Will a winter tournament be better or worse?

I’m not sure it will make a massive difference, but I am expecting a few surprises. It has been non-stop since the start of the season and the nations have had less time to prepare. Fatigue shouldn’t be a huge factor because the tournament is usually played at the end of a season, but there have been plenty of stars ruled out.

Worse. I suspect there will be a lot of muscular injuries to players who have already had to cope with massive workloads for their clubs. There has been very little time for players to adapt to the change in conditions and by the time the tournament reaches the latter stages, there could be a lot of fringe players getting their chance.

I don’t anticipate a significant change to the quality of the football. That said, with player fatigue likely to play a bigger role than normal, I think it could be a more unpredictable tournament than World Cups gone by.

I’m not sure there will be a marked difference in terms of the quality of matches. Fatigue should be less of an issue for players than it is in tournaments at the end of the European club season, but that’s balanced out by the fact that the national teams have had less time to prepare as a group.

The same. And I hope it happens more often. Football is no longer enjoyed only in Europe and South America. The World Cup should go round the world, and there are places where the best time for a football festival is not in June and July.

Managers always complain that their players are tired, whatever time of year it is, and maybe it will be the domestic action in the new year that suffers most. Fabio Capello said recently that he always thought England players were fitter at this time of year than in the summer, so maybe that’s a good omen.