FCD, Chicago aiming to get on track

Soccer Betting Lines

05/26/2010 - Bridgeview, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - FC Dallas travels to take on the Chicago Fire in a mid-week Major League Soccer clash on Thursday night at Toyota Park.

Both teams are sitting on just two wins to start the season, while taking winless streaks into Thursday's fixture.

Dallas (2-2-5) is coming off a 1-0 loss to the Los Angeles Galaxy in what coach Schellas Hyndman called his team's "worst performance since I've been here."

"I think we're too good of a team to have that poor of a performance," he told mlssoccer.com. "It was just very disjointed. I think we're much better than that."

The loss was just FCD's second of the season, but because of its five draws, it needs to pick up the pace to stay in the playoff race almost a third of the way into the season.

Chicago (2-3-3), which hasn't been much better, is on a three-game winless streak. A 2-2 draw at Kansas City last weekend in which it jumped out to a 2-0 advantage before being forced to share the points feels like a loss.

"Giving up that goal right after we scored the second one really hurt us," Fire midfielder Logan Pause said. "It is pretty disheartening, to go up two to zero and work extremely hard, but with the amount of pressure the Wizards put on and the numbers they throw we really needed another goal to put it away, but unfortunately we dropped points. The way this locker room feels right now this game was like a loss. We did enough to win this game, but we did drop two points and we aren't happy about it, regardless if it was on the road."

"We started very well, and we finished bad,' Fire coach Carlos de los Cobos said. "We defended very close to our box, in the last few minutes of the first half we played with a lot of risk, and they pushed us. In the second half, the substitutions performed well and changed the face of the team. But it was a difficult game because they are a very good team with good players. I am happy with our players, they worked hard, but the end result was not good for us."

The Fire will have to find a way to rebound without forward Calen Carr, midfielder John Thorrington, and defender Tim Ward because of injuries. Defender Mike Banner is also questionable with a quad injury.

FC Dallas is relatively healthy, with only midfielder Marvin Chavez and his ankle injury showing up on the injury report.

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Pacific-10 Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Stanford

Oregon and USC get their tickets punched after taking care of business this weekend. Yes, the Trojans' computer numbers aren't great, but there's no way the third-place team in this league is getting nixed. Grudgingly, I added Arizona after consultation with our Bracketologist. I don't know that Arizona will lose its last three (including a Pac-10 quarterfinal game), and even if the Cats do, I still can't see how they'd be left out, given the overall profile. That said, it bears watching, as three more L's would leave them at 18-12 (9-9) and on a 6-11 skid entering the Dance. It would be nice to see the Wildcats get at least one W in the Bay Area next week, as Cincinnati (albeit without Armein Kirkland and with a worse profile) was axed after a similar slide last season. I just couldn't rationalize having some of the other teams as locks and not having Arizona in that category -- there just aren't enough good teams behind the Cats to threaten their spot, it seems. Stanford has its fate in its own hands with the Arizona schools coming to the Farm to close out the regular season next weekend.

Should be in:

Stanford [17-10 (9-7), RPI: 40, SOS: 21] No shame in not getting a win in L.A., but that makes the home game against Arizona State a must-win ahead of what could be an intriguing meeting with Arizona should the Cats lose at Cal. Getting to 11 Pac-10 wins would make Selection Sunday much more comfortable, but 10's probably more than enough this season. The Cardinal have nonconference wins over Texas Tech and at Virginia to lean on, although they also lost badly to Air Force and Santa Clara at home.

Southeastern Conference odds
Work left to do: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State

It looks more and more possible that no one from the SEC West will make the NCAAs. How weird is that? Tennessee and Vandy move into the locks category after more good work this weekend. Kentucky stays there, although it would be smart for the Cats to handle Georgia at home Wednesday ahead of a trip to the Swamp. Could a disaster scenario (two more L's and a first-round SEC tourney exit) somehow dislodge the Cats despite their incredible computer numbers? Still unlikely, but not worth chancing it.

Work left to do:

Alabama [19-9 (6-8), RPI: 43, SOS: 47] The tough L at Tennessee was understandable, and even created some hope. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed by a home loss to Auburn, which leaves the Tide in some real trouble. There's still no signature win on the profile (no, Kentucky doesn't count), and the computer profile is weakening rapidly. The Tide conceivably could beat Ole Miss and win at Miss. State to get to 8-8 and clinch at least a share of the West crown, but that's probably not enough right now. The Tide will need to do some work in the SEC tourney.

Georgia [16-10 (8-6), RPI: 52, SOS: 23] This is the team with the best chance to make it from this section right now. The Bulldogs rebounded from a terrible performance at Ole Miss to beat down Miss. State. Now they are at Kentucky (king of the RPI 51-100 win) and home to Tennessee. That would be worth a lot of computer points to get both (which is doable), as both teams are in the top 11 in RPI. Finishing at least 9-7 is an absolute must, and I would feel much better about the Dawgs' chances if they got both to get to 10 SEC wins. They also beat Gonzaga, but lost to ACC bubblers Georgia Tech and Clemson.

Mississippi [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 63, SOS: 79] Like everyone else in this division, Ole Miss gacked up a chance to stake a claim, losing by double figures at South Carolina. Even 9-7 likely is not nearly enough with a nonconference profile devoid of anything notable.

Mississippi State [16-11 (7-7), RPI: 66, SOS: 37] With a chance to get in the mix, these Bulldogs were leashed by their Georgia counterparts. Could they get to 9-7? I guess -- although winning at Arkansas, then beating Alabama is no lock -- but would that mean all that much for a team with this overall profile? Probably not. There's nothing of note (on the good side) in the nonconference profile.

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