Ljungberg's miss forces Fire to settle for draw with TFC

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09/08/2010 - Bridgeview, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Fire and Toronto FC played to a 0-0 draw at Toyota Park on Wednesday, a result that does little to help the playoff chances of either team.

Chicago had the best chance of the match early in the second half when Freddie Ljungberg was played in behind the Toronto defense and left alone with just the goalkeeper to beat. However, he pushed his shot wide of the right post, leaving the Fire with just one win from its last six games.

Toronto has struggled away from home this season with just four points from its 10 previous away contests, so a point is not as bad of a result.

But it still leaves TFC five points back of Seattle for the final playoff spot in Major League Soccer.

The first half saw little in the way of action for either goalkeeper as Toronto's Stefan Frei made the lone save on a low 20-yard shot from Chicago's Collins John.

Toronto failed to produce a shot on goal in the first 45 minutes, but the Reds did have two decent appeals for handball inside the penalty area turned down.

The opening goal should have arrived three minutes into the second half as Nery Castillo played a through ball to Ljungberg, but he wasted the chance with Frei at his mercy.

The visitors tried to make Ljungberg pay for his miss as O'Brian White went close with a glancing header before a poor clearance by Chicago's Mike Banner handed White another chance which forced a save from goalkeeper Sean Johnson.

Chicago had one final opportunity to win the game as Castillo drew a free kick 25 yards from goal in the dying seconds, but he shot straight into the wall, failing to test Frei.

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Football Betting Sportsbook Accepts Credit Cards

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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