Surging Wizards seek more road success at Union

Soccer Betting Lines

09/03/2010 - Chester, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kansas City coach Peter Vermes said last week's 2-0 win at the Los Angeles Galaxy was "probably our best 90-minute performance of the whole season," but the surging Wizards still have work to do to qualify for the Major League Soccer playoffs.

Kansas City has four wins and two ties in its last seven matches, earning more than half its 26 points during the run. The Wizards also won at Columbus, 1-0, to open the streak in mid-July, but the expansion Philadelphia Union present a challenge for K.C. on Saturday.

K.C. (7-9-5) visits PPL Park for the second game of a three-game road trip but Philadelphia (5-11-5) has played well recently, earning two draws and a win in its last four MLS matches. The Union also beat Mexico's Guadalajara, 1-0, this week in a friendly.

Kansas City's victories at Los Angeles and Columbus are its only two road wins this season, as six losses and two draws in its other away games have kept the Wizards from moving up the Eastern Conference standings.

Davy Arnaud had a goal and an assist last week in the win over L.A., which has the best record in MLS (Columbus has the second best record), and Galaxy coach Bruce Arena praised K.C. following the game at The Home Depot Center.

"I think that we got outcompeted. All this was about tonight was fighting and scrapping and we lost that fight. I think that was the difference in the game; they played harder," Arena said.

K.C. is fourth in the Eastern Conference, 11 points back of Red Bull New York, who holds the second of two guaranteed playoff berths from the conference. The Wizards are three behind the San Jose Earthquakes for the final playoff spot.

Philadelphia has quietly put together a decent year for an expansion team, and is only nine points behind San Jose with two months remaining in the year. The Union won 2-1 at the New England Revolution last weekend thanks to a stoppage- time goal from Justin Mapp, then followed that with the win over Guadalajara.

Philadelphia has yet to post a shutout in league matches, but the game against the Mexican power proves the Union are capable.

Union rookie Danny Mwanga, who is second on the squad with seven goals, may be carrying a bigger load this weekend with Alejandro Moreno and nine-goal scorer Sebastien Le Toux questionable, but he is confident Philadelphia can win.

"We definitely are looking to win," Mwanga said on the club's website. "We did a pretty good job against New England [and] we're going to look to continue that.

"If we can keep doing what we're doing we think we can get a good result this Saturday against Kansas City."

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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