Arnaud leads Kansas City to draw at Philadelphia

Soccer Betting Lines

09/04/2010 - Chester, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Davy Arnaud scored in the 70th minute and the Kansas City Wizards tied the Philadelphia Union, 1-1, on Saturday afternoon in Major League Soccer at PPL Park.

Arnaud had a goal and an assist last week to lead K.C. to a 2-0 win at the Los Angeles Galaxy, and helped the Wizards earn another road result - their fourth in their last five away matches - with his fourth goal of the season.

Kansas City (7-9-6) extended its recent run of success, moving to 2-1-2 in its last five road matches and 4-1-3 in its last eight overall.

Philadelphia (5-11-6) got a first-half goal from Sebastien Le Toux, who leads the team with 10 goals, but failed to hold onto the lead. The Union don't have a shutout all season.

Stefani Miglioranzi came within inches of handing Philadelphia the lead in the 26th when his 35-yard shot hit the left post. Le Toux forced K.C. goalie Jimmy Nielsen to make a save two minutes later.

Le Toux followed with the opening goal of the game when he converted an assist from rookie Danny Mwanga. Justin Mapp, who scored in stoppage time last week to lift Philadelphia to a 2-1 win at New England, helped set up the first goal with a pass down the left to Mwanga.

Mwanga, who leads all rookies with seven goals, did most of the work from that point, driving in from the left wing before slipping a pass into the middle to Le Toux in the 30th. Le Toux finished from six yards to easily beat Nielsen.

Arnaud nearly set up the equalizer before half, but Shavar Thomas just missed getting good contact off a header that Union goalie Chris Seitz saved.

K.C. had another chance in the first minute of the second half, but Ryan Smith failed to get a shot off despite driving past Seitz, as Philadelphia defender Michael Orozco Fiscal made a sliding tackle to prevent a sure goal.

Mapp nearly turned another pass from Mwanga into the Union's second goal, but Nielsen deflected his shot to send it wide right in the 53rd.

Mwanga and K.C.'s Birahim Diop traded chances in the next 10 minutes, then Le Toux forced a save from Nielsen in the 66th.

K.C. finally rewarded Nielsen, who finished with five saves, in the 70th when Arnaud scored the tying goal directly off a free kick. Arnaud took the attempt from outside the left edge of the penalty area and drove it over traffic, then Seitz, and into the upper-right corner.

Wizards rookie Teal Bunbury had the best chance for either side over the final 20 minutes, but his shot from a tight angle in the 77th minute was handled by Seitz, who made his fourth save of the match.

Philadelphia hosts the Chicago Fire on Sept. 11 in its next match. Kansas City is off until Sept. 19, when it visits Chivas USA.

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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

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