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Your support makes all the difference.Based purely on World Rankings prior to the tournament, one would expect Brazil, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands to be the quartet of semifinalists, but the route to the semis prevents such an easy prediction even if team rankings hold up under pressure.
Both Brazil and Portugal are in the same group for the tournament's first phase, and two top teams from it are set to meet the two top teams from Spain's group in the first knockout round. So only two of the world's top three will make it through to in the semis.
Meanwhile, the Netherlands are also likely to have met one of them in the preceeding quarterfinals, making the make-up of the semis very hard to predict.
The two mid-week matches take place at 8:30pm South Africa Standard Time, whose UTC+2 timezone is shared by many European countries at this time of year, and is an hour ahead of the UK.
Games are at least 1h45 long, including the half-time break but not a possible 30m extra time and ensuing penalties should they be needed. Even then many viewers will be able to tuck themselves up for a good night's sleep after winners have been declared (should celebrations not get too out of hand).
Kick-off times are slightly more problematic for viewers in the Americas and Asia, making encroachments into the working day. Argentina and much of Brazil are five hours behind (UTC-3, kick Off 3:30pm), New York and other parts of the USA are UTC-4 (kick off 2.30pm), and the USA's west coasters are on UTC-7 giving a 11.30am kick-off time.
The most self-sacrificial fans (and the most understanding firms) will be called for in Asia and Oceania, as, for much of the region, the quarterfinals don't start until well after midnight.
India has start time of midnight; Vietnam, 1:30am; Malaysia, China and Singapore are on 2.30am; Japan 3.30am; and Australia between 2.30 and 4.30am depending on the territory.
New Zealanders can at least opt for an early breakfast, settling down for bacon and eggs at 6.30am.
Tuesday 6 July
20:30 Winner of Quarterfinal A vs Winner of Quarterfinal B, Cape Town
Wednesday 7 July
20:30 Winner of Quarterfinal C vs Winner of Quarterfinal D, Durban
For more information, see FIFA.com/worldcup/matches.
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