South Africa eliminated despite beating France

Soccer Betting Lines

06/22/2010 - Bloemfontein, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bongani Khumalo and Katlego Mphela scored to help South Africa edge 10-man France, 2-1, on Tuesday, but Bafana Bafana still became the first host nation to be eliminated in the group stage of the FIFA World Cup.

South Africa and France entered the game needing a win, for Uruguay and Mexico not to draw, and to overturn a huge gap in goal differential. South Africa was on track to completing the miracle equation with a two-goal lead, coupled with Uruguay's 1-0 edge over Mexico, but Florent Malouda scored France's first goal of the tournament to secure both clubs' exit.

Khumalo and Mphela scored in the opening half of the teams' Group A finale at Free State Stadium, and with Mexico losing to Uruguay, was within two goals of overturning the tiebreaker to advance. But Malouda's goal capped an otherwise forgettable World Cup for France, and secured berths in the knockout round for Uruguay and Mexico.

South Africa finished even on points with Mexico, but ended third in the group on goal differential. France finished last in its group for the second time in its last three World Cups, ending a miserable spell for the French.

Uruguay held on to defeat Mexico, 1-0, in the other match in Group A Tuesday and finished first.

France had the first chance through Andre-Pierre Gignac inside three minutes, but South Africa goalie Moneeb Joseph made an easy save on the 10-yard effort.

Although France played well early, the match started to mirror the team's off- the-field issues in the 20th minute.

Khumalo fired Bafana Bafana in front in the 20th minute when he reached a corner kick from Siphiwe Tshabalala at the left post. Khumalo outjumped France defender Abou Diaby and headed into the left side from a few yards out for his first-ever international goal.

Mphela followed with another chance for South Africa in the 25th, but his long effort went just wide of the left post.

France's chances of ending the tournament on a good note crumbled five minutes later when Yoann Gourcuff got a straight red card for elbowing MacBeth Sibaya.

South Africa settled in with the man advantage and doubled its lead inside 40 minutes through Mphela. Tsepo Masilela created the goal, which Mphela merely had to tap in from a few feet out in the 37th minute.

France nearly made the game interesting in the closing minutes of the half but Franck Ribery's long free kick that had eyes for the right side of the net was barely pushed over the bar by Joseph.

Mphala ended the half with one last chance for South Africa, but Lloris pushed the ball wide of the left post to leave France within two goals at halftime.

South Africa's Bernard Parker started the second half by forcing Lloris into another save in the 49th, and Mphela nearly handed Bafana Bafana a three-goal lead two minutes later, but hit the outside of the right post following a nice set up by Steven Pienaar.

French veteran Djibril Cisse managed his lone chance on a dipping shot inches over the crossbar from 22 yards in the 55th minute, but was replaced by Thierry Henry just seconds later as coach Raymond Domenech searched for a spark.

Mphela's 30-yard blast forced Lloris to make a diving save in the 57th before Ribery created another chance for France in the 59th but fired over from about 16 yards.

South Africa continued to press for more goals to overturn its goal deficit in the tiebreaker against Mexico but Mphela and Pienaar had shots saved by Lloris as the match entered the final 25 minutes.

France ended South Africa's hopes of advancing in the 70th when Ribery set up Malouda to end the country's goalless World Cup. Ribery was played into space, and just before Joseph could reach the ball in the box, the French midfielder slipped a pass over to Malouda for an easy finish into an empty net.

Tshabalala ended the game with one last chance for South Africa in extra time, but Lloris kept out the close-range effort to deny the hosts another goal.

France exits the World Cup following a load of controversy, which started in qualification with the "Hand of Henry" goal in a playoff win over Ireland, and then an underage sex scandal involving Ribery. Nicolas Anelka was kicked off the squad a few days ago, then the entire team refused to practice on Sunday.

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College Football Betting Tips From a Pro

While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.

Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.

The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.

What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.

These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.

College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.

Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.

Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.

Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.

I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.

Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.

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As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.

Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.

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