Greece faces huge challenge against Argentina

Soccer Betting Lines

06/21/2010 - Polokwane, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Greece was impressive in the final 57 minutes of its victory over Nigeria, scoring twice to overturn a deficit in its first-ever FIFA World Cup victory.

Dimitris Salpigidis notched Greece's first-ever World Cup goal, then Vasileios Torosidis added the match-winner, but both came after Nigeria's Sani Kaita was foolishly sent off.

Greece put itself in position to escape Group B, but entering its last game of the stage on Tuesday against Argentina at Peter Mokaba Stadium, will need some more luck to survive.

Argentina has been one of the most impressive teams in the tournament and sits atop the group after wins over Nigeria, 1-0, and South Korea, 4-1. Argentina only needs a draw to secure a spot in the knockout stage.

Even with three points from the surprising win over Nigeria, Greece could exit the World Cup without the right result against Argentina. South Korea also has three points from its 2-0 win over Greece, and Nigeria remains alive as well.

"Argentina are world-class, they're clearly better than us," Greece coach Otto Rehhagel said. "We still have a chance, but it'll be very hard.

"We're the underdogs against Argentina, that's for sure, but we'll give it our best shot."

Greece could even fail to advance with an upset win, depending on the result between South Korea and Nigeria on Thursday.

Argentina hasn't officially clinched a knockout-round berth, but would have to lose by a large margin to Greece and have South Korea win big over Nigeria for its World Cup to end after the group stage.

Coach Diego Maradona was under pressure in qualifying, as Argentina failed to secure a spot in the World Cup until the final matchday in South America, but after two games, appears to have his side in line to challenge for their first title since he led the team to its last crown as a player in 1986.

Gabriel Heinze scored six minutes into the opening win over Nigeria, and after an early own goal against South Korea, Gonzalo Higuain bagged the first - and only - hat trick of the tournament so far with a lot of help from Lio Messi.

"We're happy because we played a great game in every way: we played good football, we created chances and we were clinical in front of goal," Higuain said after the South Korea match. "We were deserved winners and we need to continue in this vein.

"We're convinced that we're capable of having a great World Cup."

Wwwugameasia Soccer Betting News

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Elite 8 NCAA Tournament Betting at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com

In what should be an outstanding Saturday of March Madness betting action, the top four teams in the South and West Regions square off in what should be extremely close match-ups. Three of the four teams are coming off extremely close games on Thursday evening, only UCLA won semi comfortably over Pitt 64-55.

Ohio State is coming off their second game in a row where in all reality they should have lost. Of course that doesn’t matter now since the name of the game is “survive and advance” but as the tournament continues, they can’t afford to keep getting down to their opponents early. Kansas also avoided a scare by holding off a scrappy Southern Illinois squad. In the third thrilling game of the evening Memphis pulled off the minor upset (+3.5) despite being the higher seed to Texas A&M.

Although the spreads are fairly small for Saturday’s games, MySportsbook.com continue to bet against the underdogs. Despite OSU’s two scares, 86% of the “betting public” feels the Buckeyes (-1.5) have what it takes to make the Final Four. In fact, so much of the early money is on OSU that the line has already moved from -1 to -1.5. In the second game of the doubleheader, Kansas and their high-powered offense are 2 point favorites as they take on UCLA and their effective defense. About 63% of the early money thus far is once again backing the favorites. If those percentages stay that high, don’t be surprised if this line moves as well. If you like Kansas (-2) you might want to jump on it early.

Memphis vs. Ohio State

Both squads were involved in thrillers on Thursday evening and should come out fired up. OSU can ill afford to get behind early like they did versus their previous two opponents (Xavier, Tennessee). Greg Oden needs to stay out of foul trouble; the Buckeyes are a completely different team when he is on the court. Memphis definitely has the athleticism and length to match-up with OSU. Of Memphis’ five leading minute earners, the shortest of the bunch is 6’5”. Each team has a very effective defense; Memphis surrenders 62.3 PPG whereas the Buckeyes give up only 61 PPG. With those type of numbers, it isn’t surprising that Memphis covered the UNDER almost 69% of the time this season. As a favorite, OSU has covered the UNDER almost 66% of the time over the last three seasons. The major concern for Memphis which is magnifies this time of the year is their brutal foul shooting (62%). This season, OSU is 17-11 ATS versus teams with a winning record and 7-2 ATS in all tournament games. Memphis has been an extremely reliable cover in tournament play in recent years with a 23-8 ATS record over the last three seasons.

UCLA vs. Kansas

In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, UCLA will play in a role which they are very unfamiliar with that of the underdog. Only twice this season have they been getting points from the handicappers and both times they covered. Over the last three seasons UCLA is a reliable 23-7 ATS in this unfamiliar role. UCLA has not fared well against Big 12 opponents recently going 1-7 ATS since 1997. Giving up only 59.6 PPG, UCLA will definitely look to do what they do best: keep this game as low scoring as possible. Their defense has been especially tough during the tournament. UCLA opponents have been able to muster up only 48.7 PPG while shooting a combined 34.5% from the field. UCLA definitely has a challenge at hand with a Kansas team that is capable of putting points on the board in bunches. As a team, they average 79 PPG and shoot an impressive 49.6% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc. During the tournament Kansas has been “lights out” from the field having shot 56.2%.

With Friday -105 juice on Basketball betting, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on all of the “March Madness” action.  Don’t forget to monitor who the public is backing at MySportsbook.com’s “Betting Trends”.  By doing so, you have the best chance of predicting a possible line change, thus getting the best value for your wager.

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