what do they play in new Caledonia?
I think cricket is very popular,
?????
New Caledonia is a French-speaking country, you know.
Maybe they play French cricket?
Football is number 1 sport in all Melenesian nations bar Fiji (rugby) & PNG (rugby leaaaaaaague).
So in half of Melenesia football is numero uno!
what do they play in new Caledonia?
I think cricket is very popular,
?????
New Caledonia is a French-speaking country, you know.
Maybe they play French cricket?
Football is number 1 sport in all Melenesian nations bar Fiji (rugby) & PNG (rugby leaaaaaaague).
So in half of Melenesia football is numero uno!
The New Caledonia cricket team is the team that represents the French overseas territory of New Caledonia in international cricket matches. They are not currently a member of the International Cricket Council, though they have taken part in various regional tournaments such as the Pacifica Cup and the cricket tournaments of the South Pacific Games.
They have had essentially no success at all, as they have lost every single match they have played, twice conceding 500 runs to Papua New Guinea.
I personally think the angst has gone over the top.
Was the style of play and performance disappointing? Absolutely. Was the result? No - we still 'control our own destiny' and a couple of decent performances against Fiji will get us through to the next stage. This is World Cup Qualifying and the main thing is to progress.
I think we need to give more credit to these Island teams. We don't have an inherent right to simply turn up to beat them. Others have said here that Australia would beat these guys 7-0. From what I read Australia were lucky to get a draw against Thailand the other day. That was Thailand's first point in qualifying in their 5 group games to date (and are ranked at 146, only 20 ahead of New Caledonia).
I also think we may rate our players higher than what they actually are. The post above talks about Wood, Rojas & Thomas. All definitely talented, but Wood was getting booed for most of the early season by Leeds fans until he started putting some away; Rojas failed in Europe and may never make it back again; Thomas - I admit I don't know much about him and it maybe unfair for me to judge given he is coming back from long term injury.
Finally, talk of playing Reid in CM is very strange to me, when keeping clean sheets against Fiji will in all likelihood will get us through (I'm hoping we will score 1 goal in 180mins). And this discussion about Albert should be mute until he comes out and says he wants to be an All White.
You can't compare Thailand with New Caledonia. Thailand has a population of 65 million while NC just 250000. Thailand also has a professional football league and their national team plays regularly against decent oposition. Some times we forget how poor the Islands nations are because they only play each other and NZ every two or three years. For example, PNG have beaten Malaysia at home, same as NC, but in Malaysia they lost and got thrashed by Iran 8-1. In 2014 PNG lst 4-0 to the Philippines, a team that hasn't qualified for the last stage of the AFC WCQ, same as Malaysia. Using FIFA rankings to try comparing different countries is ridiculous, knowing hoe they are made. So yes, Australia would have thrashed NC.
To that I'm going to add Uruguay. Get a small country with enough good players. China has a few people, a professional league and some decent opposition too...the football culture is important and to be honest I've been entertained by the New Caledonia sides a lot more than any other in qualification, and I know of and respect Betrand Kai (leaving out his behaviour last game)
Still, Uruguay is a country where everyone play football. In either NC and Thailand that's not the case. I'm not saying countries with bigger population will always be better but the gap between Thailand and NC is abysmal
Having watched both Thailand and NC play WCQs over the last month, I don't feel that there is much between them.
Both Aussie and us have struggled in both places due to the temp and humidity but I'm sure home and away matches between these two nations would be quite close. Players from NC appeared far fitter to me so my money would be on them!
Also some of the island teams have national facilities worse than we have at our schools so we should beat them just on preperation, but New Caledonia is not one of them. In fact the average income of New Caledonia is higher than in NZ, they no doubt have reasonable facilities, a decent domestic competition, and a few professional players.
the average income of New Caledonia is higher than in NZ
Yes, that's because the French government pays civil servants over the odds to go out there and it trickles down through the economy. Very expensive place by Pacific standards.
