Originally Posted by
TheSportsAnalyst
IF Fuglafjordur (FAI) v Linfield (NIR)
Being deep in the domestic league and playing against a team still far from the start of season means nothing as we've seen yesterday with Streymur, which is a team maybe slightly better than Fuglafjordur.
IF is 2nd on standings, 7 points behind table leader Torshavn. They're a semipro team with a few 'stars' like 42yo keeper Mikkelsen (best gk in the league in 2012, 73 int caps and almost 10 years of experience abroad) or old but good brazilian striker Clayton who has scored 8 goals in 15 matches this season and is like a celeb over there.
Last year in EL 1st round of quali they drew an icelandic team and were beaten 1-3 at home and 5-1 in Reykjavik.
Linfield imho stands at another level. 51 times champions of Northern Ireland, 87 matches in european cups (this is the 9th year straight).
Probably they're not at the same level of last years but it should be mentioned they never disappointed in Europe: a draw at home and a 2-0 loss in Trondheim against Rosenborg in 2010, a draw and a modest loss on the road against BATE two seasons ago and even a qualification to the 2nd round last year, when they faced AEL Limassol and lost just 3-0 aggregate.
Possibly I'm wrong but their avg. player is better than IF most talented one and during summer transfer window they got the very talented left-back Aaron Burns from Portadown.
Opening price was totally wrong (i saw 1.95 for IF +0.75 which was gold) but now the market has moved too much in Fuglafjordur favor in my opinion. Considering how seriously Linfield play in Europe usually I'm very glad to back them.
Linfield +0 @1.85 (SBOBET)
(Probably also the U 2.5 offered @2.00 by Pinny is worth a shot).