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Orlando City Soccer Look For Revenge In USL Pro Playoffs vs. Wilmington: The 2012 USL Pro playoffs are underway, and there are just four teams that are searching for the 2012 USL Pro Championship. Two of those teams are going to meet in Orlando at the Florida Citrus Bowl on Friday night, as the Orlando City Soccer Lions face the Wilmington Hammerheads.

Orlando City, the 2011 USL Pro champs, were easily the best team in the league this year at 17-1-6, accounting for 16 more points than the second place Rochester Rhinos, who will also play on Friday night. Meanwhile, Wilmington was able to sneak into the back end of the playoffs this year with 37 points, and it was able to take down the Richmond Kickers 3-2 in last week’s quarterfinals to be able to advance to this point in the season.

The Lions definitely aren’t going to be taking this game lightly, knowing that they were beaten by these very same Hammerheads back on June 2nd. That game was at Legion Stadium though, and this is at the Florida Citrus Bowl, where Orlando City posted a dominating 4-1 victory at the outset of the season in April. These two teams also played to a draw on July 25th, but by that point, OCS knew that there was never a double that it was getting into the second season with ease as the top team in the league.

Dennis Chin is going to be the key for the Lions, as he led the league this year with 11 goals and 13 assists. Chin scored the capping goal of the 4-1 win in April, but the man of the hour in that game was John Rooney, who scored twice in the first half out of the midfield. Rooney won’t be in the lineup on Friday night though, and Jean Alexandre is still nursing an injury that will keep him sidelined as well. This could be problematic for the Lions, though Head Coach Adrian Heath has arguably the deepest team in the league on his side, and replacements should be ready to go. We expect to see Jaime Watson teamed up with Chin up front, though Matt Luzunaris, who scored nine goals this year, will be in consideration as well.

Last year, the Hammerheads came back from a one-year hiatus and got into the playoffs, getting bounced out of their first round match. They looked to be on the wrong side of last week’s first round playoff fixture as well, especially early against Richmond. The Kickers took a 1-0 lead and could have easily been up 3-0 in the first 15 minutes. Wilmington was able to find pay dirt in the 69th and 72nd minutes, but just seven minutes later, the Kickers were level once again. The match seemed destined for extra time, but it was Tom Parratt, a man who didn’t score a single goal in the regular season, that made the difference.

The injury situation to Alexander Horwarth is definitely one worth watching. Horwath played 22 of the 24 games this year for the Hammerheads in net, but he suffered a hamstring injury and was replaced after just a few minutes of action, giving way to Troy Hernandez, who made his debut on the pitch with Wilmington in the game.

OCS went 8-0-4 this year at home and had a +19 goal differential in just 12 matches. The Lions have only been beaten once here on their home turf in team history, making the Citrus Bowl clearly one of the toughest places to play a match, let alone in the playoffs. Wilmington was an atrocious road team this year, accounting for just two wins. Only Dayton, Pittsburgh, and Antigua had fewer, and they finished in the bottom three spots in the table.

Friday night’s kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. (ET) at the Citrus Bowl, and the winner will advance to September 8th’s USL Pro Championship Game. If the Lions win this match, they will host the championship game for the second straight year against the winner of the Rochester Rhinos vs. Charleston Battery fixture, which is also going on this Friday night. If Wilmington pulls off the upset, either Rochester or Charleston will host the game.

Money Behind Huddersfield Worth Backing Against Cardiff City Football: The 2012 English Football season gets started on Friday, August 17th, as Cardiff City and Huddersfield will both begin their conquests in the 2012-13 League Championship season. Join us at Total Soccer Source, as we take a look at the Cardiff City vs. Huddersfield match odds and make our predictions and tips for what should be a great match to start the season with.

This probably isn’t the start to the season that Huddersfield Town really hoped to draw. The newcomers from League 1 haven’t been in the second tier of English football since 2000-01, and that year, it was straight back down to Division 2. The same was true in 1995-96, a one-year stop for the Terriers. Meanwhile, Cardiff City has hopes this year of being able to earn promotion to the Premier League for the first time since 1957. Cardiff nearly got into the playoff last year, but thanks to the fact that West Ham United finished 10 points clear of fourth place Birmingham City, there was no need for the playoff.

It is quite clear that Cardiff is here to make some noise in 2012. The team has switched from its traditional blue and white kits to red, and the club’s motto is now “Fire & Passion.” The previously injured Stephen McPhail figures to be in the midfield for the Bluebirds, and they are going to hope to use a bunch of injury returnees to produce a great result to start off the season. Captain Mark Hudson is ready to go, and that’s perhaps the biggest addition to the team once again. David Marshall is going to be back in the pipes, just as he was for 47 of Cardiff’s 48 matches last year in the Championship. Leading scorer Peter Whittingham is still back to man the midfield as well, and that’s no shock for the only man to play in all 48 fixtures last year for Cardiff. Also note that this is the first League Championship fixture for summer signing Craig Bellamy, which is as big of a signing as the Bluebirds have had in years.

Huddersfield has a heck of a lot of momentum coming from last year’s fourth place finish. It is true that it took a miracle just to be able to force a playoff for the League One promotion to League Championship. It made the most out of it, getting up to the second division of English football. Now, there is some money behind the team, and there could be a heck of a jump to bring this team all the way up to the Premier League level as well. Jordan Rhodes looks to bring the team to the next level after scoring a goal midweek for his native Scotland in international competition, and he is going to be joined by a slew of summer signings, all of which are used to playing at this type of a level. Remember that Huddersfield is only a few years removed from playing in League 2, and getting all the way up here with a chance to challenge for a spot in the Premier League is largely unheard of.

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Cardiff City vs. Huddersfield Town Match Preview & Analysis: This could be a match that surprises many at the outset of the season. Huddersfield isn’t as raw as most teams that are making the jump from one level to the next right away, and the end result could be a lot of victories that most just don’t see coming. We know that Cardiff is the type of team that really could challenge for a spot in the Premier League next year, but we still think that this match reeks of a draw when push comes to shove.

Cardiff City vs. Huddersfield Town Punting Tip: Huddersfield Town +0.5 (+112) @ BetOnline Sportsbook

Cardiff City vs. Huddersfield Score Prediction: Cardiff City 1 – Huddersfield Town 1

Teams that are fighting in the middle of the Bundesliga table duke it out on Friday afternoon, and we are set to make our Bayer Leverkusen vs. TSG Hoffenheim picks for a tremendous clash on the pitch.

The trick for Leverkusen in this one is going to be not looking too far ahead to the finale of the group stages of the Champions League next week against Racing Genk. In the UCL, Bayer 04 needs just a point from the duel with Genk to ensure progress, while a loss at least leaves a measure of doubt. For now though, Friday’s clash is the one on our mind, and it should be the one on the minds of the German behemoths as well.

TSG Hoffenheim vs. Bayer 04 Leverkusen Date/Time: Friday, December 2nd, 2:30 p.m. (ET)
TSG Hoffenheim vs. Bayer 04 Leverkusen Television Coverage: ESPN Deportes, ESPN3.com

Leverkusen is in the midst of a fine run of form. The team has taken points from four straight fixtures overall, including a Champion League triumph over Chelsea at home last week. The squad hasn’t played all that well at home domestically though, leaving with a bitter 2-2 draw against Hamburg SV on November 5th and a 1-0 defeat against Schalke 04 on October 23rd.

Bayer 04 as scored at least one goals in six straight fixtures, and in four straight, the team has found the back of the net at least twice. What is surprising though, is that Leverkusen only has a +1 goal differential for the season in spite of the recent goal outburst.

Stefan Kiebling has scored three times this year, and he also has a pair of assists. The man that he is doing the most setting up for is Eren Derdiyok, who has five strikes domestically. Michael Ballack has played in 10 games this year for Leverkusen domestically, though the 35 year old isn’t quite in the same type of form that he used to have in his days with Chelsea in the EPL.

Meanwhile, Hoffenheim is going in the wrong direction right now, and it has a pair of road tests coming up in the next eight days that could prove to be brutal. The team hasn’t taken full points in a match since October 22nd, and the very predictable slide down the Bundesliga table seems to be in full force.

The very simple problem that this team has is a lack of scoring goals. The new boys in the Bundesliga haven’t scored more than one goal in a fixture since September 17th. At that point in the year, TSG had scored 12 goals in six fixtures. Now in its last eight, it only has four goals scored. That won’t cut it on the road to survival for another year in the top flight, and the relegation playoff is only five points away, a margin that is probably only going to be getting closer and closer as the weeks drift by.

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It should come as no surprise that the hosts are the heavy favorites here at Bay Arena. The team is the odds on favorite at -135, while Hoffenheim is a significant underdog at +350 to take the three points on the road. The ‘total’ has been set at 2.5, and the oddsmakers are expecting this one to go past the number with the ‘over’ ringing in at -135.

One of the top teams on the La Liga table, Malaga is going to have its work cut out for it on Monday at home when it takes on Villarreal CF.

Malaga has gotten just about everything done that it ever could have imagined in the first dozen games of the year. The team has six wins already in its 12 matches, and it has been in quite fine form. Malaga survived two straight road games against Racing Santander and Real Betis, coming up with a solid four points in those games. Now, the team is back at home for the first time this month, off of a 2-1 win over Espanyol right here at this venue on October 30th. Thus far on the campaign at home, Malaga has gotten the maximum points at La Rosaleda, save for a home game against Real Madrid. No one is expecting this team to compete with the top teams in La Liga, and just even remotely thinking about qualifying for European competition next year would be a remarkable accomplishment.

Malaga vs. Villarreal FC Date/Time: Monday, November 28th, 3:00 p.m. (ET)
Malaga vs. Villarreal FC Television Coverage: ESPN3.com

Ruud van Nistelrooy could have a huge impact on this team by the time the season is said and done with, but the man that is really coming up with the big plays offensively is Santi Cazorla. He has four goals and an assist this year to lead the way for the team.

If you take out that game against Madrid, the defense for Malaga has been remarkable as well, holding teams to just a total of 11 goals in 11 matches.

It has been a frustrating season to say the least for Villarreal. The team was fortunate enough to make it into the Champions League, but its stay there has been a short one. Through five fixtures, the Spanish side has been left without a single point, and that being said, it won’t even get the chance to play in the Europa League.

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Things haven’t been much better domestically either. The squad has a -7 goal differential through 12 matches, though we do have to admit that games against Barcelona and Real Madrid have ended with losses of 5-0 and 3-0 on the road. Villarreal has picked up seven points from its last three matches though, which has to at least give a tad bit of hope that perhaps a turnaround can come and get this team away from the bottom of the table.

Villarreal won 3-2 in this fixture a season ago on the road, and the last time that Malaga won a match in this rivalry was at the end of the 2008-09 season, a 2-0 win at home.

Malaga is the comfortable odds on favorite to take all three points from this match. La Liga predictions will be made in this one based upon a -140 line in favorite of the hosts.

After a week away for international play, our Bundesliga picks are back once again for Friday’s standalone game pitting Kaiserslautern against Bayer 04 Leverkusen. This match features two teams that are sitting in the middle of the table, and both are trying to find an identity as to whether they are challengers or relegation contenders this year.

We don’t believe that the visitors are in any imminent trouble this year. Leverkusen has one of the richer sides in Germany, and though it is only in 8th position on the table right now, we do see that improving before the year is up for sure. Don’t be shocked if this team ends up in European competition again for next year after a strong 2nd place finish in the Bundesliga a year ago.

Kaiserslautern vs. Bayer 04 Leverkusen Date/Time: Friday, November 18th, 2:30 p.m. (ET)
Kaiserslautern vs. Bayer 04 Leverkusen Television Coverage: ESPN Deportes, ESPN3.com

Leverkusen is going to have a rough road ahead in the Champions League this year, as it has two more matches over the course of the next two weeks to determine whether it will survive for the knockout rounds or be knocked into the Europa Cup.

Of late, the team has been in average form in the Bundesliga as well, accounting for just a 2-2 draw at home against Hamburg SV and a 1-0 loss to Schalke 04 in its last two home games. Still, Bayer has a respectable road mark at 3-1-2 and a level goal differential to show for its work.

Kaiserslautern has had its problems producing goals this year, as it only has 10 strikes in 12 matches. The squad is in 12th place on the table with 13 points, but it is only three points safe from the relegation zone. If there is good news though, it is that recent form has been rather good for the hosts in this one. The team has picked up at least a point in four straight Bundesliga matches and five straight if you include DfB Pokal competition as well.

Watch out for Etey Shechter in this match. He only has three goals for the season, but the 24 year old has shown a real eye for goal since coming here from Hapoel Tel Aviv in the transfer season. He has 18 shots on target in nine matches.

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Last year, this was a series that was dominated by Bayer 04. The team won 1-0 here at Fritz-Walter Stadion, and 3-1 back at home. The last result in this series for Kaiserslautern came back in 2009 when the team was in the lower division. The hosts won that day 3-1 in the second round of the German Cup.

It should come as no surprise that the visitors are the slender +130 favorites, or at a pick ’em -135 on the Asian Handicap. The ‘total’ rings in at 2.5, with the ‘over’ and ‘under’ coming in rather on rather level terms.

Last season was a dreadful one for Deportivo La Coruna. The team was relegated out of La Liga for the first time in decades, and they are now stuck playing in the Segunda. On Monday, they play a standalone match against Murcia, a match would could propel either team back towards the top flight of Spanish soccer.

Amazingly enough, neither of these teams, which were once both staples in the Spanish Liga Primera in recent years, are anywhere near an automatic promotion spot. La Coruna is currently in eighth position with 19 points in 11 matches, though it can move into the promotion playoff picture with just a point from this fixture. Murcia is three spots behind with 18 points in 11 matches.

The key for both of these teams is going to be separating itself from the pack. Three points is always critical in a league in which there are only a grand total of nine points separating a shot at promotion and certain relegation.

We’ll begin with Deportivo, a team that really has to be considered a shock to be down at this level. The team hasn’t played all that well on the road this year, getting shut out twice and taking a questionable 2-0-3 record thus far in five fixtures.

The team has been all over the place scoring goals, accounting for 18 in 11 matches (five more than the table toppers, Hercules in 12 matches). The problem is with one goal surrendered in this one, Deportivo will have the same number of goals allowed as CD Alcoyano, a team which is on the verge of relegation.

When Oscar Sanchez is on his game, Murcia has a side which has a shot at promotion. He has five goals already this season, easily tops on the team, and he has dreams of leading this team back to the top flight. The only bad news for Murcia is that it has taken a defender to do the job of the strikers. Aside from Sanchez, who starts his games in the back four, the rest of the team only has 11 goals in 11 fixtures.

It should probably come as no surprise that these two teams are considered to be on rather level pegging by the oddsmakers, as they are both a pick ’em, with the slight nod going to Murcia at -120.

The last time that these two faced off was in the Copa Del Rey in 2009. In the fourth round, La Coruna came away with a 1-0 victory right here at the Nueva Condomina.

Mainz FC is floating around the relegation zone right now in the German Bundesliga. On Friday, they’ll have a tough task in front of them just to claim a single point with one of the top sides in the country, VfB Stuttgart coming to town.

Mainz isn’t exactly in fine form right now, coming into this one off of a relatively expected 3-1 loss to the Werder Bremen at home on October 29th. The team hasn’t taken three points in a match since the first two fixtures of the year, and that’s why it has gone from near the top of the table to level with Hamburg SV for the relegation playoff in just nine fixtures. There is still a long, long season ahead, and things don’t look good for Mainz in its hope for survival.

This defense is just atrocious. The team has allowed 22 goals this year, and though that isn’t shocking, at least in terms of what the rest of the league has been able to do offensively for the most part, averaging allowing two goals per game is a recipe for relegation in virtually whatever league and whatever level of football you’re playing at.

Surprisingly, Mainz got off to a hot start last week against Bremen by coming out of the blocks with a 23rd minute goal from Niko Bungert. It was Bungert’s second goal of the campaign, and he became the fourth member of the team to strike at least twice. Maxim Choupo-Moting has three goals, and he is the only one to stake claim to have more than two goals for this team on the year.

Stuttgart has taken at least one point from four straight fixtures, though it probably is bitterly disappointed about its back to back draws at home against Borussia Dortmund and away at Nurnberg. There are still definitely some strong hopes about getting into European competition this year once again, something that the team isn’t involved in this year. Right now, Stuttgart is hanging in sixth place at 5-3-3 and 18 points, but there are only two points separating it and the Champions League as well in a tightly knit top of the Bundesliga table (beyond Bayern Munich).

There are already five players that have scored twice this year for VfB Stuttgart, led by Martin Harnik, who has four goals. This is another one of these teams atop this league that generally has no problem putting balls in the back of the net, and we don’t anticipate it being much of a problem this time around either.

This game is lined at a straight pick ’em, and both sides are at -110 on the moneyline. We tend to think that the best play of the bunch is on the ‘over’ 2.5 goals at -105, as both of these clubs have the ability to score goals, and Mainz’s defense is about as strong as a leaky faucet or a slice of Swiss cheese. Expect at least three, if not more goals on Friday night at Mainz.

On Friday afternoon, two teams that are battling to stay out of the relegation zone on the Bundesliga table meet up at Badenova Stadion in Freiburg, as SC Freiburg takes on Bayer 04 Leverkusen.

The truth of the matter is that Leverkusen should be in a heck of a lot better shape than this with Michael Ballack manning the captaincy. The team is 4-2-4 to show for its work thus far on the season, an awfully average mark for a team that has above average talent. The relegation zone is only six points away, but the march to get to European competition next year is only three points short. This is the type of fixture that this team should be taking against a team that knows that it will be fighting for its life for the rest of the season.

Ballack hasn’t tallied yet in this 2011-12 Bundesliga season, but he has had an assist and continues to be one of the better men in this lineup on a regular basis. Stefan Kiebling has three goals to lead the team, but the real contributions are coming from this defense. In a season in which it is becoming awfully routine for winning teams to have found the back of the net two, three, or even more times than that, Leverkusen is holding teams to just 1.4 goals per game in spite of its average place in the table.

Needless to say, things are going to have to improve for Bayer 04, as it has already been beaten twice this year at home, most recently in an 0-1 drop to Schalke 04. The team only has one point in its last two matches in the Bundesliga, though it does have a Champions League win over Villarreal to show for its work in the mix as well.

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Freiburg’s offense revolves completely around Papiss Demba Cisse. He has seven of the team’s 14 goals on the season, and when he doesn’t get on the stat sheet in some form or another, this team struggles.

Problems in defense have really cost this team though, as SV Freiburg is averaging allowing 2.5 goals per game, easily the most in the Bundesliga. The good news is that most of those goals have come in five away fixtures, as at home, Freiburg has actually outscored its foes 7-6 in spite of its 2-0-3 mark there.

There is definitely some hope for SC Freiburg though, as wins over Wolfsburg and Borussia Monchengladbach here at the Badenova Stadion have to give it some confidence going forward.

Still, it’s Leverkusen that is getting the slight nod at +100 to take all three points in this fixture on the road. Don’t be surprised though, if the hosts come out with sound and fury and not only hold Bayer 04, but perhaps take all three points as well.

Sunday afternoon wraps up the long weekend of Bundesliga scores, and we are back with our Bundesliga tips for the battle between two of the top sides in the country. We’re all set to make our Hannover 96 vs. Bayern Munich predictions and tips for arguably the biggest fixture of the weekend!
These two sides both had championship aspirations this season after falling flat last year and finishing in third and fourth. Hannover 96 has come quite a long ways since barely avoiding relegation in 2009-10 and being a mid level team in the Bundesliga table for basically a decade before it. Meanwhile, Bayern Munich just continues to dominate, as every single year, it is partaking in European competitions.

This year though, it is Munich that is truly dominating. In nine fixtures this year, the kings of German football have scored a whopping 25 goals, easily the most in the league. And, on top of that, they have only conceded a single strike, also better than anyone else by a solid five goals.

The only truly questionable result was the lifeless and scoreless draw at TSG Hoffenheim at the start of October. However, immediately after that fixture, Bayern turned around and smashed a more formidable foe, Hertha Berlin 4-0, their third win by at least four goals on the campaign.

Of course, it’s truly hard to argue with a side that hasn’t allowed a goal domestically since August 7th and that hasn’t given up a goal on the road all season long, but we are here to warn that Hannover has the team that could pull off one of the biggest upsets of the season.

Mohammed Abdellaoue has had a fantastic year for the Die Roten, as he already has six of the team’s 11 goals on the season. He is the only man to have scored more than once domestically on the season, and he is sure to be the focal point for the attack on Sunday as well.

Hannover has held its own in the Europa League this year, which has been a real accomplishment for this side. It is 1-1-1 in three fixtures, and it had to win a nervy playoff against Spanish side, Sevilla FC just to get into the competition.

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Domestically, it has been a true bag of mixed results. A 3-2 win at home over Werder Bremen has to give a lot of hope that this upset is possible, as does a 2-1 win over last year’s champs, Borussia Dortmund. However, on the flip side, a draw at home against lowly Mainz and a questionable 2-0 loss at FC Cologne last week are results that are going to potentially haunt as well.

We aren’t ready to lay that goal and a half quite yet on the road with Bayern Munich even though it clearly has the more consistent side in this match. In fact, we’re even willing to go out on a limb and say that we think that it is Hannover that can take the three points in this match. Getting nearly 7 to 1 on the Bundesliga odds is a gift for a team at home that has some real potential, and we plan on taking full advantage of it.

Our German Bundesliga tips are revved up again on Friday afternoon, as FC Augsburg tries to take out Werder Bremen.

Augsburg is sitting in the relegation zone right now, but the truth of the matter is that just staying alive in the Bundesliga is going to be a tremendous accomplishment. This is a team that has never been in the top flight of German soccer, and it claimed its first win ever on the road at Mainz just six days ago. It was a joyous event for all Augsburg fans, but sitting at just 1-4-4 through nine fixtures, the reality is striking there are going to have to be more wins on the horizon to keep this club alive without making the immediate drop back down to 2. Bundesliga.

So far on the campaign, scoring has been the big problem for Augsburg. This team only has seven goals in nine fixtures, and in the goal-happy Bundesliga, that’s a huge issue. Only Kaiserslautern has seven goals as well, but every other team in the league has at least 11 strikes on the campaign. The good news is that the ‘D’ has only allowed 16 goals, which is fewer than the other four teams in the relegation fight right now.

And then there is Werder Bremen, a team that is still fighting for one of the spots in European competition for the 2012-13 season. Bremen is 5-1-2 on the season, but those two losses have come in back to back matches.

Last Friday, Borussia Dortmund came into the Weserstadion and walked out with a 2-0 victory in spite of the fact that many were making their Bundesliga tips on the hosts in that match. It was the first time since August 14th that the team failed to score a goal in a match, and it was the first time in three fixtures that the squad didn’t strike twice.

Still, Claudio Pizarro, Markus Rosenberg, and Marko Arnautovic, who combined have scored 12 of Bremen’s 15 goals on the season, have to be licking their chops about going against this team, even on the road. The issue is that Werder Bremen only has netted five goals in six fixtures on the road this year, and this could be a big problem if the offense doesn’t get going in a hurry.

If the hosts are going to get their first three points at home in team history in the Bundesliga, they are going to have to do so as big time underdogs. Werder Bremen is a half goal favorite at -120, and the expectations are definitely there to snare three points from this fixture. Anything less will be considered a disappointment, especially against a side that many figured would be the worst in the league this year. The ‘total’ has been set at 2.5 over -150.