Let’s assume the group stage is the appetiser. The main course is the knockout rounds, obviously. But first, we need to survive the group matches without having a collective heart attack. The first group game is usually the most important. It sets the tone.
Mark these in red pen. The first whistle for England will be around midday or early evening, depending on the host nation's time zone. That means you’ll be glued to your sofa by… let’s say late afternoon. Perfect for a long lunch that turns into a very long afternoon. (I’ll be pretending my laptop camera is broken.)
You’ll usually get a second group game about five or six days later. This is the "oh no, we need a result" match. The atmosphere is electric, even through the TV. And then, the final group game – which could be a dead rubber or a do-or-die thriller – comes roughly a week after the first one. It’s a rollercoaster, folks.
The big question: What about the time difference?
Ah, the time difference. The enemy of sleep. The friend of coffee. If the tournament is in a distant time zone (like Qatar 2026 or USA 2026), expect games at 10 AM, 1 PM, or even 7 PM local time. For England fans, that means match times like 1 PM, 4 PM, or 7 PM. Not bad, right? You can watch over lunch and still have a normal dinner. Normal. Ha!
If it’s in Europe? Then you’re living the dream. Games at 2 PM, 5 PM, and 8 PM. You can finish work, crack open a beer, and pretend you’re in Berlin. It’s the best kind of schedule.
2026 World Cup: How Thomas Tuchel’s England could line up for their
