Aguero rescues City in Europa League
Soccer Betting Lines
02/16/2012 - Porto, Portugal (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sergio Aguero scored in the 83rd minute and Manchester City edged FC Porto, 2-1, in the first match of their Europa League round of 32 series Thursday.
Silvestre Varela gave defending Europa League champion FC Porto the lead after 27 minutes, but an own goal by Alvaro Pereira tied the fixture in the 55th and Aguero added the late winner for City.
Aguero only entered the match in the 78th to replace Mario Balotelli, and Yaya Toure set up the goal with a pass into the middle of the area that Aguero slid into the net.
City takes a one-goal aggregate lead and two away goals to Etihad Stadium for the second leg Wednesday. City and Porto play their second leg a day early, as rival Manchester United hosts Ajax on Thursday, when the rest of the second legs are played. United won the first leg, 2-0.
Two-time European champion Porto will need at least two goals in Manchester to have any chance to advance to the last 16.
PSV Eindhoven, which has one European Cup title to its name, needed goals from Tim Matavz and Ola Toivonen for a 2-1 win at Trabzonspor in another late match Thursday.
Mehmet Topal scored to lead Valencia over Stoke City 1-0, Ola John's goal gave Twente a 1-0 win at Steaua Bucharest, Jan Schlaudraff's late penalty kick gave Hannover a 2-1 win over Club Brugge, Tsvetan Genkov scored in the 88th as 10- man Wisla Krakow tied Standard Liege 1-1, and PAOK tied at Udinese 0-0 in the day's other late matches.
Englewood, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Denver Broncos on Thursday signed free- agent wide receiver Jason Hill. Hill recorded a career-best 367 receiving yards and three touchdowns on 25 catches last season with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
<< Creative Cause heads San Vicente Stakes
Arcadia, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Creative Cause, third in last year's Breeders'
Cup Juvenile, heads a field of six in Sunday's $150,000 San Vicente Stakes for
three-year-olds at Santa Anita Park. The seven-furlong sprint marks the 2012
debut f
<< Oilers, Ducks swap players
Edmonton, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Edmonton Oilers acquired defenseman Bryan
Rodney from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for center Ryan O'Marra.
The 27-year-old Rodney has five goals and 15 assists in 41 games with the
Syracuse Crunch
<< Berdych, del Potro land in Rotterdam quarters
Rotterdam, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former Wimbledon runner-up
Tomas Berdych and former U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro reached the
quarterfinals at the $1.6 million ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament.
The second-seeded Ber
<< MLS signs U.S. striker Johnson
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - U.S. national team striker Eddie Johnson will
return to MLS this season, it was revealed Thursday. It will take one more day
to determine which team he will play for, however.
The 27-year-old Johnson, who le
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hall of Fame catcher Gary "Kid" Carter died Thursday. He was 57 years old. More to follow...
Rapids acquire Argentinean midfielder Rivero >>
Commerce City, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Rapids acquired Argentinean
midfielder Martin Rivero on loan Thursday from Argentina's Rosario Central.
The 22-year-old Rivero debuted for Rosario Central at the age of 18, and made
30 app
Alouettes sign LB Davis >>
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Montreal Alouettes signed linebacker Rod
Davis to a two-year contract on Thursday.
Davis, who became a free agent on Wednesday, led the Edmonton Eskimos with 79
tackles last season. He also recorded fiv
Roughriders sign LaBatte, Picard >>
Regina, SK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Saskatchewan Roughriders agreed to terms
with a pair of offensive linemen on Thursday, signing Brendon LaBatte and
Dominic Picard.
LaBatte heads further west after spending the previous four seaso
United's Valencia out four weeks with hamstring injury >>
Amsterdam, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester United winger Antonio
Valencia injured his hamstring Thursday in a 2-0 Europa League win at Ajax,
and will be sidelined four weeks.
The 26-year-old Ecuadorian was injured as he set
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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American Idol odds : Blake Lewis the Early Standout
An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.
Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off. Randy was not impressed though. Paula thought he started off fantastic. "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either.
Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed. Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact. He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition.
Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula. Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.
Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next. Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential. Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell. He sang "Careless Whisper".
22 year old Chris Richardson was up next. He was listed with +1100 odds coming in. He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great.
Nick was boring and pitchy. Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week. Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition.
Beat boxer Blake Lewis was listed with early +1000 odds or $1000 payout on a $100 bet if he were to become the next American Idol winner odds . These of course were the early odds. He was considered original for picking an "odd song". He did not beat box and the judges felt it was the best vocal of the night.
Sanjaya came in as the second biggest favorite after Chris Sligh but his performance Tuesday night was not very good.
Chris Sleigh was the early favorite at +450 odds. Great voice and a great sense of humor. He's a real standout. Randy felt it was on point but maybe ahead of the chorus a little bit. Simon Cowell said he felt like he was in some "sort of weird student gig".
Jared Cotter followed. He was listed with +2000 odds early on to win the competition. The judges felt he needs to take more risks but looked good.
22-year old AJ Talbado, who has tried out for American Idol five times, was up next. "Kind of a theme park performance" said Simon. Though the judges felt he performed okay. Simon did feel AJ might be better than he originally thought.
Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition. He was the last to perform. He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start.
Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys. Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.
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