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 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.