MLS City Smash Salvage Over Match

Soccer Betting Lines

Panama City, Panama (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A first-half goal from Graham Zusi was enough for the U.S. men's national team to collect its second 1-0 win in four days, this time in a friendly against Panama. A stoppage-time goal from Ricardo Clark on Saturday against Venezuela gave the Americans a win in their first match of 2012. However, the team only had to wait nine minutes before Zusi fired them into the lead on Wednesday while Jurgen Klinsmann's men had to play the final 35 minutes of the match with 10 men after Geoff Cameron picked up a red card.

 

It was one of the few chances that the U.S. was able to create, and Panama enjoyed the better of the play over the remainder of the match as U.S. goalkeeper Nick Rimando needed to make two nice saves before halftime, the first on Luis Renteria and then on Blas Perez.

 

The challenge earned the defender a straight red card, but Perez missed two good scoring opportunities in the final 15 minutes that allowed the Americans to hold on.

 

Barcelona, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta will be sidelined three weeks with a left hamstring tear, the European champions announced Thursday. Iniesta was injured just before the half-hour mark in Wednesday's Copa del Rey quarterfinal match against Real Madrid. The 2010 FIFA Ballon d'Or finalist was injured in a challenge with Real's Alvaro Arbeloa and had to leave the match.

 

Tests conducted Thursday "confirmed his three week layoff," Barca announced on its website.

 

London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - QPR acquired defender Nedum Onuoha from Manchester City on Thursday and signed him to a 4 1/2-year contract. Onuoha, 25, made his debut for City in 2004 and played 92 matches for the club, some of those under current QPR manager Mark Hughes. Onuoha was on loan with Sunderland last season and played 31 matches.

 

"He is a very good addition to the squad. It's important that we are able to attract good players here."

 

QPR is 16th in the Premier League, just two points above the relegation zone.

 

"Signing Richard was a very high offseason priority," said Toronto FC manager and technical director Aron Winter.

 

Eckersley started his youth career with Manchester United and played two games for the Premiership giants. Eckersley signed a four-year deal with Burnley in July 2009 and had loan deals at Plymouth Argyle, Bradford City and Bury before finally landing with Toronto FC.

 

Harrison, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - English Premier League club Bolton has signed U.S. defender Tim Ream from Red Bull New York, although the terms of the deal were not disclosed. Ream, 24, agreed to personal contract terms with Bolton, earned United Kingdom visa approval and passed a physical. He played for New York from 2010-12, made his U.S. debut in November of 2010 and has gone on to earn six more caps.

 

"This was a hard decision for me considering the fact that I enjoyed playing for the Red Bulls and was looking forward to the upcoming MLS season. However, after consulting with those closest to me, I decided that this was a once in a lifetime chance that I could not pass up," Ream said.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.