New Madrid coach Ramos hails positive start

Soccer Betting Lines

12/11/2008 - Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New Real Madrid coach Juande Ramos believes Wednesday's 3-0 Champions League victory over Zenit St. Petersburg will boost flagging confidence at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Two goals from Raul and a third from Arjen Robben ensured Real won its first game under the former Sevilla and Tottenham Hotspur coach as it signed off its group stage campaign in style.

The Spanish champions fired coach Bernd Schuster following last weekend's 4-3 defeat in the league to Sevilla.

Ahead of Saturday's "Clasico" meeting with leaders Barcelona, Ramos said: "Getting a victory when we didn't need the points is very positive.

"I liked the players' performance. This will raise the team's morale as all the players worked hard to give a good account of themselves. They all had a great attitude - they wanted to play a good game and please the fans.

"I see that the players are keen to turn the situation around. They've shown me that they want to improve quickly and that they'll do everything in their power to achieve it."

(Courtesy of sportbox.tv)

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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.