Showing posts with label football. Show all posts
Showing posts with label football. Show all posts

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Bet the Under and the Draw. Do It.

Once again this season, a great betting angle is to look for the draw and the under in MLS as the teams go through a mid-season slump accompanied by the international call-ups. Every MLS match yesterday was under 2.5 goals, meaning if you had laid down U.S. dollars in legal international betting markets on a 6-game under parlay, you would have made at least 40 to 1.

5 of the last 9 MLS games have been draws.

The reasons for this are simple. Landon Donavon and other goal scorers are on call-up. Teams have higher injuries, and the mid-season stagnation is setting in for certain clubs. Fewer goals means more under bets come in, and more draws are likely.

El Luchador will be looking closely at this week's matches and making recommendations on good value under and draw bets in the coming days.

First up is our own Columbus Crew at home versus the dreaded teetotaling polygamists of Real Salt Lake. This one is NOT a lock, but we will have analysis by 1/2 hour before kickoff once the odds are posted.

As the Luchametric Institute for Predictive Sciences has instructed the Faithful for years, the soccer draw is the highest value bet in the world because people don't like to bet it. You collect from all the suckers who bet one of the teams to win because they couldn't bear them losing.

Bet the draw. Do it.



Friday, November 28, 2008

A Tale of Two Footballers


As everyone knows, the story goes like this: David Beckham came to America with much fanfare in 2007. He was sent to save “soccer.” He was promptly injured and missed most of the season. In 2008, he stayed mostly healthy but posted mediocre results for a man whose annual income (more than $6 million) exceeds the payrolls of most entire MLS franchises.

Meanwhile, another 30-something foreign soccer legend came to the U.S. at around the same time, making about one twelfth the salary, with no celebrity endorsements, no Posh Spice wife, no entourage and no breathless commentators analyzing his every move.

The Columbus Crew’s Guillermo Barros Schelotto is everything David Beckham is not.

Both men were born in the early ‘70s, enjoyed storied careers in their native countries and are making a last stand in the United States in the twilight of their careers. Both are midfielders, team leaders and play makers known for their ability on set pieces.

But the similarities end there. In short, Schelotto is an honorable man destined for greatness, grounded in the essence of the beautiful game, humble, with an exemplary work ethic and now the double MVP for 2008’s indisputable best team in the U.S., the Supporter’s Shield and MLS Cup winning Columbus Crew.

Beckham is a washed up has been, a poser who pretends to care about the game when all he really cares about is (to paraphrase Johnny Rotten) his self, his beautiful self.

Schelotto is a worker. Beckham is a member of the ruling class.

Beckham lives in swanky L.A. with his celebrity wife and three children being raised by paid help. Schelotto lives in New Albany, Ohio, by himself, as his wife looks after their three sons in their native Argentina while he completes this temporary adventure in America. Schelotto is a family man who makes frequent trips home to be with the boys and is known on the Crew as a teetotaler with no interest in “partying.”

Beckham globetrots preens, poses, changes hairstyles and has his own blog. People magazine writes articles about Beckham spending the Thanksgiving holiday with Tom Cruise and his family.

When Beckham comes to MLS stadiums, the home teams sell special three-game package deals to hordes of mindless bourgeoisie from the suburbs who normally couldn’t care less about “soccer” but show up wearing LA Galaxy gear, packing the stands like Catholics who show up to church only for Easter.

Schelotto doesn’t have a blog. He has not a single friend who has jumped on Oprah’s couch. He can walk unrecognized down the streets of Columbus. He shows up to all the tedious promotional events he is asked to. He is the real deal.

Schelotto's results on the field are impressive. Beckham's are average. Schelotto had 7 goals and a league-leading 19 assists and was voted by sports-writers and coaches as the best player in the league. Beckham had 5 goals and 10 assists and led his Galaxy to a tie for last place in the league with expansion San Jose.

Schelotto made some of the most artistic plays of 2008, including the final goal of the 2008 MLS season, a wizardly flea-flicker chip to the head of Frankie Hejduk to seal the deal on the MLS Cup final.

But the past week tells the real story. As the Crew prepared to face the New York Red Bulls in Beckham’s home stadium, a true American soccer fan might assume that the British saviour of Football would be doing wall-to-wall commentary in and around the stadium, using the occasion of America’s closest thing to a soccer Super Bowl to promote the game in the hopes that one day the MLS Cup might at least approximate the Super Bowl. Well, not exactly. Beckham did not attend the premier U.S. soccer event taking place in his own back yard. No, he flew to Las Vegas for a boxing match, then was spotted that night back in LA, not at the MLS Cup but at the LA Lakers game.

Here’s the moral of the story: A great man came from a foreign land in 2007 to save American soccer. That man was not David Beckham.

He lives a humble existence among the toiling masses. He is authentic. He led his team to the pinnacle of success, has fallen in love with soccer in America, and has announced his intention to stay next season.

His name is Guillermo Barros Schelotto. And he makes David Beckham look like the wanker that he is.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Schelotto, Schmid

Not to throw a downer on the MLS Cup celebrations, but more bad news: Sports Illustrated reports that unless the Hunt ownership group ponies up some serious cash, the prospects are not good for retaining double MVP (regular season and MLS Cup) Guillermo Barros Schelotto and Coach of the Year Sigi Schmid. The next year will be a huge test for the organization. With all the talk by Clark Hunt about "family" and yada, yada, yada, how committed is he really to making the Crew a dynasty franchise. They have taken Sigi right up to the brink with his contract set to expire in a matter of days. Wewill know within the next week whether they intend to rest on their laurels or offer a serious defense of their newly acquired title. The Nordecke Luchador was on the steps of the Ohio Statehouse Tuesday evening as hundreds of Crew faithful gathered to honour the club in the company of Gov. Strickland. Every time Clark or Schmid was mentioned, the crowd chanted, "Re-sign Sigi!" Indeed. Resign Sigi, do what it takes to keep Schelotto, and don't let go of Lenhart, Moffat, and Gaven to name just a few. It's not as challenging as it sounds. "Cash moves everything around me."

Expansion Draft

The MLS today released the list of Columbus Crew players eligible for the expansion draft. Just days after winning their first MLS Cup in its history, the Crew is willing to part with some of the young talent that got them there? Notables on the list: Eddie Gaven, Steven Lenhart, Stefani Miglioranzi, and Adam Moffat. Predictions: Moffat and Lenhart are both gone (Moffat makes $14K, Lenhart not much more and both are exceptional goal scorers, although Moffat was injured most of the season). This would be a shame. Gaven's too expensive and will stay. Sad to see Duncan Oughton on the list, but he won't get picked up.