Outclassing a legend: Rolfe key to Fire's resurgence

Soccer Betting Lines

11/05/2007 - Bridgeview, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With a certain player in the lineup this season, the Chicago Fire are 10-4-8, while scoring 25 goals. Without this player, the team is 1-6-2 while scoring just six goals over that span.

With a certain player in the lineup, the Chicago Fire knocked off the top seed in the Major League Soccer playoffs to advance to the Eastern Conference final, scheduled to be played at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. on Thursday.

With a certain player in the lineup, the Chicago Fire are currently on a 10- game unbeaten streak, the second-longest in team history.

No, that player is not the team's designated player signing and Mexican superstar Cuauhtemoc Blanco, who helped the club to a 6-2-7 record since his arrival on July 29.

That player is American forward Chris Rolfe.

"As far as I am concerned, I think we have proved that we are not Cuauhtemoc Blanco's team," said Chicago coach Juan Carlos Osorio, who coached his first game for the fired Dave Sarachan in Blanco's first match with the team. "He plays on our team and we are more than happy with that, but we have many other tools now. Chris Rolfe's contribution has been crucial."

The Fire actually started the season as one of the hottest teams in the Eastern Conference, going 3-1-2 under Sarachan. But in that seventh league match on May 12, Rolfe injured his ankle and missed the next nine league fixtures.

At the time, Rolfe was tied with New England's Taylor Twellman for the league- lead in goals, with four after just six matches. After Rolfe's injury, the team went on a horrific slide, losing six of nine while collecting just one win in that span, costing Sarachan the job he'd held since 2003.

"It was very difficult," Rolfe said of his injury. "At the start of the season I was influential in some of the wins we had and I thought that I could help the team, obviously in an area that we were struggling, which was goal scoring. That is something that I thought I could have been helping with."

Since his return to the lineup on Aug. 4, however, the Fire have been one of the hottest teams in the league - with Blanco getting most of the credit for the turnaround.

"We had faith that we had a good group to start with," Rolfe said, "and we're bringing in some good players (Blanco, defender Wilman Conde and forward Paulo Wanchope) and a new coach (Osorio) and we were confident the whole time that we had a chance at this (a berth in the Eastern finals)."

For all the credit that Blanco gets, his four goals and eight assists in 16 starts since his arrival aren't as impressive as Rolfe's eight goals and three assists in 18 starts this season.

"That's great. Obviously that's great," Rolfe said. "That's something that I should be doing with the role that I have on this team. I should be scoring goals, so I'm just doing what I'm supposed to do really."

And while Rolfe's two playoff goals vs. D.C. were crucial in the team advancing to the Eastern final, 4-2 in the total-goals, home-and-home semifinal series, his defensive work from his forward position has also been key.

"I think for an offensive minded player, his contribution defensively is immense," Osorio said. "It's huge, and we all appreciate it very much in this team."

It's about time people outside the team started appreciating what this home- grown player is doing in MLS this season.

Namely, outclassing a legend.

Wiwin Soccer Betting News

<< Bengals WR Johnson has strained neck
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson has been diagnosed with a neck strain, head coach Marvin Lewis said Monday. Lewis also said that Johnson has an opportunity to play in Week 10, w

<< Denver's Cutler has bruised leg
Englewood, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Denver Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler has been diagnosed with bruised left leg. An MRI on the leg came back negative, revealing no stress fracture of the fibula. Head coach Mike Shanahan is hopeful

<< Bengals reinstate WR Henry
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cincinnati Bengals reinstated suspended wide receiver Chris Henry on Monday. Henry had been suspended by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell for the first eight games of the 2007 regular season back in A

<< Reds face must-win contest against Besiktas
Liverpool, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Liverpool has its back against the wall and must produce a win on Tuesday at Anfield against Besiktas to keep hope alive of advancing in the Champions League. The Reds entered Group A as favorites

<< Surgery likely for Rams' Little
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - St. Louis Rams defensive end Leonard Little said Monday he expects to undergo surgery for a toe injury that forced him to miss the team's last game and will likely cause him to miss the remainder of the sea

Packers' Collins has knee strain >>
Green Bay, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Green Bay Packers starting safety Nick Collins suffered a knee strain during Sunday's 33-22 win over Kansas City and will miss at least two weeks of action as a result. Packers head coach Mike McCar

Texans' Robinson likely gone for season >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Houston Texans cornerback Dunta Robinson expects to miss the rest of the season with a knee injury, he said Monday. According to the team's Web site, Robinson said he knew he wouldn't return, after s

Cowboys activate Tank Johnson; Anderson to IR >>
Irving, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Dallas Cowboys activated nose tackle Tank Johnson Monday following his reinstatement from an NFL-sanctioned eight-game suspension. Johnson will fill the roster spot of fullback Deon Anderson, who t

Spartans lose Jefferson for season >>
East Lansing, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michigan State junior forward Aisha Jefferson will miss the entire 2007-2008 season after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee. The native of Dayton, Ohio suffered the inju

Johnson transferring from UConn >>
Storrs, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Junior forward Marcus Johnson is transferring from the University of Connecticut. Johnson asked head coach Jim Calhoun on Monday for permission to speak to other schools. He will complete this academic

Online Sportsbook Accepts Credit Cards

Credit Card Sports Betting: Sportsbook accepts U.S. credit cards

Tired of credit card deposit hassles? Then this is the place for you! MySportsbook boasts the best rate of acceptance for credit card deposits in the whole sports betting industry! They give you an instant 10% bonus for doing so as well, where as many other online bookies do not award a bonus for credit card transactioned deposits.

Welcome to MySportsbook.com the biggest and best sportsbook on the web! If you need a sportsbook accepting US credit cards for deposits you've come to the right place because they are the best.

Are you the type that needs lots of wager offerings? Then keep reading! MySportsbook is one of the best at offering everything gambling related that you can think of! Their sportsbook has all the current football and basketball odds as well as auto racing, horse racing, boxing and hard to find sports as well. Their casino boasts tons of different options as well such as blackjack, video poker, slots and virtual games such as hi-lo and virtual horse derby.

Reasons to Play There: A little tip for you all.. This is a sportsbook promotions that has a tremendous volume of players. They also offer an online poker room. Many of these sports bettors hop over to the poker room once the days games are over. Many of these sports bettors are just that and NOT good poker players. In summary, often times you'll be able to get into some lower limit games with some very ripe fish in the late evening hours resulting in some very easy pickin's and nice wins.

Speaking of poker, they offer satellite tournaments where you can win a free seat to the World Series of Poker! Be sure to check out their cycle, no hitter and slaughter rule refunds too! Open an account today by clicking here!