Icelandic Football
2011-06-24 - IBV Vestmannaeyjar vs Stjarnan Gardabae
A Sports Betting Pick by Cornholio
Football : Icelandic top league : Round 8
Friday June 24 2011, 20:00 (GMT)
The break is over. Iceland were one goal away from the semi finals in the UEFA U21. After a terrible start they surprised the lot by beating Denamark 3-1 in the final group game. They needed a 4-1 win and missed out -that's how life goes and it will go on.
The Icelandic championship now continues and moves away from the so called mini seven round tournament the managers and players have talked about. Summer has arrived and hopefully the quality of the games will improve.
The 8th round starts by IBV Vestmannaeyjar hosting Stjarnan from Gardabae. IBV will hope for a comeback after a surprise loss against Thor and Stjarnan will try to keep their good start going.
IBV Vestmannaeyjar
IBV should be full of confidence after beating Valur on the road in the round of 16 in Cup last Tuesday. They were 0-3 up after 30 mins managed to keep it 2-3 after 90 mins. This is the second time they beat Valur on the road this season.
In the last round IBV travelled to Akureyri where they lost 2-1 to Thor who seem to be building a fortress on their home turf. IBV will surely be hungry to get back on track in the league and they sure have the chance here. Their main player, Tryggvi Gudmundsson, has been playing very well, especially since he started playing with the protective mask after he broke three facial bones. He scored to against Valur in the cup and one against Vikingur in the league at home before that.
IBV currently sits in second place with 13 points, 4 points behind leader, KR. Their record is 4 1 2 and the scoreline is 9:5. At home their record is 2 1 1 an 5:3. They don't score too much but making up for that is their strong defense. However, their scoring seem to be picking up since they have score 6 goals in last three games including the cup game against Valur.
With their ability to pressure high up on the field they should be able to give Stjarnan's poor defense a really difficult job. Remember that IBV got two goals passed Vikingur's strong defense some days back.
Stjarnan Gardabae
Stjarnan's opening of the season has been better than people had predicted. They sit in 5th place with 11 points and a record of 3-2- 2. Their scoreline is a weird 11:11, but that's just usual with Stjarnan who are know to score a lot and concede a lot in recent years.
Their away record is an interesting 2-0-2 and 8:9 (compared to 3:2 at home). But keep in mind that their away victories came against a terrible Fram side early into the season where they won 2-5 and against Thor Akureyri when Thor was still playing their very wild and open style of play.
Stjarnan crashed out of the Cup when they lost 0-3 to KR at home in the round of 32. In the next game they lost 3-0 away to FH and then came back beating Grindavik 2-1 at home, but not at all a secure win.
Stjarnan's key here will be to tighten their defense because they surely can score but if they keep open up in the back IBV will surely have the better of them.
Head to head
2010: IBV - Stjarnan 2-1
2010: Stjarnan - IBV 0-2
2009: IBV - Stjarnan 1-0
2009: Stjarnan - IBV 3-0
2008: Stjarnan - IBV 1-0 (League 1)
2008: IBV - Stjarnan 2-0 (League 1)
2007: Stjarnan - IBV 2-4 (League 1)
2007: IBV - Stjarnan 3-0 (League 1)
Here we have IBV winning last three and six of last eight. They have won all four home games conceding only once.
The Betting Verdict
Everything seems to point to an home win here and the h2h backs that up. Stjarnan have won two of the weakest teams in league on the road but lost 4-2 away to Keflavik and 3-0 away to FH, two much stronger sides just like IBV.
With Stjarnan's scoring abilities and IBV's scoring lately where Tryggvi Gudmundsson is playing the key role I think this game will offer some goals and over 2.5 looks good.
FIXED ODDS BETTING TIP :
Main bets :Take IBV to win @ 1.62 (Bet365)
or consider Over 2.5 goals @ 1.65 (Interwetten)
