Dallas, Columbus battle to scoreless draw

Soccer Betting Lines

08/28/2010 - Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - FC Dallas extended its road unbeaten run to 10 Major League Soccer games, and its overall league unbeaten run to 12 games, by earning a 0-0 draw at Columbus on Saturday afternoon at Crew Stadium.

The game, which featured two of the league's elite teams, produced very little offensive flow for either side.

With the draw, Columbus (12-5-5) improves to 9-2-1 at home this season while extending its lead in the Eastern table to seven points over second-placed New York, which hosts San Jose later on Saturday.

Dallas (9-2-10), on the other hand, moves within two points of second-placed Real Salt Lake in the Western table with its league-leading 10th draw of the season.

The first chance for either team came just 10 minutes in when a Guillermo Barros Schelotto free-kick into the FC Dallas penalty area was bobbled by goalkeeper Kevin Hartman. Chad Marshall pounced on the rebound, but his shot was deflected out of danger by the defense.

FC Dallas had a chance five minutes later when Milton Rodriguez played a through ball to winger Brek Shea breaking into the Columbus penalty area, but his shot went off the side netting.

Shea had another chance about 10 minutes before the break, but his shot went wide of the left post after he cut past a defender at the top of the penalty area to the middle of the field. Marshall got over just in time to disrupt the shot.

Shea set up a FCD attacker David Ferreira about 10 minutes after the break with a low, hard cross from the left, but the Colombian's one-time blast went just over the bar from close range.

Columbus had a chance to get the game's only goal about 20 minutes from time when an Eddie Gaven cross found Schelotto in the offensive third. Hartman came out to challenge the cross, but Schelotto's shot was cleared off the line by defender Zach Loyd, preserving the draw.

FC Dallas will aim to extend its unbeaten streak to 13 when it hosts Toronto FC on Saturday, while Columbus travels to Los Angeles to take on the Galaxy later the same night in its next MLS fixture.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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