With Wales now out of the World Cup, many Bluebirds supporters in the Welsh capital will be turning their focus back to their beloved Cardiff City.
While Cardiff fans were able to avert their attention away from City's struggles in the Championship for a short period, we are just a week away from Mark Hudson's side resuming their league campaign away to Stoke City.
So, let's get everyone up to speed with the latest goings on at Cardiff while the World Cup has been ticking over in Qatar...
Philogene has hernia seen to
It appears that Jaden Philogene has taken the opportunity of a mid-season break to have his sports hernia seen to.
On November 18, Philogene posted a photo on Instagram of him in bed in a hospital ward, seeming to suggest he has had the hernia repaired.
He was absent for the midweek game against Aston Villa, his parent club, while the NHS website states that "no strenuous exercise" should be undertaken for four to six weeks after an operation like this.
If he has had the surgery, then it looks likely he could be out until the new year, which is a big blow because he was just starting to show why Cardiff wanted to recruit him on loan in the first place.
Every City fan will be wishing him a speedy recovery, no doubt. We will have more on that in the coming days.
Morrison plays twice for City
Some positive news now, though, as Sean Morrison donned the City shirt for the first time in nine months when Cardiff's under-21s took on Birmingham City on November 14, playing the first 45 minutes alongside Curtis Nelson.
"I'll make no bones about it, we had six scholars starting and they had two mountains at the back, first-team players with lots of experience and you could see it!" said Birmingham academy coach Steve Spooner after Cardiff's 2-0 win.
Morrison also turned out in the young Bluebirds' 1-0 win over Reading on November 25, playing for most of that game before getting substituted as he works his way back to full fitness.
As of yet, no concrete decision has been made over the centre-back's future, but with a lack of height, physicality and, potentially, leadership within this current Cardiff squad, calls for the ex-captain to be given another contract have grown this season.
He will likely play a part in one of Cardiff's games on Saturday, more on that later...
Transfer rumour
We weren't going to get through a three-week lay-off without a transfer rumour!
Reports have suggested that Cardiff City, along with Swansea City, Bristol City and Preston North End are after Notts County striker Macauley Langstaff. The 25-year-old has scored 18 goals in 20 National League games this season.
It comes after his summer move from Gateshead, where he scored 30 goals in 47 games in the same division.
And WalesOnline has been told that Cardiff have indeed been watching the forward's progress this season after he caught the eye last season in the fourth tier.
That's as far as the interest goes at the minute, though, and it seems more likely his next move will be to a League One team to see if he can cut it further up the Football League.
Mark Hudson has already spoken to Vincent Tan about the January transfer window and what he believes is needed to better the squad.
Sheffield Wednesday want McGuinness permanently
Another interesting nugget from the last few weeks comes in the form of Sheffield Wednesday's interest in Mark McGuinness.
The centre-back has made quite the impression up at Hillsborough and even netted his first goal for the club, the only goal in a 1-0 win over Shrewsbury Town, which has endeared him even more to Wednesdayites.
Owls boss Darren Moore has been so impressed by McGuinness, who has a contract with Cardiff until 2024, that he is even exploring the option of signing him permanently.
“Yeah we’ll have a look at that,” Moore said when asked whether he wanted to sign the 21-year-old permanently. "We’ve got to respect the parameters of the deal, but let’s have a look. Hopefully we can do (a deal), but we’ll have some talks with it and we’ll respect the deal in terms of where everyone is at.
"He’s done himself the world of good (against Shrewsbury) with another solid and consistent performance. The icing on the cake for him was to get the goal. He’ll keep going and when the time is right we’ll have a chat and see how both clubs view how the loan is going so far."
Injury checklist
So, with Jamilu Collins out for the season, Jaden Philogene recovering from his sports hernia treatment and Sean Morrison having returned for the under-21s, there are two real injury concerns for Cardiff to deal with.
Isaak Davies finally looks set to return to action after an incredibly-long lay-off with what many thought was just a routine knee injury. However, a knock that took place in the summer has rolled on and on and he has still not played a single game with the midway point of the season fast approaching.
However, it is hoped he will play some part for Cardiff in their in-house game, which will take place behind closed doors on Saturday.
That is a hugely-positive stride forward concerning his return to the playing arena and he is someone Cardiff fans have sorely missed so far this season.
"Isaak isn't far off now," Mark Hudson said this week. "He's completed everything with regards to the return-to-play protocols. He'll get minutes in our behind-closed-doors in-house game on Saturday. It’ll offer the safest environment to control his return. It's just too early on Wednesday."
Ebou Adams is the other crocked player. He still has not played a competitive game for his new club after ripping his pectoral muscle in his first pre-season friendly.
While at one stage it looked like he was flying in his rehab, things seem to have slowed up. He appears to be a little further behind in his return-to-play timeframe. A shame, but hopefully he can still play a role this season.
International stars
We cannot forget the stars who have been on international duty over the course of the last few weeks.
Firstly, of course, there was Rubin Colwill, who represented Cardiff at the World Cup when he came on for a late cameo in the 3-0 defeat by England on Tuesday. What a moment for him, his family and the club. Mark Harris was in the travelling squad too, of course, but saw no game time.
Elsewhere, the Irish lads, Callum O'Dowda and Callum Robinson, both had fruitful weeks with the Republic of Ireland squad.
O'Dowda earned his first call-up to the Irish side for two years after a positive start to the season with Cardiff. He started their game against Norway and came on in the game against Malta, interestingly featuring at left wing-back on both occasions.
Robinson, meanwhile, started up front in both games and scored the winner against Malta after pouncing on a defensive error.
New academy manager starts
The mid-season break also signalled the start of a new era for Cardiff City's academy.
Former Barry Town United manager and course lead on the MSc Advanced Performance Football Coaching degree at the University of South Wales Gavin Chesterfield is the new man at the helm after the departure of Dave Hughes to Manchester United.
It's a vitally-important time for the academy, with the club now leaning on homegrown products more than they have done in years gone by owing to the tightening of the purse strings. It makes Chesterfield's job arguably more important than ever.
In a wide-ranging interview with WalesOnline, Chesterfield talked about his aims for the future, the values he will stick by and the reason for going for the job.
Whitts match and what happens between now and Stoke
So, back to the football and the very sobering prospect of Cardiff now trying to fight their way out of a relegation scrap for the second season running.
Wednesday night handed Cardiff the chance to get back to playing football, while paying respect to one of the greatest ever to wear the shirt, Peter Whittingham, in a memorial match against Aston Villa.
It was an emotional night and an evening which provided encouraging football from a Bluebirds point of view as they swatted aside a strong Villa side with a 3-1 victory. A double from the impressive Kion Etete and a goal from the talented Ollie Tanner ensured Cardiff returned to action, 10 days out from their Championship return, with an encouraging win. You can read more about it here .
So, what next? Well, the club did try to arrange a friendly against a team on Saturday, December 3, however that fell through and now they will play an in-house game, behind closed doors, as they try and hone and fine tune tactics in order to hit the ground running at the bet365 Stadium next Saturday.
Cardiff's under-21s also have a game against Wolves on the Saturday, too, so it will be interesting to see where the likes of Isaak Davies and Sean Morrison play, whether that be the in-house game or against Wolves.
Then a week of hard work with all international players back in the mix before Championship action resumes again!
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