I'VE never been great at remembering important dates. I know my kids birthdays and vaguely know which month Mrs Hull celebrates her annual moon-howling session but beyond that, I'm pretty useless.
There are exceptions though and Friday 26th April marks a very special day in the HullShaker household; a time of year for great celebration and teary-eyed reminiscing.. that's right – it's the return of Iceland's 2019 Urvalsdeild and I'm not too ashamed to say, I'll be like a dog with two dicks.
Much like our own top-flight domestic leagues, the Icelandic welcome starts with a ‘Super Cup' fixture between the Urvalsdeild winners and the current Icelandic Cup holders and it's a match that may well herald the new season with backing from the Nordic goal gods!
VALUR VS. STJARNAN (9.00pm):
I'm not quite sure how I came to fall in love with Icelandic football but the affair certainly started with finding some largely unexplored and smashing value years ago and, well, one thing led to another; the style of football, goal tallies, timing patterns, youth amalgamations and just the names of the teams and venues struck a chord.
So, for me at least, it's all eyes on Reykjavik's Vodafonevöllurinn Arena this evening and it's a game that sees the (more recently) mighty Valur take on the (more historically) mighty Stjarnan to stake a claim on the cup they have won for the last 3 successive years and an all-conquering 12 times – 5 times more than their nearest rivals Fram who did the business for me last night in a different Icelandic cup competition.
It's well worth looking at the H2H's between these two and it makes for very relevant reading with a healthy 25 games played out over a 10 year period of Reykjavik rivalry – the standout statistic is clear to see with 22 of those 25 matches seeing both sides netting!
Other interesting stats worth noting are the fact that around 60% have seen both sides scoring plus 3 or more goals; Valur netting at least a brace in 44% and the outcome after 90 minutes being a stalemate in 40% of those last 25 meetings.
Given their recent dominance, it's difficult not to side with Valur but it's also difficult to discount another market which has been uber-successful in the backing of both Valur's and Stjarnan's games in recent seasons and that's the corners angle!
Recommended bets:
- Both teams to score
- (4/6, bet365) 5 Points
- Both teams to score & over 2.5 goals
- (1/1, bet365) 3 Points
- Both teams to score & over 11 corners
- (3.33/1, bet365 – betbuilder) 1 Point
Best of luck!
Born and bred in Bury but now exiled to Hull: long-suffering Shakers supporter and member of Mr. Fixit's site since 2013. Football mad with a depth and breadth of knowledge including specific focus on South American football, the Icelandic Leagues and English Lower League football.
Thanks Hullshaker
This will formulate part of my betting plan tonight in one form another
And thanks again for the goals steer in the Fram game last night
Good luck tonight mate 🤞⚽️🇮🇸
Woeful 2 pub teams without strikers
Ah Jim Burnside – wondered if you’d pop up after the game!
I know you like to have a (usually drunk) rant after you’ve backed someone’s selections and they’ve lost as you’ve done it so many times before whilst never popping up to mention any of their winners! Least you’ve contained yourself a bit more than the previous occasions where you really embarrassed yourself with your irrational outbursts.
Re the game, yes, I’m gutted and had my hard earnt money on it so I’m as pissed off as anyone – freak result and no-one out there would have taken 0-0 pre KO…a 1st half Valur red obviously didn’t help either.
Re the quality of football, that’s negligible from a betting front and I have never once indicated it/any Icelandic football is going to be like watching Brasil. Not playing with a striker? Valur had a player sent off in the 1st half so, yes, effectively they WERE playing without a striker.
Hull take no notice mate moaning t—— like him should not be betting then. And yes your right they don’t comment when there winning tips do they .
Pablo, you are right sir – best to ignore 🙄
Well said hull. I was on. The sending off didn’t help.
Thanks and apologies John – I never feel good when I think my write-ups may have ‘convinced’ or swung folk to part with their money especially given how confidently I’d tipped this one.
In all honesty though, I felt those selections offered the best value based on everything that has come before with these two and I’ll most probably pick something similar when they meet in the league this season.