The semifinals of the Carling Cup begin this week with Burnley at defending champion Tottenham on Tuesday and Manchester United playing at Derby on Wednesday. United will be playing their second game in just 17 days but is not expected to be tested by a weak Derby squad. The second leg will be played in two weeks at Old Trafford. The winner will face either Burnley or Tottenham for the Soccer Betting Carling Cup title.

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Manchester United is expected to mix up their lineup with regulars and reserves in Wednesday’s match against Derby. United has a key game upcoming on Sunday against Chelsea in the Premier League so some starters will be rested. United had little trouble over the weekend in the FA Cup, winning 3-0 against Southampton. One player who will get some playing time against Derby though is Carlos Tevez who missed the team’s last two matches while he was in Argentina.

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Manchester United will be playing Japanese club Gamba Osaka in the semifinals of the Soccer Betting Club World Cup in Japan on Thursday. The other semifinal match on Thursday will be South American champ Liga de Quito vs. Mexico’s Pachuca. The winners will play on Sunday while the losers will play a third place match, also on Sunday.

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Manchester United has not played yet in the tournament, having received an automatic bid into the semifinals. Manchester United is coming off a scoreless draw in Premier League action against Tottenham on Sunday. Manchester United qualified for this semifinal spot in the Club World Cup by beating Chelsea in the Soccer Betting UEFA Champions League final. The match on Sunday against Gamba could be more difficult than most people believe for Manchester United simply because of the travel. Manchester United is about a 2/5 favorite on the three-way Manchester United soccer betting against Gamba while Pachuca is about a 5-4 favorite on the three-way line against Liga.

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Juande Ramos replaced Bernd Schuster as head coach of Real Madrid on Tuesday and didn’t have much time to get ready for his first game on Wednesday but it didn’t matter. Real Madrid defeated Zenit St. Petersburg 3-0 in the Soccer Betting Champions League as Raul Gonzalez scored twice. Arjen Robben also scored as Real Madrid finished second in Group H and now will advance into the next round of the Champions League.

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The win for Ramos was somewhat expected since Zenit is not that strong but it was still an important win for Real Madrid. Ramos took the job on Tuesday, replacing Schuster who had said it was “impossible” for Real Madrid to defeat Barcelona on Saturday. Real Madrid has lost three of its past four league matches and trails Barcelona by nine points. It didn’t take Ramos long to find a job again after being fired by Tottenham in October.

Soccer News: Ramos Wins Debut as Real Madrid Coach

The last three spots in the second round of the Soccer Betting Champions League are on the line this week with the final round of group matches. 13 teams have already qualified for the next round and three teams will join them. One team that was expected to get in must still qualify as Chelsea hosts CFR Cluj. Chelsea is battling with AS Roma and Bordeaux for one of the two spots in Group A.

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Chelsea should not have any trouble with CFR Cluj but the Blues are not playing well of late, losing at home for the first time in four years in the Premier League. “I think teams have come and put 10 players behind the ball and made it very difficult,” Chelsea assistant coach Ray Wilkins said. “At times we haven’t worked hard enough to pry it open but give credit to teams as well, they’ve worked out a plan to play against us and it’s up to us to go against that and we’ll get it back on track.” The Blues should get a win which would mean AS Roma would only need a draw at home against Bordeaux while the road team would need the win to advance. Roma is playing well of late, having won four straight in Serie A. Jeremy Menez scored on Saturday in a 1-0 win over Chievo Verona. “He has a lot of skill and quality, and instincts of a great player,” Roma coach Luciano Spalletti said. “I knew he had talent, but I didn’t think he’d be this decisive this quickly.”

Inter Milan is at the top of Group B with the other spot up in the air. Panathinaikos needs only a draw at home against Anorthosis to advance. “Not many clubs have the opportunity to qualify for the last 16 of the Soccer Betting Champions League and we shouldn’t miss it,” coach Henk Pen Cate said, “Qualification is in our hands.”

MLS star Landon Donovan will join German champ Bayern Munich and be with the team until mid-March. “He (Donovan) will in any case now play for us until March 15,” Bayern manager Uli Hoeness said. Donovan is the second Los Angeles Galaxy player to move overseas in the MLS off-season as David Beckham joined AC Milan earlier this year.

Donovan led the MLS with 20 goals in 25 games for the Galaxy this past season. He is also the U.S. national team’s all-time leading scorer. Donovan has not had much success in the Bundesliga in the past. Twice previously he has tried to make it in the league with Bayer Leverkusen and failed. He never got into a match from 1999-2001. He returned in 2005 but failed to score in seven league appearances and two in the Soccer Betting Champions League.

Donovan has been practicing with Bayern for the past week or so in hopes of joining the team. “He is the exceptional player in North America, including Mexico,” Bayern coach Juergen Klinsmann said, “Landon knows that Europe is where it’s at in football. And he has all the qualities to break through in Europe.” The addition of Donovan could be an important one for Bayern. “He is an excellent player with many qualities and he is only 26,” Bayern striker Miroslav Klose said. “I think that he would find himself in the Bundesliga.”

Soccer Betting Preview: Landon Donovan to join Bayern Munich

Chelsea will have to do without one of their best players for the next three matches as Didier Drogba was suspended . The suspension happened to Drogba because of an incident in a League Cup game last Wednesday against Burnley. Drogba had scored a goal and was celebrating near the visiting fans. Some of those fans threw coins at Drogba who then picked one up and threw it back. He was given a yellow card for celebrating in front of the Burnley fans but the referee did not see him throw the coin.

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The Football Association though decided to punish Drogba for the incident. He will now miss Premier League games against Newcastle, Arsenal and Bolton. “I tried to celebrate the goal and I received some things at me,” Drogba said, “The big mistake I did was to throw it back, so if someone was hurt I just want to apologize for it. This is not something I should show in a football match and I want to apologize. It was an incident in the heat of the moment and I regret it. It was just a mistake and nothing more.”

Soccer Betting Preview: Chelsea’s Didier Drogba Suspended

The Columbus Crew will be making their first appearance in the Soccer Betting MLS Cup after they defeated the Chicago Fire 2-1. Chad Marshall and Eddie Gaven scored as Columbus took out Chicago last Thursday. The Crew will now face New York on Sunday in the MLS Cup at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California.

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The win for Columbus was a come from behind victory as Brian McBride scored the first goal of the game for Chicago. Marshall tied it in the 50th minute and five minutes later Gaven scored. The Crew nearly made it 3-1 in the 59th minute but Fire goalkeeper Jon Busch made a great save on Robbie Rogers. The game was a very physical affair that the referee let the players decide. Five yellow cards were given out in the game.

In the other semifinal it was New York defeating Real Salt Lake 1-0 on a goal by Dave van den Bergh. He scored in the 28th minute and New York held on for the win. It will be the first appearance in the MLS Cup for the Red Bulls. New York definitely had things go their way as Real Salt Lake hit the post three times in front of a sell-out crowd of 20,008 at Rio Tinto Stadium.

Soccer Betting Picks: Columbus and New York to Meet for MLS Cup

There will be a new Soccer Betting MLS Cup champion this season as the New York Red Bulls took out the defending champion Houston Dynamo, winning 3-0 on Sunday. Dane Richards had a goal and an assist to lead the Red Bulls. New York tied the Dynamo 1-1 in the first leg so the winner of Sunday’s game advanced. New York will now play Real Salt Lake in the MLS Cup semifinals on Saturday. It is the second time that New York will have advanced to the Conference finals.

There will also be a new runner-up this season as the New England Revolution lost to the Chicago Fire. The Fire defeated New England 3-0 to advance to the conference finals. “It’s a big relief,” Fire coach Denis Hamlett said. “These are the guys that have knocked us out of the playoffs — I keep losing track of how many years.” New England had knocked out Chicago the last three seasons. “It was huge,” said Justin Mapp, “For most of the time I’ve been here, we’ve ended up playing them and, more often not, they’ve knocked us out.” New England was playing without Steve Ralston, who led the team in goals and assists and without Taylor Twellman who had tied for the team lead in goals. Chicago will now travel to Columbus in the Conference final.

Soccer Betting Preview: MLS Cup Playoffs Down to Final Four

Arsenal is already facing a must-win game in the Soccer Betting Premier League as they host Manchester United on Saturday. Manager Arsene Wenger has said the team must come away with a win if they expect to contend for the title this season. A loss would make it very difficult for the Gunners because they would be four points back of United and could fall as many as nine behind Chelsea and Liverpool. “It’s a massive game of massive importance for us,” Wenger said. “Manchester United-Arsenal is always a special one. It’s important for us that we do well in the big games in this league now.”

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Arsenal has not won in any of its last three matches. They played to a 4-4 draw with Tottenham after leading 4-2. One of those matches was a draw to Fenerbahce at home in the Soccer Betting Champions League. Wenger is not happy with his players or with the referees. “In the second half, we dropped physically and were less dangerous from then on,” Wenger said, “We were not sharp enough to put our strikers into good positions. You expect us to make chances in the last 20 minutes and this didn’t come because physically we didn’t have the resources.”

Wenger is really upset about the amount of penalties his team is getting in the Premier League. “Look at the fair play table. Who is top? Arsenal,” he said. “Look at the team that makes less fouls. Arsenal. (Yet) who gets more yellow cards after four or five fouls? Arsenal. Some teams get their first yellow cards after 15 fouls.”

Soccer Betting Preview: Arsenal Facing Must-Win Game on Saturday

The Soccer Betting 2008 MLS Cup Playoffs are underway as three of the first four matches ended in draws. Kei Kamara scored late to give Houston a 1-1 draw with New York. In other first-leg matches it was Columbus and Kansas City playing to a 1-1 draw, New England and Chicago playing to a scoreless draw and Real Salt Lake winning 1-0 against Chivas USA

All four opening playoff matches could have ended in draws but Real Salt Lake got a goal from Yura Movsisyan in the last minute of regulation to defeat Chivas. It was the second time that Movsisyan saved Real Salt Lake as he scored at Colorado last week to get Real Salt Lake into the playoffs. Now they can advance with a win or a tie at Chivas this weekend. Late heroics happened in another match as Steven Lenhart scored in the second minute of second-half stoppage time as Columbus got the 1-1 draw against Kansas City.

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The defending Eastern Conference champs are in a bit of trouble. They played to a scoreless draw against Chicago and now the Fire can advance with a win at home this weekend. Chicago had never even earned a point in six previous playoff trips to New England. It is the fourth straight year the Revolution and Fire have met in the playoffs, and the sixth time in the last seven seasons.

Soccer Betting Preview: MLS Playoffs Underway