Another big week for International football - the eurphoria of England qualifying for the World Cup Finals with two matches to spare plus the England Women reaching the European Championships Final (and 6-2 was not a fair reflection of their ability but of the continued dominance of Germany in the female side of the game).
But what of Wales - still re-building, something we have been doing since we last reached the World Cup Finals in 1958! It's so hard to qualify for Wales and some truly great Welsh players have missed out on the greatest footballing stage of all - but this is a squad tournament both for the event and to qualify and we have never been strong enough- simple as.
We just don't have enough fit quality players to have that incredible qualifying tournament where we can surprize better teams. Don't get me wrong when we beat Italy at the Millennium Stadium anything seemed possible but with our lowly ranking and seeding we will always have at least two superior teams in our qualifying groups for both the European Championships and World Cup Qualifying rounds, therefore only exceptional campaigns can change that.
So what's my point. With a crowd of 11,000 odd at the Millennium Stadium for Russia, I think it is time to play smaller venues such as the Liberty for smaller matches and the Cardiff City Stadium for big important games.
We need to bring an external factor to our side - home advantage. A small crowd lost in a giant stadium offers no home atmosphere to help lift the players when we need it. Let's start with that for the European Championship qualifiers and the young guns under John Toshack and Bryan Flynn might just come together and pull off that win where we punch above our weight!
Does anyone agree with me that it is now time to play in our smaller football specific stadia?
