The USA came through on Tuesday night with a 3-1 victory over Guatemala to send them to the next stage in World Cup qualifying. Guatemala drew first blood early on through Carlos Ruiz, but the USA responded with a set piece goal from Carlos Bocanegra and a brace by Clint Dempsey.
Here is my assessment of how the team played: Continue reading
I wrote a piece for Soccer 365 on Monday about four teams in Europe that face must win situations in their Tuesday qualifiers.
Ireland took care of business and gained three points at Faroe Islands to give their World Cup chances hope.
The other three teams, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine, all lost and I don’t expect any of those teams to make it to Brazil. Serbia lost at Macedonia 1-0, Turkey were beaten at home by Hungary 3-1, and Ukraine were shutout by Montenegro 1-0 in Kiev.
My thoughts on the AFC North for The NFL Injury Report.
Before going into my early picks for week 7, there have been some interesting trends this year. One thing I have been looking at all year is home underdogs that are getting between 2.5 and 3.5 points when I make the pick. The home underdog is 10-4 so far in this case. Also all four teams that had a bye in week 5 covered against the spread in week 6. So teams off the bye are 5-1 against the spread this season. Chicago, Jacksonville, Oakland and New Orleans were on bye in week 6.
Here is where I’m leaning towards in week 7 with Monday night lines: Continue reading
