Australia tops Ghana for first World Cup win

Soccer Betting Lines

09/12/2007 - Hangzhou, China (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Australia won its first ever Women's World Cup contest on Wednesday as Lisa De Vanna scored twice to lead the Matildas to a thorough 4-1 win over Ghana in their opening contest in Group C.

Australia had gone 0-7-2 in its previous nine World Cup encounters, including a loss and a draw with Ghana, but got this campaign off to a strong start as Sarah Walsh grabbed the opener and Heather Garriock scored in the 69th minute between De Vanna's two goals.

Anita Amenuku scored the lone goal for Ghana, which has never advanced past the group stage in a Women's World Cup and will have trouble doing so in this edition either after the loss.

The first half was played at a slow pace with both teams content to knock the ball around and show little flair in attack.

Ghana produced the first chance of the game five minutes in as Florence Okoe got on the other end of a through-ball and held off her defender to create room for a shot. She drove the ball low and past the keeper but pulled it wide of the far post.

Walsh looked dangerous throughout the match for Australia and had an opportunity to get the Matildas on the scoreboard in the 12th minute. She was played into the box on the right but Ghana keeper Memunatu Sulemana cut down the angle and stopped the shot from close range.

Three minutes later, Walsh made the most of her second chance to put Australia ahead. A driven cross from the right was knocked down inside the area by Caitlin Munoz, and she played a pass back to Walsh, who quickly smacked a shot on goal that left the keeper standing.

Australia slowed things down in the middle part of the half, but should have gone up two goals in the 32nd minute. A cross through the face of goal found Munoz wide open at the back post, but she missed badly as the ball flew well wide off the side of her foot.

The Matildas came out strong after the restart with De Vanna hitting the crossbar from the edge of the area, and Joanne Peters heading wide of the target from close range.

The pressure continued to mount with Sally Shipard providing a nice cross for Garriock at the back post. Garriock slid and turned a shot toward goal but the ball sailed over the top.

Walsh continued to find the ball in space, and in the 57th minute, set up Australia's second goal. Walsh dashed down the wing on the right and slid a low cross through the box to De Vanna, who did a poor job with the finish by knocking it at the keeper. However, Sulemana was on the move and the ball deflected off of her foot and into the net.

Garriock extended the Australia lead to three goals in the 69th minute with a glancing header from the penalty spot, but the Black Queens immediately responded with a goal of their own.

A long ball from midfield was lobbed over the top for Amankwa, and she gained possession of the ball and cut it away from her defender. Amankwa then finished well by driving the ball into the upper right corner to make it 3-1.

De Vanna then added her second goal to effectively put an end to the suspense as she latched onto a ball at the edge of the box and slotted past the keeper, who had come off her line to challenge the shot.

Australia will meet group favorite's Norway on Saturday, while Ghana will look for a more positive result on Saturday against Canada.

Wwwfreescoreboard Soccer Betting News

<< Marta shines as Brazil cruises past New Zealand
Wuhan, China (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Reigning FIFA Player of the Year Marta scored two goals as Brazil started its World Cup with a dominating 5-0 win over New Zealand on Wednesday. Marta scored both goals in the second half and Daniela, Chri

<< Padres power past Dodgers
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brian Giles, Khalil Greene and Kevin Kouzmanoff hit home runs during an early six-run offensive explosion, more than enough for ace Jake Peavy, as San Diego clubbed Los Angeles, 9-4, at Chavez

<< Piazza leads Oakland over Seattle
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mike Pizza was 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles and two runs batted in as Oakland downed Seattle, 7-4, at Safeco Field. Shannon Stewart also drove in two runs for the Athletics, who won the first two games

<< Padres power past Diamondbacks
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brian Giles, Khalil Greene and Kevin Kouzmanoff hit home runs during an early six-run offensive explosion, more than enough for ace Jake Peavy, as San Diego clubbed Los Angeles, 9-4, at Chavez

<< Feliz lifts Giants over Diamondbacks
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pedro Feliz drove in the winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift the San Francisco Giants to a 2-1 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks at AT&T Park. Nate Schierholtz notched the other RBI

Canada drops opener against Norway >>
Hangzhou, China (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ane Stangeland Horpestad scored in the 81st minute to help Norway complete a 2-1 comeback win over Canada in the Group C opener for both teams on Wednesday. Candace-Marie Chapman scored the opening goa

Gonzalez, Baghdatis reach Beijing QFs >>
Beijing, China (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Australian Open runner-up Fernando Gonzalez and last year's Beijing champion Marcos Baghdatis were among Wednesday's second-round winners at the $500,000 China Open. The second-seeded Gon

Hantuchova lands in Bali quarters >>
Bali, Indonesia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Second-seeded Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova highlighted Wednesday's second-round winners at the $225,000 Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic. Hantuchova handled Dutch wild card Elise Tam

Around the FCS - UNI, SIU Play Role of Avengers >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Northern Iowa and Southern Illinois were taking a trip down Retribution Drive on Saturday after scoring big victories over Iowa State and Northern Illinois. It wasn't enough that UNI and SIU won games agai

Song bags late winner for China >>
Wuhan, China (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Xialoi Song scored the game-winner in the 88th minute as hosts China opened its World Cup with an exciting win over Denmark, 3-2, on Wednesday. Song's goal came less than a minute after Denmark scored in t

Mens NCAA Basketball Tournament odds  
As of February 9, MySportsbook.com has released its coveted 2007 Mens NCAA Basketball Tournament betting odds. “March Madness betting ” only a month away, the top ranked Florida Gators are favorite at 7-2 to win it all. The defending champs have not disappointed at all this season and currently have a 22-2 record and are undefeated (9-0) in SEC play. The Gators’ thrive off of their extremely balanced, experienced and versatile attack. All five starters started in last seasons National Championship game. What is most impressive with this group is their balance; the five starters all average between 10.7 and 13.6 PPG. The Gators have been on an absolute roll having won 15 straight by an average of 16.4 PPG.

Right behind the Gators are the 5th ranked UNC Tar Heels at 9-2. The Heels (21-3, 7-2) are absolutely loaded with top notch talent and are as deep as any team in the country. A concern for the Tar Heels might be inexperience. Of their top four scorers/ minute earners, three are freshmen and the other is a sophomore. The rest of the regular season, the Tar Heels play only one team that is currently ranked (Duke). Their remaining opponents do combine for an impressive 107-58 record though.

Other teams that the MySportsbook.com members seem to believe will win it all include the west coasts’ top team #2 UCLA (6-1), #3 OSU behind man-child Greg Oden (8-1), and #4 Wisconsin (10-1) behind their defense which has given up 70+ points only three times all season.

Below is a list of some of the favorites to win the 2007 Men’s NCAA Basketball Championship lines. For the full list of teams and March Madness odds be sure to log onto MySportsbook.com. If you want to use your credit card to bet on college hoops or any other event, MySportsbook.com has the highest credit card acceptance rate in the industry.

Arizona 20-1

Butler 20-1

Duke 30-1

Florida 7-2

Georgetown 30-1

Indiana 35-1

Kansas 15-1

Marquette 25-1

Maryland 40-1

Memphis 50-1

Nevada 50-1

UNC 9-2

OSU 8-1

Oregon 30-1

Pittsburgh 15-1

Texas 30-1

Texas A&M 18-1

UCLA 6-1

Wisconsin 10-1

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook betting needs.