Gilardino's brace leads Fiorentina past Roma

Soccer Betting Lines

04/25/2009 - Florence, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alberto Gilardino scored a pair of second- half goals as Fiorentina cruised to a 4-1 win over Roma at Stadio Artemio Franchi on Saturday.

Juan Vargas scored a wonderful goal six minutes into the game before Gilardino doubled the lead in the 47th minute.

Roma was then reduced to 10 men as David Pizarro picked up a second yellow card, and Gilardino tallied his second goal of the match before Massimo Gobbi put home a rebound in the 73rd minute and Julio Baptista pulled a goal back for Roma with four minutes to play.

The win lifts Fiorentina into fourth place, one point ahead of Genoa, while Roma falls six points back of the Viola.

The home side wasted little time in settling into the match and they found themselves ahead after just six minutes.

A turnover in midfield by Roma allowed Vargas to take a pass 40 yards from goal and dribble past a defender. He then unleashed a laser into the bottom right corner from 30 yards that gave Roma goalkeeper Artur no chance.

It was a brilliant individual effort by Vargas, but it was nearly canceled out two minutes later on a free kick from Baptista, whose shot went close but sailed just over the crossbar.

The Viola had a shout for a penalty kick in the 22nd minute when Stevan Jovetic was tripped inside the box by Roma's Daniele De Rossi, but the referee was not interested and he waived play to continue.

Roma came close again in the 23rd minute when Marco Motta got into the box on the right and fired wide of the near post, while a corner kick three minutes later was nodded past the left post by Christian Panucci.

The visitors had another good look at goal five minutes before the break when Francesco Totti drew three defenders and slipped a pass to Matteo Brighi at the top of the box, but with only the keeper to beat, Brighi fired wide.

After scoring six minutes into the first half, Fiorentina needed just two minutes to open the scoring in the second half.

Franco Semioli took the ball on the right wing and floated a cross to the top of the six-yard box for Gilardino, and he nodded it inside the far post to make it 2-0.

Roma was swift to carve out another good chance as Baptista beat goalkeeper Sebastien Frey with a low shot, but Fiorentina's Manuel Pasqual cleared the ball off the goal line.

Only the woodwork denied Roma a goal in the 58th minute as a free kick was cleared to the top of the box and volleyed off the crossbar by Marco Cassetti, but one minute later, Roma was reduced to 10 men.

Pizarro picked up a yellow card in the 56th minute for a hard challenge, but he got another in the 59th when he got involved in an altercation with Semioli.

Gilardino took advantage and he fired his side ahead by three goals in the 67th minute to seal the win.

The former AC Milan man appeared to be offsides when he took a long ball down from midfield, but the flag stayed down and Gilardino cut the ball past Cassetti inside the box and fired into the bottom corner.

Gilardino had a chance to complete his hat trick in the 73rd minute, but his header was stopped by Artur, who parried the ball into the path of Gobbi to slam home.

Baptista then spoiled Frey's clean sheet with a good strike into the bottom right corner with four minutes to play.

The other match on Saturday saw Udinese claim a 2-1 win over Chievo as Gaetano D'Agostino scored the winner in stoppage time.

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Pacific-10 Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Stanford

Oregon and USC get their tickets punched after taking care of business this weekend. Yes, the Trojans' computer numbers aren't great, but there's no way the third-place team in this league is getting nixed. Grudgingly, I added Arizona after consultation with our Bracketologist. I don't know that Arizona will lose its last three (including a Pac-10 quarterfinal game), and even if the Cats do, I still can't see how they'd be left out, given the overall profile. That said, it bears watching, as three more L's would leave them at 18-12 (9-9) and on a 6-11 skid entering the Dance. It would be nice to see the Wildcats get at least one W in the Bay Area next week, as Cincinnati (albeit without Armein Kirkland and with a worse profile) was axed after a similar slide last season. I just couldn't rationalize having some of the other teams as locks and not having Arizona in that category -- there just aren't enough good teams behind the Cats to threaten their spot, it seems. Stanford has its fate in its own hands with the Arizona schools coming to the Farm to close out the regular season next weekend.

Should be in:

Stanford [17-10 (9-7), RPI: 40, SOS: 21] No shame in not getting a win in L.A., but that makes the home game against Arizona State a must-win ahead of what could be an intriguing meeting with Arizona should the Cats lose at Cal. Getting to 11 Pac-10 wins would make Selection Sunday much more comfortable, but 10's probably more than enough this season. The Cardinal have nonconference wins over Texas Tech and at Virginia to lean on, although they also lost badly to Air Force and Santa Clara at home.

Southeastern Conference odds
Work left to do: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State

It looks more and more possible that no one from the SEC West will make the NCAAs. How weird is that? Tennessee and Vandy move into the locks category after more good work this weekend. Kentucky stays there, although it would be smart for the Cats to handle Georgia at home Wednesday ahead of a trip to the Swamp. Could a disaster scenario (two more L's and a first-round SEC tourney exit) somehow dislodge the Cats despite their incredible computer numbers? Still unlikely, but not worth chancing it.

Work left to do:

Alabama [19-9 (6-8), RPI: 43, SOS: 47] The tough L at Tennessee was understandable, and even created some hope. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed by a home loss to Auburn, which leaves the Tide in some real trouble. There's still no signature win on the profile (no, Kentucky doesn't count), and the computer profile is weakening rapidly. The Tide conceivably could beat Ole Miss and win at Miss. State to get to 8-8 and clinch at least a share of the West crown, but that's probably not enough right now. The Tide will need to do some work in the SEC tourney.

Georgia [16-10 (8-6), RPI: 52, SOS: 23] This is the team with the best chance to make it from this section right now. The Bulldogs rebounded from a terrible performance at Ole Miss to beat down Miss. State. Now they are at Kentucky (king of the RPI 51-100 win) and home to Tennessee. That would be worth a lot of computer points to get both (which is doable), as both teams are in the top 11 in RPI. Finishing at least 9-7 is an absolute must, and I would feel much better about the Dawgs' chances if they got both to get to 10 SEC wins. They also beat Gonzaga, but lost to ACC bubblers Georgia Tech and Clemson.

Mississippi [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 63, SOS: 79] Like everyone else in this division, Ole Miss gacked up a chance to stake a claim, losing by double figures at South Carolina. Even 9-7 likely is not nearly enough with a nonconference profile devoid of anything notable.

Mississippi State [16-11 (7-7), RPI: 66, SOS: 37] With a chance to get in the mix, these Bulldogs were leashed by their Georgia counterparts. Could they get to 9-7? I guess -- although winning at Arkansas, then beating Alabama is no lock -- but would that mean all that much for a team with this overall profile? Probably not. There's nothing of note (on the good side) in the nonconference profile.

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FOOTBALL BETTING LINES

NFL Football Sports Betting

Two playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count.

New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend.

His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates.

HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game.

The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup.

RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day.

First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08.

The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition.

These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years.

New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5.

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