The World Cup is dying and not a patch on the Champions League... but winter switch could save it.

The World Cup is football’s greatest prize but the competition is dying. It needs saving and the way to do that might be with a winter tournament.
There has been outrage about the prospect of the 2022 World Cup being staged in the middle of a domestic campaign.
The circumstances may be extraordinary due to the extreme heat of a Qatar summer, but if it is a success do not be surprised if FIFA pushes for this to become the norm.

Down and out: Carragher and Frank Lampard are despondent after being knocked out by Portugal in 2006

Not the pinnacle: Jamie Carragher, playing in 2010, says the Champions League has usurped the World Cup

 

Summer tournaments have become tedious and rarely live up to expectations now. They are preceded by qualifiers that, in the main, invariably fail to generate interest. International football simply cannot compete with the club game.
What would you be more excited about watching: Spain versus France or Spain’s champions (Barcelona) against France’s champions (Paris Saint-Germain)? 
I would say the vast majority would go with the club collision every time.
There is a clear reason why World Cups fail to generate the same excitement as they once did. Players are going to them when they are close to being physically exhausted and mentally burnt out after the rigours of a club campaign.
This is not a tired old English excuse. The number of games played in seasons gone by may be identical but there is a vast difference in the amount of ground players cover now and the intensity they produce.
Think about it. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo deserve mentioning alongside football’s all-time greats but neither has dominated a tournament in the way Diego Maradona did in 1986. Fatigue has clearly played a part. If they played at a winter tournament both would be guaranteed to be in peak condition.
I remember my own experience of being at a World Cup. When England went to Germany in 2006, my season started on July 13, 2005. I played 70 games that year. By the time England took on Portugal in the quarter-finals in Gelsenkirchen on July 1, I was almost on my knees.
It wasn’t an enjoyable tournament to play in, mainly due to the stifling conditions. In one match against Trinidad & Tobago it was so hot I had to get an ice bath at half-time to cool down. David Beckham, meanwhile, was sick on the pitch during a game against Ecuador.
The heat in Qatar would be intense at any time of year but it is nonsense to think that European World Cups are not affected by extreme temperatures. It has always been hot at World Cups.
We have seen some brilliant winners in the last two decades — notably Spain in 2010 and France in 1998 — but the tournament no longer has the same draw and it has been left trailing in the wake of the Champions League.
The Champions League is where the world’s best are judged now, while the quality of the games you see, particularly towards the latter stages, are on another level to the World Cup.

Tired excuses: Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have never dominated a World Cup because of fatigue

Winning a World Cup remains the most exclusive club a footballer can join but that is only because you can only win it once every four years. It is not down to the quality of the competition. The Champions League has become football’s purest test.
And the tremendous exposure the Champions League receives is another aspect that has added to the World Cup’s demise. There used to be a mystique and excitement about tuning in when you were younger finally to see the names you had read about such as Pele, Johan Cruyff and Zico.
The 1986 tournament is the one that has stayed with me. Apart from Maradona inspiring Argentina and Gary Lineker winning the Golden Boot, the big thing for me as a kid was being able to see Michael Laudrup and Emilio Butragueno playing ‘live’. They didn’t disappoint.

Magic man: Diego Maradona dominated the 1986 World Cup and led Argentina to victory

Euro stars: World Cups were the only chance to see the likes of Michael Laudrup (left) and Emilio Butragueno

Now you can see great foreign players whenever you want, either by clicking on the internet or switching on the television. When you then don’t see them produce the dazzling skills you have come to expect, there is an inevitable sense of feeling let down. 
It will be killing FIFA that UEFA now has the most important competition and they will want to do something about that. They have to get the World Cup back on the map as the No 1 tournament in the game, so perhaps switching to winter would be the way to go.
FIFA have done themselves no favours by giving 2022 to Qatar and the opposition to that tournament is understandable. I was devastated by that ludicrous decision. When you think of the infrastructure and stadiums here in England, it’s still difficult to accept. Yet, clear Qatar from your mind and think about what a winter World Cup might be like.

Spain reign: And they were brilliant World Cup winners in 2010

The European Cup and First Division evolved successfully to the Champions League and Premier League and while this would be the biggest change of all, it could be equally rewarding. I understand the disruption it would cause and questions would be endless — what happens to the players who aren’t involved? What do the television broadcasters say?
But one idea could be to play the tournament shortly after the final round of qualifiers, so there would be no need for the normal month-long build-up. Football must keep evolving and we are not talking about something that would happen every single year. Whatever gets decided, one thing is clear: action must be taken to restore the World Cup to its former glories.

Bellamy will be a top boss

Craig Bellamy will end his playing career for Wales on Tuesday in Belgium but I don’t expect that to be his last involvement in international football.
In terms of the 76 caps he has won and the 19 goals he has scored for his country, coupled with what he has done in the Premier League over the past decade, he is right up there with the best Welsh players of his generation and, indeed, all time.

Bell toils: Bellamy urges his team-mates to put in the effort on his penultimate appearance for Wales against Macedonia on Friday night

Still going: Bellamy jumps over the tackles of Macedonia pair Vance Sikov and Stefan Ristovski

His comments about it being a failure that Wales have never qualified for a major tournament while he has been playing are typical of Craig. He is a player I know well, having enjoyed two spells with him at Liverpool.
He expects the highest standards from those around him and certainly isn’t afraid to say if he feels someone has fallen short!
Craig had problems with certain players and managers during his career because of his character but I loved him. He hated losing with a passion, he is a great professional in how he approaches training, especially with his warm downs and gym work, and he has tremendous energy.

Team-mates: Carragher (centre) and Bellamy (right) were together at Liverpool

He is very intense and driven but he could also bring humour to the dressing room and is one of the few players who shared my enthusiasm for the game and that is why I expect him to one day go into coaching and management.
So with the passion he has for his country, it really wouldn’t surprise me if, in the future, he became Wales manager.
Craig should feel proud of what he has achieved for his country — and I fully expect him to be there for them again at some stage.