Juve returns to top four

Soccer Betting Lines

03/06/2010 - Florence, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Juventus moved back into the top four in the Serie A table on Saturday as Fabio Grosso scored in the 68th minute of a 2-1 Juve win over Fiorentina at the Artemio Franchi.

Diego put the visitors in front in the opening minutes, but had his goal canceled out before halftime by former Juve man Marco Marchionni. However, Grosso was able to give the Turin side the lead for good 22 minutes from time.

Fiorentina remains in 10th place with the loss, and they could fall further from a European spot after Sunday's results.

Juve took the lead with their first chance of the game as Antonio Candreva played a ball to Diego, who looked close to being offside. However, the flag stayed down and Diego rounded goalkeeper Sebastian Frey and finished off the move to put his team ahead inside of two minutes.

The hosts tried to answer right away and they tested goalkeeper Alex Manninger with a number of efforts over the next 20 minutes.

Alberto Gilardino had two shots saved by Manninger before a free kick from Riccardo Montolivo was also turned away, but Manninger could not keep out a header from Marchionni in the 32nd minute.

Neither side seriously threatened after the break until Juve took the lead in the 68th minute as Grosso drove a well-placed shot into the upper corner past Frey.

The Viola had a penalty appeal turned down minutes later when Giorgio Chiellini appeared to handle the ball inside his own area, but they were unable to really test Manninger over the remainder of the contest.

AC Milan and Roma finished 0-0 at the Stadio Olimpico in Saturday's other match, moving Milan to within three points of leaders Inter Milan, who face Genoa on Sunday.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.