Crew, Wiz to battle for playoff lives

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09/14/2007 - Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Saturday's Major League Soccer fixture between the Kansas City Wizards and the Columbus Crew features two struggling team battling for their playoff lives.

The Wizards have just one win in their last six league fixtures thanks to a surprisingly inconsistent offense over that stretch. The Wiz had established themselves as one of the premier offensive clubs in the league through the first two-thirds of the season, but aside from their 3-2 win over Chicago on Aug. 22, have failed to score more than one goal in a game since July 29. That includes being shut out three times during that span.

As bad as the Wizards are struggling, the Crew are in worse shape. Columbus has failed to earn a win since July 22 while also being shut out three times during their current six-game winless streak. To make matters worse, leading scorer and the teams maestro from the midfield - Guillermo Barros Schelotto - is suspended for Saturday's game because of yellow card accumulation. Also suspended is defender Frankie Hejduk, meaning the team will be weakened in the back and on the flanks as well.

Because of both teams' respective struggles, they are battling just to make the '07 MLS Cup playoffs, with the Crew currently tied for ninth - on the outside looking in at the eight team playoff field - and the Wizards hanging onto the seventh spot, just five points clear of the Crew.

"It's not easy. We've made it difficult for ourselves, but the one thing we're not going to do is give up, and mathematically, things are still there and the way this league is, in a week things can turn around," Crew coach Sigi Schmid said. "So, now it's a matter of us going to Kansas City and Toronto (on Sept. 22) over the next two games, and every game is the same for us, whether home or away, we just have to get maximum points every time we step on the field, and hope that others start knocking each other off."

The Crew are coming off a 1-0 loss to the team ahead of them in the eight spot - the Chicago Fire - last weekend. Paulo Wanchope scored the late game-winner to vault the Fire past Columbus in the Eastern table.

"Obviously, this was an important game," Schmid said of the loss. "It was a pivotal game. I can't fault our guys for their effort; I thought their effort was good. I thought we created more on the run of the play, but at the end of the day, they got the goal. Obviously, it's big points today and it bounced their way."

Kansas City had a better outcome in its last fixture, a 1-1 draw at defending MLS Cup champions and Western table leading Houston.

"I thought it was a good overall performance," Curt Onalfo said. "I thought the first half was very good. I loved the fact that we created all the way and got ourselves a goal in the 45th minute."

Leading scorer Eddie Johnson got the team's lone goal, and after a slumping during the current streak, has now scored in consecutive games, giving the Wiz hope. It's no secret that when Johnson is on his games, the Wizards are one of the most dangerous teams in the league.

The Wizards have also been giving up their fair share of goals in recent fixtures, but veteran goalkeeper Kevin Hartman, who is nine saves away from 1,000 in his MLS career, thinks that will be corrected as the season winds down.

"I really believe the goalkeepers who have the most success are those who find themselves peaking at the right times of the year and really allowing their team to rally behind them," he said. "I really want to make sure that once the playoffs start, that that's when I'm playing my best soccer."

After Saturday's fixture Kansas City faces a tough challenge at CD Chivas USA next Saturday while Columbus travels to Toronto the same day.

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Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.

As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.

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The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.

Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).

But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.

Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.

Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:

Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1

Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2

New York Giants - 9 - 2

Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).

Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.

So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.

And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.

They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.

Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.

But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.

Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.

Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.

Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.

Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?

Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.

In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.

Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.

Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.

The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.

The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.

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