Not like Korea-Japan: Argentina's World Cup times and who'll be up early | OneFootball

“It’s time, it’s time… it’s World Cup time”. Xuxa’s little tune echoes in the heads of all Argentines as they wait for a World Cup that promises to be unique, quite literally, because for the first time it will be hosted by three countries and will feature 48 national teams, when the maximum had previously been 32, offering a massive group stage made up of 72 matches.

But going back to the Brazilian singer’s little tune that captivated the youngest kids, one issue to keep in mind starting on June 11 will be the kickoff times for matches in North America, which will be spread across venues located in three different time zones. And the fixture list, confirmed after the playoffs, already has its winners and losers. Because some countries will enjoy the tournament from home on TV during the day and night, while others will suffer through having to do so in the early hours of the morning. Because of the time zones, but also because of FIFA’s preferences.

The clock weighs heavily on fans’ minds during World Cup season, and the best way to prove it is by remembering one torment of our own. If Argentine fans are asked which is the worst World Cup they remember, most will point to the combo of disappointment and bleary eyes left by Korea-Japan 2002, when Argentina was eliminated in the first round despite having a great team, with the added pain that those slaps in the face came at ridiculous hours. Shall we go over them?

The debut against Nigeria came late on a Saturday night, at 2:30 in the morning, and we went to bed happy after the win, relaxed because Sunday laziness could stretch on late; the defeat against England was a hammer blow that hit us on a Friday at 8:30 in the morning, with a full workday still ahead. But the worst came against Sweden, on a Wednesday at 3:30 a.m., and we went off to work or school knowing we had been eliminated.

After that nightmare in the Far East, Argentina went on to post better results, including the 2014 final and, needless to say, the third star in 2022, still etched in everyone’s heart. But with one important detail: they never again had to play at such difficult hours to follow from home, a situation that will remain the same at the tournament that begins in a month and a bit.

It’s worth reviewing: the Scaloneta’s action in Group J will be against Algeria on Tuesday, June 16 at 10 p.m.; against Austria on Monday the 22nd at 2 p.m.; and against Jordan on Saturday the 27th at 11 p.m. A breeze, at least in scheduling terms.

If they advance as group winners, the national team will continue on its path at friendly—or friendly—hours: the Round of 32 knockout match (against Spain or Uruguay?) will be on Friday, July 3 at 7 p.m.; the Round of 16 on Tuesday the 7th at 1 p.m.; the quarterfinal on Saturday the 11th at 10 p.m.; and both the semifinal on Wednesday the 15th and the final on Sunday the 19th, both at 4 p.m. Having said all that… let’s jinx-proof it.

But going back to the time zones, what benefits some hurts others. At the 48-team World Cup there will be countries that will have to go out of their way to watch their teams if you consider that in cities such as Vancouver, San Francisco, Los Angeles or Seattle, far to the west on the world map, the clock shows “only” four hours less than in Buenos Aires, but there is a nine-hour gap with Switzerland or Belgium and ten hours with Egypt or Qatar, all teams that will have to visit those venues.

But take note, because the most confused of all when it comes to time differences will be the Australians: the Oceanian side will be living a staggering 17 hours away from its people! So when they make their debut against Turkey on the night of June 13 at 9 p.m. in Vancouver, in Melbourne it will be 2 in the afternoon the following day. At least they won’t have to get up early.

In that sense, it is possible to determine which countries will suffer the most from FIFA’s scheduling, although with some nuances that go beyond geography. The fact is that Tunisia or Algeria, with barely a one-hour difference compared to the heart of Europe, top the list of countries that will have to set the alarm (or just stay awake) to watch their national teams.

In an imaginary table of late-night matches, those two African nations would be at the top. Algeria will play its group-stage matches at 2, 4 and 3 in the morning; while Tunisia will do so at 3, 5 and midnight. Behind them comes a pack with two nighttime appointments, including the Czech Republic, which will play at 4 and 3 a.m., or Egypt, forced to turn on the TV at 4 and 6 in Cairo to watch Mohamed Salah.

Only on the third tier of the “hardest hit,” with just one awkwardly timed match, do the first world champions on the list appear. France will face Iraq when the clocks in Paris strike 1 a.m.; and in Madrid it will be 2 a.m. when the match kicks off in which Spain, led by Lamine Yamal, will likely battle Uruguay for first place in Group H.

A brief aside. The World Cup will be missing a couple of protagonists with particular time-zone quirks: Russia, absent due to a FIFA ban, is so vast that it spans 11 different time zones; and China, for its part, which failed to qualify for the second World Cup in its history, covers a territory that stretches across five time zones even though the hour is always the same in every corner of the country.

However, when it comes to curiosities, France is a record case: if you count its overseas territories, scattered all over the planet, it has between 12 and 13 different time zones, so that Kylian Mbappé can be watched whenever the hands of the clock decide.

That said, there will be one cursed match in time-zone terms, one that could be defined as the insomnia game, and by chance it is part of the dynamic of Argentina’s group. On matchday two of Group J, Algeria and Jordan will face off on Monday, June 22 in San Francisco when it is 8 p.m. in that part of the world, but 12:00 a.m. on Tuesday the 23rd in Buenos Aires, 4:00 a.m. in Algiers and 6:00 a.m. in the Jordanian capital of Amman. There is no more inconvenient match than that one, although at the World Cup anything goes.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.