EURO '08 Qualifiers: Owen lifts Three Lions over Russia

Soccer Betting Lines

09/13/2007 - London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - England put together its best match under Steve McClaren on Wednesday as Michael Owen scored twice to lead the Three Lions to a 3-0 win over Russia at Wembley Stadium in EURO '08 qualifying.

Owen tallied goals in the seventh and 31st minute, giving him 40 goals for his England career. Rio Ferdinand then added an insurance marker in the 84th for his first international goal since 2002.

The win propels England into second place in Group E, after they started Saturday's contest against Israel in fourth. England is now a good bet to secure qualification, and they can all but assure it with another win against the Russians next month.

The hosts had a dream start as they jumped out to a 1-0 lead after seven minutes. Gareth Barry provided the cross and Owen was left open at the back post. He settled the ball with one touch and then fired past the keeper with an easy finish.

After Russia had a goal taken away because of a questionable call, England took advantage and added another goal on an innocent looking play. Ferdinand played a long ball out of the back, but striker Emile Heskey did well to beat a pair of defenders to the ball and head it into Owen's path. The Newcastle striker once again finished with precision, driving the ball first time past the keeper.

The visitors tried to get back into the match after halftime, and although Dmitry Sychev came close on a few occasions to getting Russia on the board, the day belonged to England.

Ferdinand capped off the impressive performance by knocking home England's third goal, much to the delight of the Wembley faithful.

McClaren has come under some heavy scrutiny over this qualifying campaign, but the end is in sight for an England team that seems to be coming together at the right time. Despite injuries to David Beckham, Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard, less heralded players like Barry and Heskey have stepped up, and Shaun Wright-Phillips has shown that he certainly belongs in the starting 11 with his quality play over the past couple of games.

The return to form of Owen has been the biggest difference for an England team that struggled to find goals earlier in qualification. If this team can continue its current form, they will be a handful not only for the rest of their group, but also for the rest of Europe.

Group E's other contests on Wednesday featured Croatia holding onto its top spot with an easy 6-0 win over Andorra and Macedonia playing to a 1-1 draw with Estonia.

The top two teams in Group A, Poland and Finland, finished 0-0, Kazakhstan rallied to tie Belgium 2-2 and Portugal allowed Serbia to draw level in the second half of their 1-1 draw.

Scotland surprisingly moved to the top of Group B with a hard-fought 1-0 win over France, while Italy moved into second place with a 2-1 triumph over Ukraine. Lithuania got the best of the Faroe Islands 2-1 in the group's other encounter.

Bosnia-Herzegovina suffered a damaging defeat to lowly Moldova in 1-0 fashion in Group C. Norway and Greece played to a 2-2 draw in their top-of-the-table clash, while Turkey joined Norway in second place with a 3-0 win over Hungary.

The Czech Republic secured a big 1-0 win over Ireland to put six points between themselves and the Irish for the final qualifying spot from Group D. Wales downed Slovakia 5-2 in an entertaining affair, while Cyprus beat a hopeless San Marino side 3-0.

In Group F, Northern Ireland dropped more points with a costly 2-1 loss to Iceland, leaving Northern Ireland three points behind the top two clubs, Spain and Sweden. Spain moved up and into the second spot with a 2-0 win over Latvia on Wednesday. Denmark kept its hopes of qualification alive with a 4-0 win over last-place Liechtenstein, but the Danes are still five points adrift.

The Netherlands got a goal in the final minute to slip past Albania 1-0 and move into a first-place tie with Romania, who did not play on Wednesday. Bulgaria stayed two points back of the leaders by defeating Luxembourg 3-0 and Slovenia got the better of Belarus 1-0.

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Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting

So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.

Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?

If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)

Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).

In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.

Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.

The Bubble Breakdown
CONFERENCE LOCKS SHOULD BE INS AT-LARGES TAKEN
(assuming no auto bid outlier)
ACC Betting Odds 6 0 5
Big East Betting Odds 5 0 4
Big Ten Betting Odds 2 2 3
Big 12 Betting Odds 3 0 2
Pac-10 Betting Odds 5 1 5
SEC Betting Odds 4 0 3
MVC Betting Odds 1 1 1
MWC Betting Odds 2 1 2
TOTAL 28 5 25

As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.

(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)

If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.

Atlantic Coast Conference

Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech

The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.

 

Work left to do:

Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.

Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).

Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.

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