Ajaccio leaves it late to escape relegation zone

Soccer Betting Lines

01/29/2012 - Valenciennes, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Christian Kinkela scored 3 minutes into stoppage time as 10-man Ajaccio edged Valenciennes, 2-1, on Sunday at the Stade du Hainaut to climb out of the relegation zone in France's Ligue 1.

Ajaccio won its fourth straight during a five-game unbeaten streak as it moved up to 15th, two points clear of the bottom three. The promoted side opened the season with eight points from its first 16 games, but has 13 in its last five.

Valenciennes lost for the third time in its last four games, and slipped below Ajaccio to 16th.

Eduardo gave Ajaccio its first lead after just 6 minutes, as he was able to settle Paul-Bastien Lasne's right-wing pass and slot past Valenciennes goalie Nicolas Penneteau.

Valenciennes was level in the 48th when Vincent Aboubakar slipped a shot past Ajaccio goalie Guillermo Ochoa and into the top corner, but the tie was broken in the dying seconds.

Kinkela latched onto a pass from Eduardo and avoided a defender before scoring past Penneteau to extend newly-promoted Ajaccio's win streak and lift the club out of the relegation zone.

Ajaccio won for the second time on the road, while Valenciennes dropped a home game for just the second time this season.

Marseille 2, Rennes 1

Rennes, France - Benoit Cheyrou scored in the 77th minute as Marseille rallied from an early deficit to edge Rennes, 2-1, on Sunday at the Stade de la Route de Lorient in France's Ligue 1.

Tongo Hamed Doumbia put Rennes in front after 15 minutes, but Onyekachi Apam's own goal just before halftime leveled the score. Cheyrou added the winner with 13 minutes left in normal time, as Marseille continued its surge.

Marseille won for the sixth time in its last seventh, and overtook Rennes for fifth place in the standings. Rennes had won its last two matches, but dropped to sixth with the loss, two points behind Marseille.

Evian 0, Bordeaux 0

Annecy, France - Cedric Carrasso saved Yannick Sagbo's penalty midway through the second half as Bordeaux escaped the Parc des Sports with a 0-0 tie against Evian on Sunday in France's Ligue 1.

Neither side created much offensively, but Carrasso surrendered the penalty in the 68th when he brought down Sagbo in the area. But the Bordeaux goalkeeper made up for it wit a diving save to his right to deny Sagbo from the spot.

Bordeaux has just one loss in its last five, as it remained in the top half of the table in ninth place on 27 points from 21 matches. Evian has just one win in its last five and sits four behind Bordeaux in 12th.

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Football Betting Sportsbook Accepts Credit Cards

Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.

As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.

Bet 2010 Super Bowl Odds

The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.

Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).

But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.

Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.

Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:

Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1

Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2

New York Giants - 9 - 2

Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).

Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.

So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.

And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.

They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.

Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.

But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.

Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.

Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.

Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.

Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?

Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.

In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.

Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.

Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.

The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.

The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.