Philadelphia selects Mwanga with 1st pick in MLS SuperDraft

Soccer Betting Lines

01/14/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The expansion Philadelphia Union selected forward Danny Mwanga from Oregon State University with the first overall pick in the 2010 Major League Soccer SuperDraft.

The 18-year-old is coming off a short but successful collegiate career in which he won PAC-10 Freshman of the Year in 2008 and Pac-10 Player of the Year in 2009. The 6-foot-2 striker led the conference with 14 goals, five of which were game-winners, this past season.

Red Bull New York followed up the pick by selecting University of Virginia midfielder Tony Tchani. The 20-year-old was a 2009 First Team All-American, scoring eight goals and four assists. He also earned spots on the ACC All- Tournament Team, NCAA College Cup All-Tournament Team and All-ACC second team.

"We believe that Tony has the potential to be an excellent two-way midfielder in Major League Soccer and we are excited to bring him to the Red Bulls," Red Bull New York General Manager and Sporting Director Erik Soler said. "Tony impressed our coaching staff during his time at Virginia and we expect that he will help improve our squad immediately."

The San Jose Earthquakes selected third, taking Wake Forest All-American defender Ike Opara.

"We have had our eye on Ike for a long time and we are excited that he was available at the number three pick today," Earthquakes General Manager John Doyle said. "He is a very athletic player with great size and strength. He has also played at a winning program the past three seasons and has experience at the international level."

The 20-year-old defender earned All-American honors from the NSCAA, Soccer America, College Soccer News and Top Drawer Soccer and was named a semifinalist for the Hermann Trophy, which is given to college soccer's best player. He was also selected as the ACC Defensive Player of the Year for the second straight season and was All-ACC first team.

"We got the top defender in the draft today," Earthquakes coach Frank Yallop said. "He had an outstanding combine over the weekend and we have seen him play a number of times over the past couple of years. He is an excellent defender, who has a great combination of athleticism, speed and power."

The Kansas City Wizards selected 19-year-old Akron forward Teal Bunbury with he fourth pick and FC Dallas took 22-year-old Zach Loyd from North Carolina to round out the top five.

The rest of the first round went as follows: 6. Philadelphia - Amobi Okugo; 7. Philadelphia - Jack McInerney; 8. Columbus - Dilly Duka; 9. New England - Zack Schilawski; 10. Chivas USA - Blair Gaven; 11. Seattle - David Estrada; 12. Columbus - Bright Dike; 13. Chicago - Corben Bone; 14. New York - Austin da Luz; 15. Real Salt Lake - Collen Warner; 16. Los Angeles - Michael Stephens.

NOTE: Real Salt Lake traded the 16th overall pick and Clint Mathis to the Los Angeles Galaxy for the 15th overall pick and a 2011 third round selection to switch spots at the bottom of the first round.

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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.

Bet 2010 Super Bowl Odds

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.

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