Reinhardt leads Hamburg to fourth straight win

Soccer Betting Lines

11/03/2007 - Hamburg, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bastian Reinhardt scored the game- winner with 10 minute to play to hand Hamburg a 2-1 win over Hertha Berlin at HSH Nordbank Arena on Saturday.

The win is Hamburg's fourth straight in league play, and allows the club to move to within two points of league-leaders Bayern Munich, who were held to a 0-0 draw by Eintracht on Saturday.

Jose Paolo Guerrero had Hamburg in front after only four minutes before the goal was canceled out in the second half by Hertha's Patrick Ebert. Reinhardt then headed home from eight yards in the 80th minute to hand Hamburg all three points and keep the team's good form going.

Hamburg came out in attack mode and immediately pressured the Hertha defense. It took only four minutes for the hosts to get on the board as they took the first chance that came their way.

A short lob into the box found Ivica Olic, who brought the ball down off his chest and turned with it before sending a sliding shot on net. Hertha keeper Jaroslav Drobny came off his line to deflect the shot away, but the rebound fell to Guerrero, who drove it into the empty net for a 1-0 Hamburg lead.

The home side continued to push forward and should have increased its lead over the next 15 minutes.

First it was Guerrero who was denied by the woodwork in the 19th minute when he took a long pass over the top and got a touch on the ball before ripping a half volley off the bottom of the crossbar from 14 yards.

Minutes later, Jerome Boateng thought he had doubled the Hamburg lead with a hard volley from 25 yards out that beat the keeper but came back off the right post.

Hertha had barely managed to create any offense in the first half, but things turned around after the break as they began to gain confidence.

A hard, rising shot from 20 yards out by Brazilian midfielder Mineiro was a sign of danger for Hamburg, and they soon found themselves on level terms after yielding a goal three minutes later.

Marko Pantelic navigated his way through the midfield and towards goal. He then dropped a pass off to Ebert on the left. The young midfielder carried the ball into the box and cut back to escape his defender. He then fired a great shot off the far post and into the net to stun the home crowd.

However, Hamburg would not be denied on this day and the home side found the winner with 10 minutes to play. Rafael Van der Vaart had plenty of space on the right and he swung a cross into the box towards a crowd that was eight yards from goal. Reinhardt was among the five or six players that challenged for the ball, and got his head to the cross to send it into the near corner.

Van der Vaart should have added to the Hamburg lead minutes later when he got in behind the Hertha defense and was all alone with the keeper. The Dutchman had plenty of space but he tried to place the ball into the upper left corner of the net, only to watch his shot sail inches over the crossbar.

The miss was of no consequence though as Hamburg held on to earn the result and maintain its second position in the league table.

In other Bundesliga action on Saturday, Bayer Leverkusen got two goals each from Sergej Barbarez and Theofanis Gekas to hammer Arminia Bielefeld 4-0, Hannover held off Borussia Dortmund 2-1, Stuttgart continued its climb up the league table with a 1-0 win over Nurnberg behind a Mario Gomez tally and Werder Bremen got a goal from Hugo Almeida to slip past Rostock 1-0.

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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.

It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.

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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