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YouTube TV goes down during World Cup's England v. Croatia semifinal

Really, YouTube?

abrar-al-heeti2
abrar-al-heeti2
Abrar Al-Heeti Video producer / CNET
Abrar Al-Heeti is a video host and producer for CNET, with an interest in internet trends, entertainment, pop culture and digital accessibility. Before joining the video team, she was a writer for CNET's culture team. She graduated with bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Though Illinois is home, she now loves San Francisco -- steep inclines and all.
Expertise Abrar has spent her career at CNET breaking down the latest trends on TikTok, Twitter and Instagram, while also reporting on diversity and inclusion initiatives in Hollywood and Silicon Valley. Credentials
  • Named a Tech Media Trailblazer by the Consumer Technology Association in 2019, a winner of SPJ NorCal's Excellence in Journalism Awards in 2022 and has twice been a finalist in the LA Press Club's National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards.
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Abrar Al-Heeti

Maybe YouTube hasn't heard, but plenty of Americans love soccer.

World Cup fans watching the England-versus-Croatia semifinal on Wednesday went nuts when  YouTube TV  went on the fritz during the tense match. The outage, which was limited to the US, came ahead of the second half, when Croatia mounted a comeback.  

"Hey everyone -- sincere apologies for streaming issues with YouTube TV," YouTube TV tweeted. "The timing is horrible but we're working to be up and running again ASAP!"  

The understatement and promises didn't mollify soccer fans, who were quick to express their frustration on -- where else? -- Twitter.

"Bad time for YouTube TV to go down," wrote one user. "It had better be working by the time the second half starts!"

It wasn't. When the streaming service finally had the game up and running about an hour later, fans had already missed Croatia's tying goal in the second half. They later scored again, defeating England by a score of 2-1.

A Downdetector map of the outage showed it was limited to the US.

Screenshot
Screenshot by Abrar Al-Heeti

One upside: The outage showed YouTube TV viewers are a creative lot. Their frustration inspired a raft of GIFs that were posted on Twitter. 

"When @YouTubeTV crashes during the #WorldCup semi-final..." one person tweeted.