What time is the U.S. playing Portugal in the Women's World Cup? Not when you think

NPR | By Russell Lewis

Published July 31, 2023 at 5:00 AM EDT

Members of the U.S. Women's National Team celebrate their game-tying goal against the Netherlands at the Women's World Cup on July 27 in Wellington, New Zealand.

With the 2023 Women's World Cup taking place on the other side of the world in Australia and New Zealand, it's not easy to sort out what time the teams are playing.

The U.S. has a crucial game against Portugal on Tuesday and it's particularly challenging to determine when the teams take the field. Why? The U.S. broadcaster Fox Sports touts its coverage begins at 1 a.m. ET — two hours earlier than the kickoff — but doesn't explicitly tell viewers what time the game actually begins.

Fox Sports paid a lot of money for the rights to broadcast the tournament and obviously wants as many people watching for as long as possible.

The first two U.S. World Cup games started at 9 p.m. ET — and the Fox Sports coverage started much earlier. With an evening kickoff, that's no problem. You probably were already awake.

But everything changes with a middle-of-the-night game. You need a plan. Stay up late? Get up early? There's a big circadian difference staying up for what you think is a 1 a.m. kickoff when the opening whistle happens hours later.

Just so we're clear — the final U.S. match in group play kicks off at 3 a.m. ET and will be televised on Fox Sports and Telemundo.