Icelandic Football
2013-05-26 - Vikingur Olafsvik vs IBV Vestmannaeyjar
A Sports Betting Pick by Cornholio
Icelandic top league - Round 5
Sunday 26 May 2013, Kickoff 18:00 GMT
Yet again the hosts in this game will make a go for their first points ever in the top league while the visitors must go for the win to stay in the top flight. A win for IBV will shoot them into 3rd place, at least for a moment, while a loss for the hosts will add on their misery.
Vikingur Olafsvik
You have to back to 2008, the first season the top league consisted of 12 teams, to find a team losing their first four games. And now it has happened to Vikingur Olafsvik who really don‘t seem to have what it takes to play in the top league where they are playing for the first time in the club‘s history.
They have played two games at home and two games away with a total scoreline of 4:9. With no points yet they haven‘t met the likes of FH, KR and Breidablik so it doesn‘t look good at all for them. However, there is still a lot to play for and they were clumsy to lose in last round in Akureyri against Thor in a terrible football game on a terrible football pitch.
Vikingur Olafsvik did manage to bring in two or three Eastern European players before the transfer window closed in last week but that didn‘t help them against Thor. They have been having problems in their defense and their foreign goalkeeper hasn‘t played well and, in fact, he wasn‘t in the starting group against Thor. Instead Vikingur started with an experienced Icelandic goalkeeper.
Keeping IBV at bay will certainly not be easy for Vikingur but they really have to take a chance here because in the next three rounds they will face Breidablik, FH and KR, the three strongest teams in the league, so losing here at home to IBV could easily see them without a point after 8 rounds.
IBV Vestmannaeyjar
IBV have made a much better start than in last season where they only managed 2 points in the first four rounds before going on an amazing six wins run. Now they are in 4th place with 7 points after winning the first two games before drawing away against a strong FH team before losing at home against an even stronger team of KR.
In fact, they never had a chance against KR who went on winning 0-2 and IBV‘s manager Hermann Hreidarsson seemed to be desperate when he himself went onto the pitch when some 30 minutes were left to play. That wouldn‘t itself be abnormal if he hadn‘t played as a striker for the whole time and he looked quite funny doing so running around like he was mad. He made some impact for the first five or ten minutes but after that he was just finished and looked pretty bad.
So, the first loss in the season for IBV and now they have to show that they can bounche back and play well again and not just when everything has gone well for them. Hermann has started well in his new role as a manager and now has to show he and his team has the character not to have this setback affect them.
Meeting weak Vikingur team is perfect for IBV at this moment since they have played two games in a row without a win and if they keep up their strategy of high pressure winning the ball high on the pitch they should be able to produce a fair amount of chances in Olafsvik. KR and FH both have home games so if IBV fail to win they could easily fall further behind the top two.
Head to head
There are only 4 games between the two, three in the League Cup and one in the Icelandic Cup. The first encounter was in 2009 and the last previously this year. IBV have won 3 games while one was drawn. 1 of those 4 games went over 2.5 goals.
The Betting verdict
Of course Vikingur Olafsvik will gain some points over the course of the season but until I see some improvement I can‘t really see them getting anything. Unless IBV have started some bad run they should be too strong for the hosts meaning the latter could be without a point as far as after round 8 since they will face very strong opponents in the next few rounds.
The Pick :
Vikingur Olafsvik 0-2 IBV Vestmannaeyjar
