All 16 teams that will be competing in this year’s European Soccer Betting Championship will play friendlies on Wednesday as teams start to get their rosters ready for the summer tournament that begins on June 7th. Other teams that are not part of the tournament like the United States and England also play on Wednesday.

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The interesting friendlies on Wednesday have Spain facing Italy, France vs. England; Poland vs. the United States and Sweden vs. Brazil. The United State roster was announced and includes Carlos Bocanegra, Clint Dempsey and Eddie Johnson. Landon Donovan will be making his 99th international appearance for the United States. Defender Jonathan Spector also is on the roster after starting for the U.S. under-23 team. The coach’s son, Heerenveen midfielder Michael Bradley is also on the team. The U.S. is 3-14-3 in Europe since April 1999. The U.S. team beat Sweden 2-0 and tied Mexico 2-2 in its first two games this year. The United States opens World Cup qualifying against Barbados or Dominica on June 15 at Carson, Calif. Poland is part of the Euro Championship in a group with Austria, Germany and Croatia. Poland and the U.S. last played in March 2006 with the U.S. winning 1-0 in a match played in Germany.

Spain is trying to get their roster organized as coach Luis Aragones called up Getafe midfielder Ruben De La Red and dropped FC Barcelona striker Bojan Krkic. Barcelona defender Carles Puyol returns from injury but Real Madrid striker Raul Gonzalez is still out. Gonzalez is Spain’s all-time leading scorer with 44 goals in 102 games.

Soccer Betting Preview: International Friendlies on Wednesday

Manchester United dominated Liverpool 3-0 to move five points clear of second place Chelsea in the Soccer Betting Premier League. Wes Brown scored a first half goal while Ronaldo and Nani scored in the second half for United. Liverpool played much of the game without Javier Mascherano who was sent off for arguing.

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Liverpool could not match United in the second half playing with only 10 men. Goalkeeper Pepe Reina played well stopping Ronaldo, Rooney and Tevez but United kept the pressure on and after Reina stopped Ronaldo again it resulted in a corner in the 79th minute that Ronaldo headed home. Two minutes later Nani added the third goal.

Chelsea did their part to stay within striking distance of Manchester United getting a huge 2-1 home win against Arsenal. Didier Drogba scored twice in the second half as Chelsea came from behind to win 2-1. Bacary Sagna had given Arsenal the 1-0 lead and the Gunners were looking to end Chelsea’s long winning streak but Drogba took over and saved the Blues.

Read more on Premier League Betting Preview: Manchester United and Chelsea Win

Tottenham faces a tough game on Sunday at Manchester City as the Spurs try and recover from a heart breaking loss in the Soccer Betting UEFA Cup to PSV Eindhoven. Tottenham lost in the penalty shootout to PSV and now comes rumors that manager Juande Ramos is going to get rid of many players after the season. It seems unlikely that Dimitar Berbatov will return. Goalkeeper Paul Robinson is almost assuredly out as well. The Spurs probably won’t bring back Pascal Chimbonda either. It is expected that Alan Hutton, Robbie Keane, Jonathan Woodgate, Jermaine Jenas and Ledley King are the only locks to return. Tottenham is looking at picking up players like Daniel Jarque (Espanyol) and Cata Diaz (Getafe), midfielder Esteban Granero (Real Madrid) and striker Diego Milito (Real Zaragoza).

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This game is a pick at SBG Global with a total of 2.5 under -135. The three-way line has City +140, Tottenham +165 and the Draw +210.

Read more on Premier League Betting Preview: Tottenham at Manchester City

The draw for the quarterfinals of the Soccer Betting Champions League was held on Friday and Arsenal will face Liverpool while Manchester United will play AS Roma. Barcelona takes on Schalke and Chelsea takes on Fenerbahce. The semifinal draw was also held. The winner of Arsenal-Liverpool faces the winner of Chelsea-Fenerbahce. The winner of United-Roma faces the winner of Barcelona-Schalke. The first legs of the quarterfinals are scheduled for Tuesday, April 1st and Wednesday, April 2nd.

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“I think it’s challenging, interesting as well. It’s a good opportunity to be consistent against Liverpool because it’s three very important games for us,” said Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, “It’s amazing but not surprising because I have seen that many times.” It would seem from the quarterfinal draw that United and Barcelona would be headed for a great semifinal while Chelsea would face the Liverpool-Arsenal winner. The Liverpool-Arsenal match looks to be a classic test in the quarterfinal round.

Read more on Champions League Quarterfinals Set

The quarterfinals of the Soccer Betting UEFA Cup are set with first leg matches scheduled for Thursday, April 3rd. Rangers became one of the last teams to move into the quarterfinals as they lost to Werder Bremen 1-0 on Thursday but still advanced 2-1 on aggregate.

Sporting Lisbon also advanced on Thursday as they beat Bolton 1-0 and advanced 2-1 on aggregate. Rangers easily could have lost by more than a goal to the German squad but Bremen just couldn’t put away their chances. “One, two three goals, we had the chances, but we didn’t do it,” Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf said. “The fact is we aren’t scoring those goals.” Daniel Jensen and Sebastian Boensisch missed wide while Hugo Almeida missed over the bar. Tim Borowski missed from short range as well. Late in the match Jensen and Boubacar Sanogo could not convert. The shots for the game were 35-4 in favor of Bremen. “This is massive for the club, Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor said, “Even at the start of the Champions League draw nobody expected us to get here. We’ve dug deep tonight and that’s what was needed.”

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Sporting Lisbon advanced against Bolton when Bruno Pereirinha scored in the 85th minute. Sporting and Bolton played to a 1-1 draw in the first leg. Bolton rested several players as they are focusing on avoiding regulation in the Premier League. Manager Gary Megson rested players Jussi Jaaskelainen, Kevin Noland, El Hadji Diouf and Ivan Campo. Bolton takes on Wigan in the Premier League on Sunday in a key match.

Read more on UEFA Cup Quarterfinals Set

Roberto Mancini said on Tuesday that he will resign as Inter Milan’s coach after the season is over. He has been extremely successful at Inter but after his team lost in the Soccer Betting Champions League against Liverpool he made the announcement. “The next two and a half months will be my last as the manager of the team,” Mancini said, “This is a decision that I had already taken and has nothing to do with the defeat to Liverpool.”

Inter Milan leads Serie A by six points with 11 matches left. Inter has won the last two Italian league titles. Mancini became Inter’s manager in 2004 and led the team to the Italian Cup title in his first season at the helm. Many of the players were surprised by the announcement. “We have just been eliminated form the Champions League and it’s a big delusion for everybody,” Inter striker Julio Cruz said. Inter president Massimo Moratti did not have any comment.

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Tuesday’s match against Liverpool was another disappointing one for Inter as they had to play with 10 men for the last 40 minutes after Nicolas Burdisso was sent off. Fernando Torres scored a second-half goal and Liverpool won 1-0 and 3-0 on aggregate to advance. Inter also had to play the first leg with only 10 men for most of the match after Marco Materazzi was sent off.

Read more on Football News: Inter Milan’s Mancini to Resign

Liverpool Eliminates Inter Milan. Four English Teams in Champions League Quarterfinals.

Liverpool took out Inter Milan on Tuesday in the Soccer Betting Champions League, winning the second leg 1-0 and completing the sweep of the Italian team. With their victory they join three other English teams in the Champions League quarterfinals. Liverpool won the title three years ago against AC Milan.

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Liverpool was not expected to win against Inter Milan who leads the Serie A League. It was expected that Manchester United would win against Lyon and they did. Chelsea didn’t have much trouble with Olympiakos and Arsenal defeated the defending champion, AC Milan. Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson said that the Premier League is the best soccer league in the world. “I think the Premier League is the strongest in Europe,” he said, “For a spell it was the Spanish league.

Read more on Four English Teams in Champions League Quarterfinals

Two huge upsets highlighted quarterfinal action in the Soccer Betting FA Cup over the weekend as Barnsley knocked out Chelsea 1-0 as Kayode Odejayi scored the only goal and Portsmouth won 1-0 at Manchester United. The other two quarterfinals had Cardiff defeating Middlesbrough 2-0 and West Brom taking out Bristol 5-1

Although Barnsley was at home against Chelsea most people believe it was one of the greatest upsets ever. “I can’t believe it. We went to Anfield and we put on a show and came away with a result and everybody thought we couldn’t do it again,” said Barnsley manager Simon Davey. “We had a game plan that obviously worked. I’m speechless at the moment. I can’t believe we’ve really done it. We’re in the semifinal of the cup, I’ve never been to Wembley.”

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Looking at the two teams it is hard to see how Chelsea lost the match but they didn’t play with much energy. “I’m very, very disappointed but all the credit to Barnsley,” said Chelsea manager Avram Grant. “They showed a lot of spirit. They won against Liverpool, they won against us so I congratulate them. I’m very sad about this.

Read more on Huge Upsets in FA Cup Quarterfinals

Inter Milan faces the tough task of coming back from two goals down when they host Liverpool in the second leg of a Soccer Betting Champions League quarterfinal on Tuesday.

Liverpool won the first leg 2-0 last week as Dirk Kuyt and captain Steven Gerrard scored. Inter had to play with only 10 men for much of the match when Marco Materazzi was sent off. They will have to play without Materazzi on Tuesday in addition to injured Ivan Cordoba and Walter Samuel. Inter may be getting defender Christian Chivu back on Tuesday though. “I still have pain, but the threshold than I can take has moved considerably higher,” Chivu said. “I will put myself at the disposition of the coach.”

Inter is a half goal favorite with a total of 2.5 under -140 at SBG Global.
The three-way line has Inter -115, Liverpool +270 and the draw at +200.

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Liverpool is trying to make it four English teams in the quarterfinals as Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal are already in.

Read more on Football Betting Preview: Liverpool vs Inter Milan in Champions League

Arsenal will try and increase their lead at the top of the Soccer Betting Premier League standings as they travel to face Wigan on Sunday. Arsenal is currently one point clear of Manchester United who is in second place. Arsenal could be getting back Robin van Persie for the match against Wigan. He has played only eight matches this season. The Gunners should also welcome the return of Tomas Rosicky and Kolo Toure on Sunday. Arsenal will be without Theo Walcott who has a thigh injury. Abou Diaby may also be out with a calf injury. Arsenal is already without Emmanuel Eboue who is still suspended.

Arsenal is a one goal favorite at SBG Global with a total of 2.5 under -130.
The three-way line has Arsenal -175, Wigan +450 and the Draw +225.

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Wigan should be at full strength but is still a big underdog in Sunday’s match. Ryan Taylor and Kevin Kilbane are both back from injuries. The only two injury concerns are Ryan Taylor and Erik Hagen but both may play. Wigan is in 14th place in the Premier League standings and could be facing relegation. They are only two points clear of Reading who sits in 18th place.

Read more on Premier League Betting Preview: Arsenal vs Wigan