From computer games to Snapchat, there are already enough diversions to keep children awake half the night. It is not uncommon for bleary-eyed students to traipse into lessons and fall asleep at their desks, but the World Cup has made things much, much worse.

The time lag between Brazil and Europe has meant that pupils keen to watch their footballing heroes in action are staying up way past what should be their bedtime. The England v Italy game in Manaus, situated in the heart of the Amazon basin, started at 11pm UK time. Consequently, millions of children were up into the small hours. The match may have taken place on Saturday but the impact would still have been felt in double maths on Monday morning.

Even the 8pm game in Sao Paulo on Thursday was too late for many. It ended at about 10pm, but with the obligatory post-match analysis and a few bottles of celebratory or commiserative fizzy pop (depending on whether you’re supporting England or not), it surely wrote off many Friday morning lessons.

It isn’t clear if there is any solution to this predicament - perhaps it is just one of those things that teachers have to tolerate. Some killjoys south of the border say that the best they can hope for is that England doesn’t get to play in too many more matches. But surely Roy’s Boys aren’t going to let that happen - or are they?