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06/28/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Thomas Muller made his international debut for Germany just three months ago, but the 20-year-old is already being compared to the country's most prolific striker. And it's not just because they share the same last name.
Gerd Muller, no relation to Thomas, retired from international soccer 36 years ago after scoring the winning goal in West Germany's 2-1 win over the Netherlands in the 1974 World Cup final.
Gerd's match-winner was the last of his 14 World Cup goals, a record broken by Brazil's Ronaldo in 2006, and he scored an incredible 68 career goals in just 62 international games.
Thomas certainly won't equal that record of averaging more than a goal a game, but through four FIFA World Cup matches in South Africa, Germany's new star has three goals and three assists.
Thomas evoked more comparisons to his namesake when he got the No. 13 jersey for the World Cup, after captain Michael Ballack was ruled out with an injury. Gerd had the same number in the 1970 and 1974 World Cups.
Thomas reminded English fans of the legendary Gerd on Sunday, when he scored a pair of goals and added an assist in a 4-1 win that sent Germany into the last eight.
Gerd scored the match-winner against England in overtime of the 1970 World Cup quarterfinals and Muller scored both of his goals in the second half Sunday.
Thomas became the youngest player to score two goals in a game in the round of 16 or later since Brazil's Pele scored twice in the 1958 World Cup final.
"It's unbelievable to think that he is still only 20 years old," Germany coach Joachim Loew said of his young star.
Thomas made just his third appearance for Germany when he opened the World Cup as a starter, and he rewarded Loew by assisting on the first goal of a 4-1 win over Australia. Muller added his first international goal in the second half.
Then, in a must-win match against Ghana in the last game of group play, Muller assisted on Mesut Ozil's game-winner in the 60th minute of a 1-0 win.
He began his performance against England with another assist to Podolski, then finished two counter attacks in the second half.
On the first goal, Muller played a long outlet to start the break, and Bastian Schweinsteiger later returned the pass for Thomas to convert at the near post.
Minutes later, the phenom made an 80-yard sprint to offer an option for Ozil, then buried his second goal with a relatively easy finish from inside the area.
"Thomas has a lot of quality and is fantastic in front of goal," Loew said.
Germany has filtered a lot of play through Muller, and with the results he can produce, it is easy to understand why. In addition to being deadly in front of goal, he differentiates himself from other strikers with his wing play.
Mature as a player and person, Muller is focused on Saturday's quarterfinal match with Argentina, against whom he debuted in a friendly a few months ago. He knows what he's done so far is irrelevant in respect to the upcoming match, and believes Germany can continue its run in the tournament.
"Everything is possible now. We can beat anyone if we play to the best of our ability," he said. "We are focused on our goal at this tournament and I have left some space in my trophy cabinet at home."
Even if it doesn't include a World Cup winners' medal, it could very well have the tournament's Best Young Player Award in it in a few weeks.
And with a shot at playing in at least two more World Cups, Thomas could stand alongside Gerd as an equal before his career is over.
<< Portugal, Spain clash in round of 16
Cape Town, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Portugal escaped the group stage of
the FIFA World Cup without allowing a goal, including a 0-0 tie against Brazil
in the final match of the round.
Portugal was rewarded with a round of 16 match aga
<< Sky Blue FC knocks off Gold Pride
Hayward, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sky Blue FC recorded a surprising 2-0 win over
FC Gold Pride on Sunday in Women's Professional Soccer action at Pioneer
Stadium with second-half goals from Rosana and Tasha Kai.
Rosana put her side up in
<< Oranje slice through Slovakia, into quarterfinals
Durban, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Netherlands won for the fourth
time in as many games at the FIFA World Cup on Monday as it recorded a 2-1
win over Slovakia in a round of 16 match at Moses Mabhida Stadium.
Arjen Robben ope
<< Big names take to tracks for workouts
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Some of the biggest names in thoroughbred
racing took to various racetracks for workouts over the last two days. Many of
the horses are expected to see action during the summer.
Undefeated champion mare Z
Canadiens sign a pair >>
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Montreal Canadiens signed forwards Benoit
Pouliot and Tom Pyatt to one-year contracts on Monday.
Pouliot, 23, registered 15 goals and nine assists in 39 games with Montreal
after being acquired from Mi
Osasuna signs Serbia striker Lekic >>
Pamplona, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Serbia international Dejan Lekic has
completed his transfer from Red Star Belgrade to Osasuna.
The striker moves to Spain for a reported transfer fee of $3.2 million after
impressing Osasuna boss J
Bosh all but gone from Toronto >>
Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With July 1 fast approaching, the much-
anticipated NBA free-agency period is set to begin. The reality, which should
have long been apparent for the Toronto Raptors and their fans, is that the
organization
Watson soars 31 places in world rankings >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bubba Watson earned his first PGA Tour win
on Sunday at the Travelers Championship and climbed 31 places to No. 45 in the
world rankings.
Ahead of Watson there was little movement among the top 20.
Tige
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Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.
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