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Rock Talk, Vol. IX
Coming into last night's matchup, Pachuca was heavily favored, but that didn't mean a thing to the reigning MLS Champs. Led by Brian Ching and Chris Wondolowski, who both scored goals, the Dynamo left Roberston Stadium
with a 2-0 victory with a rematch slated for April 5 in Pachuca in the final leg of the CONCACAF semifinal. The Orange Crush scored first in the 57th minute as Brian Ching headed a pass from Craig Waibel past Pacuhca goal keeper Miguel Calero. With the game winding down, Dynamo coach Dominick Kinnear made a game changing substituition as Chris Wondolowski entered for Brian Ching. What seemed like a few seconds after stepping on the field, Wondolowski made a statement by punching in the game sealer in the 84th minute leaving Pachuca with nothing but questions to answer. In order for Pachuca to advance outright, they have to win by three goals. A two goal win by Pachuca would lead to penalty kicks that will deterimine who advances to the next round.
Ching, Dynamo Shock FC Pachuca
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"Coming into last night's matchup, Pachuca was heavily favored"
Actually, at betandwin.com, the only place I saw odds for the match posted, Houston, not Pachuca, were very slight favorites.
I find that hard to believe. Pachuca is arguably the best club team in the Americas. Ask any true soccer fan who follws the Mexican Premier League. This win was huge for MLS.
pachuca definitely should have been the fav as they are the reigning copa sudamericana champion (you know that tourney against 'better' south american teams). if you followed international football, you would know better.
I'm not saying Houston SHOULD have been favored. I'm just pointing out that at betandwin.com (the only site where I saw prices for this tournament) they WERE IN FACT slightly favored. DC United were favored there by a similar margin.
Keep in mind - I'm sure hardly anyone actually bet on these matches, so the bookies probably gave little more than 2 seconds thought to it since they weren't going to make or lose noticable money in any case. They saw top teams in the US hosting top teams in Mexico and generated their prices based on how they thought the money from bettors would come in so as to maximize profits.
Remember when discussing favorites and underdogs, bookies aren't in the business of predicting matches, they're in the business of making money off of gamblers. At betandwin.com they're quite good at it too, so I wouldn't write them off as being stupid because you think Pachuca came in the better team. That's irrelevant.
Or maybe as Duff said this is really about the fact that I evidently don't follow international football and therefore don't "know better".