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09/16/2007 - Hangzhou, China (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Germany received a little dose of reality on Friday when it was held to a 0-0 draw by England after winning the opening game of the tournament 11-0 against Argentina.
The Germans looked unstoppable in pounding the helpless South American team, but they were brought back to Earth by an England side that played them to a very even game.
The draw prevented Germany from booking a spot in the knockout round, but they should have no problem taking care of that on Monday against Japan.
The Japanese have been a very disappointing team so far despite the fact that they have taken four points from two games.
Japan needed two free kick goals from Aya Miyama, including one at the final whistle, to earn a draw with England, and then got a gift goal in the 91st minute against Argentina when the keeper spilled a bad rebound that was tapped home by Yuki Nagasato.
Star midfielder Homare Sawa has had a terrible tournament to this point, but somehow Japan still has a chance to advance to the quarterfinals.
Japan's attack has lacked creativity, which is what Sawa provides in the middle of the field. She has failed to have any impact on either game, but if Japan is to have any chance of a taking a point from Germany, that must change.
The fact that Argentina held the Asian club without a goal for over 90 minutes is a bad sign, and Japan does not figure to have the talent in attack to crack Germany's strong back line.
Outside of Sawa, there is no player who is capable of making an individual play to change the game. The only hope is for Japan to draw a free kick near the box and hope that Miyama can beat German keeper Nadine Angerer, who has looked shaky at times.
Japan has not played poorly defensively to this point, but Birgit Prinz, Sandra Smisek and Kerstin Garefrekes will certainly put them to the test.
Japan allowed England's Kelly Smith to get free for two goals, and Prinz has to be thinking about the next goal that will put her in first place on the all-time goals list in World Cup history.
She will have a good chance to set that record against Japan, which does not have the ability to shut down such a balanced attack.
Japan has been a part of all five World Cups with its appearance this year. However, it has only moved on past the group stage once, and don't expect that to happen this year either.
There is not enough talent or creativity on this Japan side to overcome such a technically strong team, and Germany will advance as expected with a good chance to defend its World Cup title.
<< Garrard leads Jaguars to comeback win over Falcons
Jacksonville, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David Garrard threw for 272 yards and a
touchdown as the Jaguars edged Atlanta, 13-7, at Jacksonville Municipal
Stadium.
Garrard completed 17-of-25 passes and added 20 rushing yards for the
<< Texans' Johnson leaves game
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Houston Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson
left Sunday's game against the Carolina Panthers early in the fourth quarter.
Johnson hauled in a 10-yard pass from Matt Schaub and was immediately drilled
by Ca
<< Winless England has eyes on quarterfinals
Chengdu, China (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - England advanced to the quarterfinals in
its only other appearance in the Women's World Cup in 1995. The team is in a
great position to do so once again Monday despite the fact it has failed to
win eit
<< Rennes pulls within point of top spot
Lorient, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Etienne Didot scored his second goal of
the season as Rennes defeated Lorient, 1-0, on Sunday to climb within one
point of the top spot in France's Ligue 1.
Didot scored in the 35th minute, which
Garcia, Bucs earn surprising rout of Saints >>
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jeff Garcia threw for 243 yards and two
touchdowns to lead the Tampa Bay Buccaneers over the New Orleans Saints,
31-14, in a divisional matchup at Raymond James Stadium.
Garcia completed 10-of-16
Colts hold off Titans in final minute >>
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Peyton Manning threw for 312 yards with a
touchdown, but had to watch from the sideline as the Indianapolis defense
stopped a potential last-minute drive from Vince Young, as the Colts held on
for a 2
Udinese deals Juventus first loss of season >>
Turin, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Udinese gave Juventus its first loss of the
season on Sunday at Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino as Antonio Di Natale scored
the lone goal in a 1-0 win.
It was a nice way to rebound from a 5-0 loss to promote
Gore scores twice as Nedney's late FG leads 49ers past Rams >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Just days after losing his mother, Frank Gore
rushed for a pair of touchdowns to guide the San Francisco 49ers past the St.
Louis Rams, 17-16, in an NFC West showdown.
Joe Nedney hit the game-deciding fiel
Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.
Trash talk has a place in every competitive endeavor (except baseball; those stirrup-wearers are too busy chewing on their sunflower seeds and their supplements to worry about what their opponents are doing).
Fantasy sports is no exception. Any intelligent discussion of the subject would probably start with a thesis statement or a definition of terms. Thankfully, this wont be an intelligent discussion.
Let me just say that I am happy to take a place in this space alongside my talented colleagues, even our commissioner. (You should see how she bleats like a demented paper boy about league fees on our fantasy site).
Trash talking, I would argue, is primarily about amusing your friends, their sheeplike demeanors and sloping foreheads notwithstanding. The best place I have found for football trash talking is at www.SportsAlarm.com.
Beyond the entertainment factor, though, I would recognize that the sophomoric ritual has one advantage, when properly applied. It magnifies your fantasy triumphs and mitigates your fantasy failures by transforming the eventual point total into an afterthought. Winning makes it seem like your opponent really is a truss-owning, lapel-pin-wearing nitwit. And in defeat, trash talk can be the air bag to break the fall from your hyperbolic heights. The plug-necked yahoos on your team, you can say, will be sacking groceries by the end of the season.
The best trash talk, in my view, is layered and nuanced. And it doesnt focus only on your opponents team. It picks apart your opponent. The idea is to create a shock-and-awe-scale blizzard of nonsense, and the goal is to make your opponent drop his hands from his keyboard in exasperation.
What team does your opponent root for? Accuse a Giants fan of having a Joe Namath pillowcase. Wheres your opponent from? Give a look of concern no matter his reply, then say, I'll try to type slower for you next time. Is your opponent into politics? Label everyone a tax-and-spend corporate shill.
Cap all that with a liberal application of irrelevance. For instance, dont just conclude by saying your opponent is a twerp who drafts like my grandmother. Say that your opponent is a sweater-wearing, eyebrow-plucking twerp who drafts his team about as well as Zsa Zsa Gabor gave acceptance speeches at the Oscars. By the time your foe makes sense of that, his starting running back will have had puppies.
But what about you? Hmm? Recall a memorable slam? Have a tried-and-true technique? Know someone who seems impervious to insult? Take a moment and tells us about it. Put together some (fit-for-publication) thoughts. You wont be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, Im sure, to reply.
In addition to the trash talking, the Sports Alarm has a huge gallery of high resolution pictures of beautiful women and models in bikinis. The most popular models are: Lindsay Lohan, Carrie Underwood, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Paris Hilton.
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