SportsInsights

The Pinnacle Pulse, a column highlighting betting strategy and line movement on key games. In this edition, Simon Noble of PinnacleSports.com discusses handicapping college basketball games before discussing line movement on a variety of betting options at PinnacleSports.com. He then gives insight into the early line movement on this weekend’s big games.

World Cup Sports Betting Information
It’s said that coaches win games, players lose them, and referees ruin them. Never was this more evident than in the U.S. vs. Italy match, spoiled by referee Jorge Larrionda’s often displayed red-card.

Despite being underdogs in the game, the United States played inspired attacking football in the first half. In the 28th minute, Daniel De Rossi threw a vicious elbow at Brian McBride, opening a gash requiring three stitches. De Rossi was properly red-carded and the U.S. continued to play at an intense level. In the first half, the U.S. out-shot Italy 6 to 4.

Forty-five minutes of good play was all there would be though – the Uruguayan referee red-carded Pablo Mastroeni in the 45th minute for a late tackle and Eddie Pope in the 47th minute for a second bookable offence. For the remainder of the game, the U.S. played down 9 men to 10 with a Herculean effort against a team they’ve never beaten. The game finished in a 1-1 tie – a moral victory for the U.S. but a point was the least that they deserved after a display full of spirit and determination in Kaiserslautern.

After the match, the standings in Group E are: