• The Dutch prepare for their World Cup semi, how will you prepare for life after the World Cup?

Having returned home after two days away celebrating the 4th of July with family and friends, I find my humble abode in it’s normal state of comfort, totally empty of anything resembling normal nourishment, and not a soccer match to be found here, there or anywhere. At least not until the World Cup semi’s take place on Tuesday and Wednesday.

As quickly as this massive week of world football approaches, so too does the end of the fantastic month long World Cup which will place football fans the world over in an unknown wilderness devoid of much live soccer on offer. With the major European domestic leagues still just over a month away, myself and so many others will experience the odd sensation of having a huge gap of free time to fill incorporated into our normal day to day activity.

Here are a few decent options for all to ponder when attempting to recover from the absence of football after such an exciting World Cup.

  • Catch up on reading – we all have a number of great football books we’ve been meaning to read for some time now. The month between the end of the World Cup and the start of the European domestic campaigns is a perfect few weeks to finally tackle that book you’ve been wanting to check out. I’ve been reading Jonathan Wilson’s Inverting the Pyramid on and off for a few months now and it’s simply astonishing how in depth, informative and educational Wilson’s seminal work is. More great ideas for football related books can be found here.
  • MLS – I’m no expert on my own domestic league, which is a bit sad, I just haven’t been able to devote the time needed to immerse myself in the teams and players. However, I do watch the odd game and can assure folks just like myself that it is a good league where good football is played. ESPN usually offers a gme or two per week and the broadcasts are always in stunning HD.
  • Clear out your DVR – we all have 10-15 matches from the World Cup DVR’d for some reason unknown to me, but I’ll most definitely go through and re-visit some of the classic matches from the 2010 World Cup in the next month before the Premier League kicks off. The Netherlands v Brazil quarter final will surely be top of my list – an instant classic.
  • FSC and FSC+ – Sure it feels like the 2 channels are still somewhat stuck in the stone age only offering their programming on standard definition for the majority of subscribers, but the 2 Fox channels still have something to offer before club football picks back up with a few great shows. The 500 Greatest Goals series is quite enjoyable, International and Football Rivalries, The Greatest and Sky Sports News are all good enough to bridge the gap between the World Cup’s demise and your favorite European league resuming.
  • Take a break, switch off – most of us have needed a break or two from football this past month as the group stages gave way to the knockout stages and so forth – and we’ve gotten it. But there’s nothing wrong with recharging your batteries with other sports, various TV shows, NetFlix, a little sunshine and or exercise or going to the movies. Club football will resume soon enough and will take footie fans through the end of next spring, which means plenty of football is headed our way soon and will last until next summer.

Those are some of the things I’ll be doing in the next month before the Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga and Serie A resume to once again fill my plate. First, football fans have two brilliant semi finals and a World Cup final to look forward to this week. What else will you be doing after the World Cup ends to fill your time before club football begins?