Why you should watch Cricket

[yrwyddfa]

The Americans have now overtaken England in the FIFA Football Rankings At the time of writing they are joint 6th, and England are 9th.

Perhaps it's because when they play football they have a rest whenever they want, wear kevlar armour, and all players (instead of just the goalkeepers) are allowed to through the ball during play

I reckon it's because when they score they don't have to get it under and between the bars but rather anywhere above and between.

[Valleysboy1978]

This is the FOOTBALL rankings, not the AMERICAN football rankings. The US team is pretty decent as many of their players play in the Premiership and lets be honest, England are pretty poor at getting results in Tournaments

[yrwyddfa]

England are pretty poor at getting results in Tournaments

. . .as, I might add, are Scotland, Wales, Jersey, The Isle Of Man, and finally, of course, the Shetland Isles.

I list these as a group because of their similar ability to play the game

[Cander]

Hahahahahhhahahahahahaha!!!


Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa! Usa!

[Valleysboy1978]

I'll admit the other home nations are dismal, but considering the vastly higher number of professional players available to the England team they should be doing far better.

[yrwyddfa]

Bad stutter there, my good friend.

Usa what? I think it's more properly formed by saying 'We are' but you'll need to finish the sentence at some point or you'll leave people rather confused.

'Us are' would be better, but it would, of course, be grammatically appalling.

'Usa' is unforgivable . . . .

I must mention to Her Majesty that it's about time we revoked your independence. . . . .

[chocoloco]

You are worried about english team, how about Portugal, Italy and Germany who are 10, 12 and 19 respectively. I do not believe USA has gotten better, maybe other teams have gotten worse.

[yrwyddfa]

I'll admit the other home nations are dismal, but considering the vastly higher number of professional players available to the England team they should be doing far better.

Proportionally speaking, as you are, then China/India should be top, followed closely by Russia, then America.

Fortunately the world of football doesn't come down to proportional representation, eh! It would be highly predictable if the proportion of the population that played professional football determined the outcome of games.

[yrwyddfa]

You are worried about english team, how about Portugal, Italy and Germany who are 10, 12 and 19 respectively. I do not believe USA has gotten better, maybe other teams have gotten worse.

Maybe there is some merit to drinking Budweiser and consuming chicken-fried good-ole American processed cheese?

[chocoloco]

Proportionally speaking, as you are, then China/India should be top, followed closely by Russia, then America.

Fortunately the world of football doesn't come down to proportional representation, eh! It would be highly predictable if the proportion of the population that played professional football determined the outcome of games.

I think this is bit weird. China/India does not have similar craze/resources/passion towards football as england have, thus england should be doing better. I think thats what he meant, not the per capita numbers.

[yrwyddfa]

I think this is bit weird. China/India does not have similar craze/resources/passion towards football as england have, thus england should be doing better. I think thats what he meant, not the per capita numbers.

The only resources in English football are what the players get paid. There is virtually no grassroots investment, so any 'gifted' players will never get found/spotted anyway.

Like most sports throw money at it, and you win.

[FishGuy]

It all depends on how many friendlies you play. For example if USA beat Cuba in a friendly they get some world ranking points.

Also i dont understand how Egypt can be ranked above Greece and Germany.

Aparently , Costa Rica are a better team than Republic of Ireland

[yrwyddfa]

Yeah these rankings are well known for being skewed.

You dashed the hope of the Americans in the World Cup, now, though. I hope you're happy with yourself

I was going to keep it going at least for a couple of weeks ... . . . .

A better (and more accurate measure - although I haven't checked it against past performance) is the seeds. In descending order: Brazil, England,Spain, Germany, Mexico,France,Argentina, and Italy.

Brazil look the hot favourites, Spain notoriously underperform in all competitions although this time it might be different. Germany are seeded because they're the home nation - these days they're not too good. Mexico are a good side, France are, well, just French, Argentina like to cheat and claim the Malvinas every four years, and Italy are boring to watch.

I doubt England will win, but there's a possibility. I'd expect England to make the Qtr finals, tbh, and after that it'd be a flip of the coin.

[chocoloco]

The only resources in English football are what the players get paid. There is virtually no grassroots investment, so any 'gifted' players will never get found/spotted anyway.

Like most sports throw money at it, and you win.

I promise you though, it'd still be 10 times better than the resource you have in india for a game like cricket. And India is doing much better in it, just because there is a passion for it. Similar example would be Brazil, Argentina .. they are all poor countries with virtually no money for these things, yet they are very good at it.

[Valleysboy1978]

Proportionally speaking, as you are, then China/India should be top, followed closely by Russia, then America.

Fortunately the world of football doesn't come down to proportional representation, eh! It would be highly predictable if the proportion of the population that played professional football determined the outcome of games.

This isn't like you to miss the point yrywddfa!

It is nothing to do with population but rather the number of professional players the England coach has to choose from (>90% are from the Premiership whereas Wales has a couple of players in the Premiership)

[yrwyddfa]

This isn't like you to miss the point yrywddfa!

It isn't like you to misspell Welsh, either

Winding up aside, I actually agree with you. England, given the apparent love for the game here, should be much much better than they actually are. I mean watching an England games is like going for heart massage. And you know the damn hooligans are going to turn up somewhere . . .

It's an embarrassment, tbh.

[FishGuy]

Robert Earnshaw
Carl Fletcher
Craig Bellamy
Jason Koumas
Ryan Giggs
Simon Davies
Danny Collins
Danny Gabbidon
James Collins
Mark Delaney
Hartson Retired?
Savage Retired/Spat?

All Prem/Prem quality. Wales don't do so bad, no if you were Scottish then you could moan.

[FishGuy]

Funny though because the Welsh fans are generally good natured and well liked around the world (much like the Irish) but Swansea and Cardiff fans seem to cause trouble where ever they go.

[Valleysboy1978]

Hartson has retired, Savage is not best terms with the manager (managers fault).
Earnshaw isn't in the premiership as it was too difficult for him
Craig Bellamy rarely plays for various reasons, usually because he can't be bothered.

The FAW certainly doesn't help. Can't believe they wouldn't allow Welsh players into the GB team for the 2012 Olympics! Stupid fools

[yrwyddfa]

I deleted my message for odd reasons I'd rather keep to myself.

[Cander]

It isn't like you to misspell Welsh, either

Winding up aside, I actually agree with you. England, given the apparent love for the game here, should be much much better than they actually are. I mean watching an England games is like going for heart massage. And you know the damn hooligans are going to turn up somewhere . . .

It's an embarrassment, tbh.

You are just scared you are losing things to criticize Americans on. Oh when the day comes when we dominate football, there are gonna be some sad foreigners!

We are taking your beer and your sports!!! RAWR!

[chocoloco]

In fact I feel england have very good chance this time. English team have fool of talented players to pick from.

Beckham, Giggs, J Cole, F Lampard, Rooney, Owen, Ferdinand, Brown, Bellamy, Steven Gerrard ... I don't see the lack of talent, maybe lack of discipline.

[yrwyddfa]

I think you'll find the beer here a little 'warm' for your pallette.

You're welcome to football - and it's fanatic supporters

[Valleysboy1978]

Funny though because the Welsh fans are generally good natured and well liked around the world (much like the Irish) but Swansea and Cardiff fans seem to cause trouble where ever they go.

Yeah, nice that they can put their differences aside to support their country though. I'm going to Cyprus and San Marino to watch them next year (in the same week), should be fun

[FishGuy]

In fact I feel england have very good chance this time. English team have fool of talented players to pick from.

Beckham, Giggs, J Cole, F Lampard, Rooney, Owen, Ferdinand, Brown, Bellamy, Steven Gerrard ... I don't see the lack of talent, maybe lack of discipline.

Bellamy, Giggs?

[chocoloco]

Come on, at least Giggs ain't that bad.

[FishGuy]

Should Cardiff, Swansea be allowed to play in the English league? Would them Playing in LOW be more beneficial to Wales as a whole?
Should Gretna have been allowed to defect to the Scottish league?

[FishGuy]

Come on, at least Giggs ain't that bad.

Yes but they are not English, I wish Giggs was because England would have won the World Cup years ago if he was.

[grilkip]

The Americans have now overtaken England in the FIFA Football Rankings At the time of writing they are joint 6th, and England are 9th.

Perhaps it's because when they play football they have a rest whenever they want, wear kevlar armour, and all players (instead of just the goalkeepers) are allowed to through the ball during play

I reckon it's because when they score they don't have to get it under and between the bars but rather anywhere above and between.

through? (j/k my spelling is still worse)

[capsulecorpjx]

Why would you watch cricket? Or baseball? Or soccer? All are boring assed sports. For soccer, I don't want to spend 2 hours watching two teams kicking a stupid ball back and forth, with barely one goal per quarter.

Basketball and American Football for me thx.

Tennis is cool too.

[yrwyddfa]

through? (j/k my spelling is still worse)

Yeah. Whoops. My excuse? I was drunk, smoking cannabis and sleeping with 5 women at the time; my spare hand was typing.

I'll drop the cannabis next time in order to improve my spelling.

[Wally Pipp]

2 hours per football game? No wonder the Americans are high up the ranking. They keep on having a kick-about long after the other team and everyone else has left the stadium.

[FishGuy]

Why would you watch cricket? Or baseball? Or soccer? All are boring assed sports. For soccer, I don't want to spend 2 hours watching two teams kicking a stupid ball back and forth, with barely one goal per quarter.

Basketball and American Football for me thx.

Tennis is cool too.

Ok firstly a game is not two hours it lasts ninety minutes, and there are no quarters the game is split into two halfs 45 mins each plus stoppage time. This allows the game to flow and players have to be physically fit to keep going for this time. On a similar note unlike basketball and American Football there are no silly pauses for timeouts etc you just have to get on with the game. Likewise Rugby(Egg Chasing) is played the same way except they play two halves of 40 mins although this is a much more physical game than any of the above mentioned. I actually quite like American Football and watch it on TV regular but unfortunatley cannot agree that it is more exciting than football (sorry Soccer) and im sorry but probably around 90% of the world agree.

[Fishcake]

USA have risen to 5th since this thread started.

[fahad k]

You should stop watching Cricket too,now since England have lost the One-day series to India.