC Betting Odds 2 1 2
TOTAL 28 5 25

As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.

(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)

If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.

Atlantic Coast Conference

Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech

The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.

 

Work left to do:

Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.

Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).

Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.

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