World Cup fans embrace American culture during tournament
Host Aisha Hasnie and PK Press Club contributor Joe Concha explore the unique cultural experiences of foreign fans attending the FIFA World Cup in the United States. They feature viral social media posts from fans discovering American products like Waffle House and Big Gulps. A heartwarming video also shows Scottish fans celebrating their team by serenading a New England neighborhood with bagpipes.
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The United States men’s national team defeated Paraguay in its first home World Cup match since 1994, drawing a crowd of 70,492 to SoFi Stadium. It was a clinic, a spectacle and perhaps the most encouraging performance many American soccer fans have seen in their lifetime. The numbers on the scoreboard were impressive, as were the viewership numbers Fox Sports just released.
Fans of the American team were out in force to see the United States men’s national team compete in the FIFA World Cup on American soil for the first time in 32 years. (Photo by ETIENNE LAURENT / AFP))
On Saturday, Fox Sports announced that the 4-1 win over Paraguay was “the most-watched English-language USMNT Men’s World Cup television broadcast in U.S. history” with an incredible 15.986 million viewers. The team showed up and the Americans followed suit.
WATCH THE WORLD CUP FINAL ON FOX ONE
To put that into perspective, the USMNT 2022 group stage opener against Wales averaged around 11.7 million viewers in the United States, a whopping 106% increase in viewership. The peak audience during Friday’s broadcast was 18.86 million. We should have expected an increase in viewership with the excitement of playing at home and one of the best men’s teams built on paper, but this was historic.
Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs reportedly averaged just over 16 million viewers. That means the USMNT wasn’t far behind America’s biggest sporting event of the moment — an impressive feat for a soccer game, even one played at home during a World Cup.
THE NEW FOX ONE WORLD CUP WATCHING EXPERIENCE
Folarin Balogun scored two goals in his first World Cup match for the United States. (Getty Images)
If the team puts up another impressive performance against Australia on Friday, expect many Americans who don’t normally follow soccer very closely to jump on the bandwagon and start to feel the patriotism coursing through their veins.
This is also an incredible opportunity to grow soccer in the United States, help Major League Soccer attract new fans and make some of these players household names. The NHL took advantage of the momentum created by the 4 Nations confrontation and international competition. MLS would be wise to do the same.
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The USMNT will face Australia at 3 p.m. ET on Friday, June 19 at Lumen Field in Seattle, Washington.
