Allsopp, Hamid lead D.C. over K.C. for first win

Soccer Betting Lines

05/05/2010 - Washington, D.C. (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Danny Allsopp scored twice and 19-year-old goalie Bill Hamid won his first MLS start, leading D.C. United to its first win of the year, 2-1 over the Kansas City Wizards on Wednesday at RFK Stadium.

United (1-5-0) snapped its season-opening, five-match losing streak and handed new coach Curt Onalfo his first win. Onalfo coached K.C. from 2007-09.

K.C. (2-3-1), which beat D.C. 4-0 in both teams' season opener, lost for third time in its last four games. The Wizards ended a 402-minute scoring drought in stoppage time when Kei Kamara scored his third goal of the season.

Allsopp handed United its first lead of the season in the 12th minute with his first MLS goal. Defender Rodney Wallace played a long ball, and Allsopp fought off Pablo Escobar to control the pass, then slipped around Jimmy Conrad on the left side of the area to send a deflected shot past goalie Jimmy Nielsen.

Hamid made his first save five minutes later, denying Chance Myers on the edge of the six-yard box. Hamid made another save in the 26th when he pushed a shot from Roger Espinoza over the bar.

Allsopp rewarded Hamid with a two-goal lead in the 34th. Adam Cristman grabbed a bad pass from Escobar and slid a pass to an open Allsopp, who fired into the bottom-left corner from 18 yards to beat Nielsen again.

United, which had scored in only one of its first five games, matched its goal total for the entire season. D.C. scored twice in a 3-2 loss to the expansion Philadelphia Union, but had been shutout in its other four matches.

Hamid made his biggest stop in the closing seconds of the first when he lifted a low, one-hop shot from Jack Jewsbury over the bar for his third save.

Kansas City tested Hamid two more times in the opening minutes of the second, but the rookie denied substitute Kamara just 15 seconds after half, and again off a header in the 48th.

Hamid made another fine play on a cross from Ryan Smith that sailed toward the upper-right corner in the 60th. Hamid had to jump to get the ball, then extend his arms to keep the ball from crossing the line as he collided with the post.

Christian Castillo beat Nielsen on a 45-yard free kick in the 77th but drilled the left post, as D.C. sat on its lead over the final 45 minutes and failed to create many chances.

Kamara scored Kansas City's first goal since his match-winner against Colorado when he slid to reach a pass from Josh Wolff and sent the ball just inside the right post to spoil Hamid's shutout bid.

D.C. allowed a league-high 13 goals in its first five matches, but Hamid saved five shots as United allowed less than two goals for the first time. Hamid was handed the start in place of Troy Perkins, a U.S. national backup who appeared in the first five matches.

United visits FC Dallas on Saturday to wrap up a two-game week. Kansas City is off until May 15, when it hosts the Chicago Fire.

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Betting the NFL preseason

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.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.