It’s the morning after the night before, and as you gradually wake up, a jarring and worrying thought occurs to you. There’s no football. You draw a deep breath. There’s. No. Football. After 48 games in 15 days, the World Cup group stage is over. How the hell are you going to fill your day now?



We are told that checking a phone first thing in the morning isn’t good for bleary eyes, but can technology really be bad if it’s being used to check the status of Marouane Fellaini’s contract? Or to see if Jack Grealish has expressed a desire to play Premier League football? There may even be breaking news on Nabil Fekir’s knee ligaments. It’s easy to forget that without the World Cup, a protracted saga about Antoine Griezmann’s release clause would be forced to provide the excitement of the entire group stage.

For the truly fanatic football fan, there are always more matches to be sought out. Friday isn’t entirely free of fixtures. Gibraltar’s finest, Lincoln Red Imps, face every hipster’s favourite Kosovan club, FC Drita, in the final of the preliminary round of the Champions League, for the right to enter the first round of qualifiers. The stakes may seem a world apart from the epic World Cup events in Russia, but a two-legged tie with former finalists Malmö awaits the game’s winner.

While thinking about travel, perhaps your club’s pre-season friendlies are something to plan for? Although Leeds’ progressive trip to Myanmar has sadly been and gone, you could follow Manchester City or Liverpool to New York in late July, and ask the locals how they fared in the World Cup. For readers in the UK, how about arranging lifts to see Curzon Ashton prepare for the visit of European heavyweights Burnley, or work out how you get to watch the Severn Derby, Cardiff v Bodmin Town.

On the other hand, maybe thinking about the expenditure reminds you that splashed the cash on a replica shirt and a massive round of drinks for everybody in the wake of England’s 6-1 thrashing of Panama. Perhaps globe-trotting plans are of little use. Some consolation, though, would be spending the morning simulating the remainder of the tournament on Fifa 18, a soothing balm for a football-addled brain.

Alternatively, if you want to pretend you’re a genuine England footballer, you could fill the tournament’s dead spaces with copious games of Fortnite, sitting resplendent with Beats around your neck, Jesse Lingard’s celebrations at hand.

Or why not scroll mindlessly through football Instagram, checking out what the World Cup squads are doing on their day off, keeping an eye Iceland’s pin-up right winger Rurik Gislason, or Héctor Bellerín, who has this summer traded in the Spanish World Cup Squad for a life of high fashion.

They see me rollin' A post shared by Héctor Bellerín (@hectorbellerin) on Jun 14, 2018 at 11:32am PDT

In Britain there’s always the pleasant discovery that BBC iPlayer have kept entire matches available this year. Missed the first half of Peru v Denmark? Never fear. And nostalgia could always offer its sweet seduction - an afternoon could easily disappear down a YouTube wormhole, watching Carlos Alberto in 1970, Tardelli in ’82. Then back to 1990. Pavarotti accompanies a World Cup montage. Quiet tears in a darkened room.



The BBC’s England team 1990 montage. Just let it out. Just let it out.

Maybe some fresh air is needed. There is even the possibility of playing a game of actual football, but that niggly bad back and the worry of being nutmegged by an eight-year-old soon puts paid to that idea. Instead, why not sit in the park, cross-legged on the ground, with your Panini album open, eagerly ripping open the 30 packets of stickers you’ve just spent £24 on while sad-eyed children were buying just one packet with the precious 80p they’ve saved from their pocket money. That Costa Rica team isn’t going to complete itself, even if the real Joel Campbell is already on the plane home. Check the Guardian’s interactive of all 736 World Cup players one more time. You know you want to.

Only a few hours of the day left, and your match preparation can begin; France v. Argentina, 3pm BST on Saturday. Expected teams, formations, ones to watch; the knock-out rounds demand extensive expertise, you’d better prepare. Just 16 games to go, including the third-place play-off.



And suddenly it is done, the first day without the World Cup is over. You’ve spent the day immersed in football, but having only truly learnt one thing. Send help on 16 July.

