Audrey Horne wrote: ↑Sun May 31, 2026 6:19 pm
Would he/you watch every single game if it was in Europe?
Prob not so it's not really an issue is it? Haha
The kick off times is the least of our problems for this WC.
Mad kick offs is just part of it being a world cup and not catered to GMT!!
In the 6 world cups we've made in my lifetime the best game time we've ever had was an 8pm kick off vs France in Russia 2018.
Something like 3 of the 20 Socceroos games have ever been outside the graveyard 10pm to 6am local timeslot.
The country doesn't sleep and it's an expected part of the football loving culture - there are mid winter overnight parties particularly in Melbourne and Sydney, people turning up with sleeping bags... bleary eyed Simon Hill and the rest of the commentary teams pulling all nighters for the month.
It's unfortunately not something the younger kids really ever get to enjoy until they're quite a bit older.
Cods wrote: ↑Mon Jun 01, 2026 6:38 pm
In the 6 world cups we've made in my lifetime the best game time we've ever had was an 8pm kick off vs France in Russia 2018.
Something like 3 of the 20 Socceroos games have ever been outside the graveyard 10pm to 6am local timeslot.
The country doesn't sleep and it's an expected part of the football loving culture - there are mid winter overnight parties particularly in Melbourne and Sydney, people turning up with sleeping bags... bleary eyed Simon Hill and the rest of the commentary teams pulling all nighters for the month.
It's unfortunately not something the younger kids really ever get to enjoy until they're quite a bit older.
I watched Australia vs Japan on a huge screen with at least a thousand people in Fed Square, Melbourne in 2006, Cahill scored twice, amazing atmosphere.
I think it was 2 degrees by the time the game kicked off at about 11pm maybe? I went to Australia expecting sunshine and warmth.
cassius wrote: ↑Mon Jun 01, 2026 6:47 pm
I watched Australia vs Japan on a huge screen with at least a thousand people in Fed Square, Melbourne in 2006, Cahill scored twice, amazing atmosphere.
I think it was 2 degrees by the time the game kicked off at about 11pm maybe? I went to Australia expecting sunshine and warmth.
Haha yeah unfortunately the sun does go down at night time and you'll know first hand the warmth of the patrons might inversely correlate with how cold the beer is.... even on nights like that!
That was definitely *The ultimate* Socceroos game you would pick if you ever got to see one.
Mental scenes. Nicely timed Cassius. Were you in Melbourne/Aus long? The Croatia game was pretty good soon after, but we're still complaining about Fabio Grosso's dive in the round of 16 against Italy - the voodoo still seems to be working on them though.
Still disappointed I won't see a world cup match at home because the prices are so insane but Canada has our best team ever.
Unfortunately lost a player to a torn ACL in the concacaf champions league final on Saturday and have about a half dozen players still returning from serious injuries (Davies, Promise David, Bombito all not likely to feature for the first match or two).
Need at least a point vs Bosnia in our opener. Switzerland will be a challenge but we should beat Qatar handily.
Also won't hear complaints about kick off times, its just the way it is and you cant have many midday kicks off in the summer in Canada, US, Mexico. It will largely be 30 or more and sunny. The 3pm kickoffs are going to need water breaks most likely.
First warm up match tonight against Uzbekistan a nice 2-0 win. Not the best match but also lot of what makes Canada good which was pace and athleticism.
A lot of players returning from injuries with first minutes in months for Promise David, Bombito, and Alfie Jones. A few more who have only returned to the pitch in the last month or so and are a bit light on fitness.
Unfortunately Bombito limped off after 30 minutes which isn't great. Hopefully just precautionary.
The team is very athletic but lacks composure at times and a bit light on technical ability.
If you're watching Canada there's a few players to watch that are less known than Davies and David:
Promise David at striker has been excellent in the Belgian league and for Canada. Big powerful striker. If he is recovered a big world cup would probably lead to a move to Ligue 1.
Ismael Kone has had a good season and Sassuolo. Very athletic and rangy CM.
Moise Bombito was great but has been out for 8 months and coming back from a Tibia fracture in October so Im not sure he'll be ready. But a strong, pacy central defender who is decent on the ball.
Outside chance of an impact would be Nathan Saliba, another athletic CM who moved to the Anderlecht last summer.
Im excited, hopefully no more injuries and the returning players get fit quickly enough. Huge opportunity to play a world cup at home, aim has to be to make the knockout stage for the first time ever (would require our first ever world cup win) and then who knows what happens from there.
Cods wrote: ↑Mon Jun 01, 2026 9:58 pm
Haha yeah unfortunately the sun does go down at night time and you'll know first hand the warmth of the patrons might inversely correlate with how cold the beer is.... even on nights like that!
That was definitely *The ultimate* Socceroos game you would pick if you ever got to see one.
Mental scenes. Nicely timed Cassius. Were you in Melbourne/Aus long? The Croatia game was pretty good soon after, but we're still complaining about Fabio Grosso's dive in the round of 16 against Italy - the voodoo still seems to be working on them though.
Yeah we were in Melbourne for six months and Australia for just over a year. We didn't watch the Croatia game as there's a large Croatian population in Melbourne and we were warned it may get a bit nasty (it didn't). A group of us watched England lose to Portugal on pens in a bar after watching Coldplay at the Rod Laver. Let's just say I preferred watching England lose.
We watched the Italy game in Docklands, you were definitely robbed, we were gutted for you. I didn't think Australia would put on a good show for the World Cup and with stupid kick off times it would be flat, but the atmosphere in Melbourne and how Aussies got into it made it a really memorable one for me. Aside from that Coldplay gig ffs.
All the talk of how the times of the World Cup don’t align with England reminded me of the 3am 2002 kickoffs for me in USA. I recorded every. single. match. of that World Cup on vhs. Kept them stacked in my closet for 15 years before I got rid of them when we moved out of my childhood home. Wow how I wish I kept those. Older now so the magic has died a bit and everything is so fucking negative now but it’s still special. I don’t like how it’s been watered down but it is still cool to see new nations like Uzbekistan who I hope does well. Concacaf is a joke though with the 3 best teams auto qualifying, curaçao has no place but hey I hope they score a goal!
cassius wrote: ↑Mon Jun 01, 2026 6:47 pm
I watched Australia vs Japan on a huge screen with at least a thousand people in Fed Square, Melbourne in 2006, Cahill scored twice, amazing atmosphere.
I watched it in our office in Hungary. I was working for a company that was about to sell online TV subscriptions, so our office was rammed with massive plasma screens for testing, and for similar reasons we had a test feed of every possible channel that existed in the country and some that didn't.
