Italy takes back top spot

Soccer Betting Lines

09/19/2007 - Zurich, Switzerland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The FIFA/Coca-Cola rankings for the month of September were released on Wednesday, and they saw Italy regain the top spot by moving ahead of both Argentina and Brazil.

The Italians win over Ukraine in EURO 2008 qualifying was enough to knock Brazil from the top spot down to third, while Argentina remained in second.

Those top three teams have a comfortable edge on the rest of the field, which is lead by Germany, who moved up one spot into fourth. France fell two places after losing to Scotland in EURO qualifying, while the Netherlands took advantage and jumped up into the top five.

Spain sits in seventh, up one place, while Croatia and the Czech Republic both dropped. The Czechs fell two spots into 11th, while Croatia lost four places but stays in the top 10 at 10th. Capitalizing on this was Portugal, who is up two rankings into eighth, while England moves back into the top 10 at ninth with a three-spot improvement.

The Scots used that win over France, as well as one over Lithuania, to climb to their highest ever spot in the rankings, up nine places to 14th.

Mexico dropped two spots to 13th, but still remains the highest rated team in CONCACAF because the United States moved down one spot to 18th after dropping a 4-2 contest to Brazil. Friendlies in October against Catalonia and Switzerland will give the Stars and Stripes a chance to improve on that ranking.

There was plenty of movement outside of the top 50 teams, but Colombia and Guinea both enjoyed big jumps within the top 50. The South American club climbed seven spots to 24th, while Guinea enjoyed a 12-spot improvement to reach 30th.

The biggest drop in the rankings was suffered by Bosnia-Herzegovina, who lost 14 spots down to 39th. Cameroon also had a tough month, dropping nine places to 25th.

The next FIFA/Coca-Cola rankings will be released on October 24.

Points are accumulated based on the results of a team's matches over the past four years, the importance of each match, the strength of the opponent, the strength of the region and the number of matches per year that each team plays.

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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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