​NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JUNE 16: People look on as Austin Franklin and Kevin Akoto, FOX One Chief World Cup Watchers, watch the World Cup in Times Square in New York City. Franklin and Akoto, two content creators, were amongst the thousands of applicants who uploaded videos on social media pitching for the role of World Cup Watchers, who applied to watch 104 games at this World Cup in a custom-built viewing cube in the heart of Times Square. GettyThe United States is hosting soccer’s biggest event on its own soil, and the two biggest games before the final kick off in the middle of a workday.France meets Spain on Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, followed by England against Argentina on Wednesday at the same hour at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, as USA Today confirmed this weekend. Three of the four remaining nations are European. For their fans back home, that afternoon window in Texas and Georgia lands squarely in prime time.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAmerican viewers don’t get the same courtesy, and they’re saying so.People look on as Austin Franklin and Kevin Akoto, FOX One Chief World Cup Watchers, watch the Senegal versus France World Cup matchGettyNEW YORK, NEW YORK – JUNE 16: People look on as Austin Franklin and Kevin Akoto, FOX One Chief World Cup Watchers, watch the World Cup in Times Square in New York City. Franklin and Akoto, two content creators, were amongst the thousands of applicants who uploaded videos on social media pitching for the role of World Cup Watchers, who applied to watch 104 games at this World Cup in a custom-built viewing cube in the heart of Times Square.The backlash arrived fast and loud on social media once the kickoff times went out.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“3 p.m. start times for the World Cup semis in the middle of the week is not particularly ideal,” one fan wrote in a relatively restrained take, as quoted by the Daily Mail. Another was blunter. “One of the dumbest ideas to have these World Cup semifinals at 12 p.m. on a Tuesday and Wednesday.” That fan was apparently located in the Pacific Time Zone, where the games do, indeed, start at noon.A Facebook user, Mike Leslie, pushed the complaint toward the tournament’s stated mission.“Why are the World Cup semifinals at 3 p.m. ET/2 p.m. CT? Are you trying to grow the game in the US… or not? They should be in primetime,” he wrote in a post shared widely among frustrated fans.The frustration lands harder given the circumstances. Team USA is out of its own World Cup, stripped of the home-nation storyline that typically drives casual American interest deep into a tournament. Weekday afternoon kickoffs for the semifinals, critics argue, do little to capture whatever audience remains.Read More From Heavy Argentina Again Benefits From Controversial Call to Beat SwitzerlandAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementFIFA has offered its own explanation, though not one aimed specifically at the s