Ashley Westwood believes Charlotte FC are clicking at the right time, with an MLS Cup Playoff spot already secured ahead of their weekend clash with CF Montreal.

Charlotte made certain of a playoff place by edging a seven-goal thriller against the Chicago Fire in midweek, Karol Swiderski netting twice in a 4-3 win for Dean Smith s men.

They face Montreal, who are one place and five points below them in the standings, at Bank of America Stadium on Saturday, as they gear up for a second playoff run in as many years.

Captain and former Aston Villa midfielder Westwood believes Charlotte s run of seven points – and nine goals – in three matches has come at the ideal moment.

It all comes with us starting to know people s movements, Westwood told WFNZ Spor…

Best odds: 5/6

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Celje and Flora will face off in the second leg of their Champions League first-round qualifying tie on Tuesday, with the hosts enjoying a significant lead.

Grofje netted five goals at the Lillekula Stadium last week and are just 90 minutes away from advancing to face either Slovan Bratislava or FC Struga in the second round of qualifying.

NK Celje

Celje appeared dominant against their opponents last week, taking the lead just seven minutes into the match with a goal from Aljosa Matko.

The Slovenian champions doubled their lead within three minutes, courtesy of center-back Damir Vukicevic, and could have been further ahead by the 21st minute had Matko not missed a penalty.

However, Flora s reprieve was short-liv…

Manchester City s current crop stand head and shoulders above all other teams in the Premier League era after winning four straight titles, says the club s former goalkeeper David James.

City became the first team in English top-flight history to win four successive titles on Sunday, a 3-1 win over West Ham ensuring they pipped Arsenal by two points.

Huddersfield Town (1923-1926), Arsenal (1932-1935) and Liverpool (1981-1984) all won the old First Division three times in a row, while Manchester United achieved the feat twice in the Premier League era (1998-2001 and 2006-2009).

Pep Guardiola s men ended the campaign with a nine-match winning streak, while they are now unbeaten in their last 35 matches across all competitions (29 wins, six draws), the longest such …

Didier Deschamps is determined France will finish 2018 on a high against Uruguay, even if the World Cup winners Nations League fate is out of their hands.

Les Bleus became world champions for the second time as they defeated Croatia at Russia 2018, yet they have struggled to build on that triumph.

Although France cannot be relegated in UEFA s new competition, they must rely on already-relegated Germany to beat Netherlands on Monday in order to reach next year s Finals.

The Dutch side defeated France last week and Deschamps acknowledges it was tough to take at the end of a successful 12 months.

This match was wrong in all ways, but we have the opportunity to finish the year on a good note, he told a news conference ahead of facing Uruguay.

What h…

Gareth Southgate believes Joe Hart captaining England against Lithuania in Sunday s World Cup qualifier is just reward for the goalkeeper fighting back from his Euro 2016 nightmare.

Hart endured an error-stained tournament in France, most damagingly when he let Kolbeinn Sigthorsson s decisive goal squirm past him in the last-16 defeat to Iceland.

The 29-year-old was then dumped out of the first-team picture at Manchester City when Pep Guardiola placed Willy Caballero ahead of him in the pecking order and signed Claudio Bravo from Barcelona.

But Southgate has been impressed by Hart s form during his season-long loan with Torino in Serie A and told a news conference his stock within the squad remains high ahead of a 70th Three Lions appearance.

Joe Hart w…

Tickets for the World Cup to be held in South Africa in 2010 will go on sale on 2 February 2009.

The announcement was made by David Will, chairman of the FIFA sub committee in charge of ticketing for WC 2010.

In an effort to beat the black market sales, more tickets will be on sale for the genuine soccer fan. Added to this FIFA will allow only four tickets per customer per seven matches.

The allocation for supporters of teams participating in World Cup games has been increased from eight to 12 percent.

The price of tickets has not yet been decided but the cheapest tickets are likely to be affordable to the South African public.

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Speaking as the parade culminated with a stage show outside Manchester Cathedral, the Belgian said: “I’ve given everything I could for this club. I can’t tell you how proud of that I am. I have nothing left. I have given everything.”

Kompany’s future had been the subject of speculation for some time but he realised the time was right to leave when he scored a spectacular winner against Leicester earlier that month. His long-range strike, in their penultimate game of the season, took City within one game of retaining their Premier League title.

He said: “The moment that ball against Leicester went ‘top bins’ I knew I was done! I couldn’t do anything better. It felt right.”

It had to be! against Leicester is the Goal of the Season!

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There really shouldn’t be only one win separating these two teams. The Texans got a shock win over Jacksonville in Week 1, the same week as the Bills lost a tight game to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Since then, things have reverted to what we expected before the season, the Bills have put in some great performances while the Texans have gone from bad to worse.

You can’t get involved on the action this weekend unless you’ve studied our NFL picks and predictions for the Houston Texans vs Buffalo Bills on Sunday, October 3.

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We’ve had a week in between Championship games to prepare for Super Bowl 56 which features the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams. The Cinderella Bengals are fresh off a 27-24 OT victory on the road against the Kansas City Chiefs, their resiliency and second-half comeback securing them a spot in the Big Game. 

As for the Rams, they knocked off the San Francisco 49ers by a score of 20-17, where they too sported a 10-point fourth-quarter comeback to play in the Super Bowl on their home field. The way both teams have gotten to this point makes combining our favorite wagers into a single-game parlay bet even more fun.

Here’s a look at our favorite Bengals vs. Rams SGP picks based on current Super Bowl odds. One parlay is a more conservative play, while t…

A Super Bowl berth is on the line at Lincoln Financial Field this weekend as the Philadelphia Eagles are set to host the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday.

There are many stars on each side of the ball for these teams, but I’ll put the spotlight on Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown to have a big day. Here are my three favorite A.J. Brown props for this matchup, and be sure to also check out Jason Logan’s full 49ers vs. Eagles betting preview and our NFC Championship player props before kickoff!

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