Chivas USA will shed no tears for TFC's injury concerns

Soccer Betting Lines

04/21/2009 - Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Toronto FC kicks off a busy week on Wednesday, when it hosts unbeaten Chivas USA in a midweek Major League Soccer fixture without one of its top players.

TFC coach John Carver announced on Monday that influential midfielder Dwayne De Rosario would miss Wednesday's game vs. Chivas as well as Sunday's league fixture vs. Kansas City - and maybe significantly more time - because of a hamstring injury.

"He's definitely out for two games and it might be more than that," Carver told MLSnet.com. "Building up to the match on Sunday [vs. FC Dallas] it was an issue of him just having a tight hamstring, but you saw from his reaction that he did tear it. I knew straight away what he had done because I could see it was a sharp pain that he was feeling. We'll find out to what degree it is torn when he has a scan, but he has a tear and that can be anywhere up to three or four weeks. I won't put him under any pressure to get back before he is right."

De Rosario came out in the 74th minute of TFC's 3-2 loss at Dallas on Sunday that dropped the club's record to 1-2-2 through five weeks.

"This is the first muscle injury that we have had at the club for a very long time," Carver said. "De Ro has come from another club and is playing on a different type of surface with his body in a different condition and maybe it has just taken its toll."

Chivas USA (4-0-1) will not be shedding any tears for TFC because it has been dealing with its own injury concerns for what seems like the last year-and-a- half. Goalkeeper Dan Kennedy, defenders Bobby Burling, Ante Jazic, Claudio Suarez and Lawson Vaughn, and midfielder Sasha Victorine are all out with various injuries. Also, forwards Justin Braun and Maykel Galindo are doubtful with injuries of their own.

Despite that fact, Chivas USA enters Week 6 with the league's best record and will aim to continue its strong start to the season with MLS matches at TFC on Wednesday and at The Home Depot Center vs. Dallas on Saturday.

"They're working their socks off for each other, and that's a really good thing to see," Chivas USA coach Preki said after his team's most recent league fixture, a 2-0 win over Seattle on Saturday. "When that group steps on the field, us coaches don't have to worry if there's going to be a commitment on the field. You can see the commitment from every single guy is tremendous, and also the guys who come off the bench, they're doing their job pretty good, so it's really good to see that."

"We had a good preseason. Preki does a good job of getting us ready during preseason, and getting us ready for each game, so I think we do train hard, we train well, and that's all positive," Chivas USA goalkeeper Zach Thornton said about the team's ability to overcome injuries. "Also, our roster is very deep. As you can see, we have a lot of guys out and we're still getting some results."

Chivas USA has also been getting results against Toronto since the Canadian club entered MLS in 2007. The Goats are 4-0-0 all-time against the Eastern conference team.

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Is there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?

I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.

Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.

There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.

Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.

For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.

A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.

The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.

Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.

So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.

Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.

“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.

Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.

“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.

It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.

Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.

The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.

“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.

“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”

Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.

The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.

“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”

Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?

“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”

Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.