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Totals 4 You MLB Service Selections for Saturday, July 5th July's Major League on FOX 3-Teamer of the Month!!!!!
San Francisco/San Diego under 6 1/2
Baltimore/Boston under 9
Texas/New York over 7 1/2
2-1 or Better or we'll email you Sunday's Report Free of Charge!!!
MLB Best Bets Los Angeles/Colorado under 11
Seattle/Chicago under 7
Tampa Bay/Detroit under 8
The Dodgers are playing great ball having won 7 of 10, while the Rockies have lost 9 of 10. And giving the ball to Dan Haren looking to build off his best performance of the season should make for another win for the Blue. Colorado starters have a 7.65 ERA over their last 18 matches, and with 3 of their top hitters still out, its gonna be hard to break this losing streak.
At this point in the World Cup, the Dutch know plenty about Costa
Rica — once one of the surprise packages of the tournament. What
they may not know is that Costa Rica’s Jorge Luis Pinto learned his
coaching from the Dutchman who invented ‘total football’.
Well-traveled Colombian coach Pinto studied at the University of
Cologne early in the 1980s when Dutch coach Rinus Michels was
coaching the city’s Bundesliga club.
Michels was a good teacher — a few years later he would lead the
Netherlands to its one and only international title, the 1988
European Championship, having pioneered the ‘total football’
approach — where players can change their positions during a game.
Now Pinto aims to stop the Dutch taking another step toward their
first world title when his Costa Rica team meets the Netherlands on
Saturday in the quarterfinals at Salvador’s Arena Fonte Nova.
It is not only Pinto who knows the Dutch game well. Bryan Ruiz had
a successful spell with FC Twente before joining Fulham and now
plays at PSV Eindhoven alongside likely Netherlands starter
Georginio Wijnaldum and super-sub Memphis Depay.
Ruiz has teamed up with a strong, fast-paced striker in Joel
Campbell, propelling Costa Rica to the surprise top spot in a Group
D that also included England, Italy and Uruguay. Pinto’s team also
has a miserly defense that has conceded just two goals in the
tournament so far.
Not surprisingly, Costa Rica will be attempting to shut down the
Dutch striking partnership of Robben and Robin van Persie, who are
looking to get back on the scoring sheet after combining for six
goals in their team’s first two matches but failing to find the net
since.
The winner in Salvador goes on to a semifinal against either
Belgium or Argentina in Sao Paulo on July 9.
Costa Rica will be without defender Oscar Duarte after he was sent
off in the 66th minute of their penalty shootout victory over
Greece. Goalkeeper Keylor Navas skipped training on Wednesday with
a sore shoulder, but he is expected to be fit to play.
The lengthening Dutch injury list is creating problems for coach
Louis van Gaal, who is fast running out of fit midfielders.
AC Milan strongman Nigel de Jong may have played his last World Cup
match in Brazil after tearing a groin muscle early in the
second-round defeat of Mexico. Leroy Fer also is in doubt with a
hamstring injury he picked up in training the day after scoring the
crucial opening goal in the Netherlands 2-0 defeat of Chile.
Van Gaal could push left back Daley Blind from defense to midfield
or opt for Feyenoord’s Jordie Clasie, who has yet to play in Brazil
and has only eight caps to his name.
Van Gaal’s most experienced midfielder, Wesley Sneijder, appears to
be running into form at just the right time.
The team’s top scorer in South Africa four years ago broke his
Brazil duck against Mexico with a sizzling drive in the 88th
minute, after substitute Klaas Jan Huntelaar had headed the ball
back. Substitute Huntelaar then calmly slotted home a stoppage time
penalty, but he said the assist for Sneijder was his most important
touch.
Our opinion for this match is that Neterhlands will take the win in
this contest.
1 Star Chris Weidman (-175)- Weidman is a very well rounded fighter with amazing grappling. He also has good enough wrestling to get this fight to the ground where he can land ground and pound and work for subs. Machida is a very well rounded fighter also and looks to counter his opponents. Machida is not very active in his striking but is still a dangerous opponent with solid power. I don't think Machida will TKO Weidman and I don't think he will be active enough to win a Decision. I do think Weidman has more ways to win this fight and could even finish the fight.
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