Pressure from the morning matches
The 2026 World Cup takes place from June 11 to July 19 in the US, Canada and Mexico. This is the largest World Cup ever, with 48 teams and 104 matches. For Vietnamese fans, the attractiveness of the tournament comes with a significant challenge: Many matches fall into the night, early morning or morning time according to Vietnam time.
According to the schedule, viewers in Vietnam may have to watch matches at times such as 2am, 5am, 8am, 9am or 11am. These are all times that easily disrupt the rhythm of daily life. If the matches at 8am, 9am or 11am coincide with working hours, many workers will find it difficult to watch live. Meanwhile, the matches at 2am or 5am raise the problem of sleep and physical recovery ability before a new working day.
For many fans, the World Cup is not just football. It is also a memory, a community joy, gatherings with friends, family, and colleagues to cheer for their favorite team. That atmosphere is very commendable. However, staying up all night for more than a month can cause the body to fall into prolonged fatigue.
Mr. Nguyen Quang Toan, 35 years old, a civil servant in Cau Giay ward (Hanoi), confided: "I have been a football fan since I was little, I almost never miss major football festivals, but this time, with such a "harsh" time frame, perhaps I will choose a simpler way of watching: Choose an early match and only burn "to the fullest" when the next day is the weekend. Football is a passion but work is very important. It's not like just burning yourself out and then being listless all day.
In Vietnam, there is no statistic on productivity or revenue of businesses decreasing every time there are major football tournaments. However, UKG - an artificial intelligence (AI) platform specializing in human resource management, wages and labor force - surveyed 8,000 people in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Mexico, Netherlands, England and the United States to assess the impact of the World Cup on the working environment. According to results released on June 2, the World Cup could cause global companies to lose 17 billion USD in labor productivity.
Their survey showed that 37% of workers plan to adjust their schedules because of the biggest football tournament on the planet. 27% of employees are likely to go to work late, return early, or take leave. 11% admitted that they may have to work in a tired state, while 14% said they would secretly watch live matches or highlights during working hours.
In Vietnam, the leader of a business in Hanoi who asked not to be named said: "I myself am also a football lover, but this time I am very worried because there are still many orders, I am only worried that workers are too passionate and it will affect productivity and work. However, to make everyone happy, on Friday nights or Saturday nights, the company's trade union has also prepared screens and candies for brothers to enjoy football.
Health problem
According to medical experts, at this World Cup, with such a special time frame, workers are a group that needs special attention. After a night of lack of sleep, many people still have to start their working day early in the morning, move on the road, operate machinery, work at construction sites, factories, offices or service locations that require alertness. When not getting enough sleep, the body is prone to headaches, reduced concentration, slow reflexes, irritability, and sluggishness. With jobs that require high accuracy, just one minute of distraction can lead to errors or work accidents.
Staying up late continuously not only causes drowsiness the next day but also disrupts the biological clock, affecting blood pressure, cardiovascular health, metabolism and immunity. If sleep deprivation lasts throughout the season, viewers may experience reduced work performance, reduced memory and difficulty maintaining positive mental state.
In Vietnam, where many workers work in shifts, working in industrial parks, factories, transportation services, healthcare, security, retail, staying up late to watch football is even more necessary to consider. Workers should not try to watch all matches, especially matches that take place in the early morning if they have to go to work early the next morning or take on heavy and dangerous work. Instead, they should choose matches that they are really interested in, prioritizing matches of their favorite team, knockout matches or key matches.
A reasonable way is to set a separate "World Cup viewing schedule" for yourself. Before each week of competition, viewers can mark matches they want to watch live, matches they can review highlights or watch replays. For matches at 2 am, if you decide to watch, you should sleep early from night, avoid staying up late before the match and trying to watch the whole match. For matches at 5 am, viewers can wake up earlier than usual but need to ensure they have slept enough beforehand. For matches that fall into working hours, employees should respect the regulations of agencies and businesses; should not watch secretly, leave their workplaces or let football affect the progress of work.
Businesses can proactively communicate internally about watching the World Cup civilized and safely. Units with conditions can arrange common viewing areas for some suitable matches outside of working hours, encouraging employees to register for leave or change shifts in accordance with regulations if they want to watch important football matches. This approach both respects the spiritual needs of employees and helps limit the situation of going to work late.
The World Cup is a festival of emotions, but health and work still need to be put in the right place so that fans have a complete football season.
Former national player Tuan Phong: "Waiting for a truly magnificent World Cup in the US
I think the 2026 World Cup will be a very special tournament. The US has a lot of experience in organizing top world sports events, so the opening ceremony promises to be magnificent, modern and memorable.
Speaking of the World Cup in the US, I immediately remember the 1994 World Cup - a hot, emotional tournament that left many imprints. At that time, the football atmosphere was very exciting, with many impressive performances both on and off the field.
In my opinion, the opening matches of the World Cup always contain many surprises. History has witnessed Senegal winning against France or Saudi Arabia defeating Argentina. This year, the number of teams has increased to 48, which means that the possibility of earthquakes will be even higher.
Big teams such as: France, Brazil, Argentina, Spain or England are always under great pressure from the media and the goal of winning the championship. They are almost forced to win the opening match to avoid psychological impact on the road ahead. Conversely, small teams have a fairly comfortable mentality. Many players see this as an opportunity to show themselves, increase transfer value and attract attention from European teams.
I think weaker teams will choose to play offensively, using physical strength to compensate for expertise and then wait for counter-attack opportunities. Just winning 1 point against a strong team is already a great success for them.
Although Messi or Ronaldo are no longer at their peak, I still think their appeal is extremely great. A World Cup without Messi, Ronaldo or Neymar will certainly create a feeling of great shortage for fans. Mbappe or Haaland are both excellent, but to create influence like the two legends mentioned above, more time is still needed.
It's a bit regrettable that most of the matches take place late at night or early morning Vietnam time, so viewers will have quite a hard time watching. Personally, I will also participate in commenting on some matches on VTV and am very excited to wait for the World Cup to kick off.
Journalist Huu Dung: "The World Cup atmosphere in Los Angeles is quite quiet
Right on the first day I arrived in the US to work on the 2026 World Cup, I clearly felt the professionalism in the host country's organization. Everything took place quite quickly, methodically and without a feeling of haste or tension. However, what surprised me was that the World Cup atmosphere in Los Angeles is not really as exciting as expected. On the way to SoFi Stadium - where the US team will meet Paraguay on June 13, I saw quite few flags or propaganda banners. Support activities mainly appeared around the stadium area.
In my opinion, Americans are still paying more attention to football than football. Right next to the SoFi stadium is the very large headquarters of the American Football Federation, which partly reflects the attraction of this sport here. Visa and entry issues are creating no small difficulties for the FIFA World Cup 2026.
Commentator Tran Duyen: "World Cup 2026 will be a battle of endurance and pragmatism
Stepping out of the enthusiastic atmosphere of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, my first feeling when looking at the 2026 World Cup is overwhelmed. We are entering a completely new chapter in the history of world football.
The 2026 World Cup is a completely different problem. With 48 teams and 104 matches taking place in three countries, the United States, Mexico and Canada, teams will have to move continuously through many time zones and different weather conditions. In my opinion, this is no longer simply a tactical battle on the pitch. This will be a race for fitness, logistics, health and players' recovery ability. The coaching staff that controls accommodation, movement and rotation of forces well will have a great advantage.
The most interesting thing lies in the new format with 12 groups and up to 8 third-place teams entitled to advance. This "lifebuoy" will make the group stage show many tactical calculations.
I believe there will be many small teams choosing to play defensively in numbers, trying to limit goals conceded to compete for relegation tickets. Therefore, fans should not be surprised if strong teams encounter many difficulties against opponents who are rated lower.
I also think that the 2026 World Cup will be a stage for pragmatic football. The 2026 World Cup may be a bit less romantic than before, but in return, this is likely to be the most fierce, unpredictable and surprising World Cup in history.
